Adventure | Riding Fat Bikes in Livigno, Italy
Michele Boschetti from Miss Grape is not only a passionate skier and biker, she put together the Funny Fat Festival in Livigno, Italy. Here’s how it all began:
I got to know Livigno thanks to Telemark. The first time I went there was to ski at the most
famous Telemark gathering in the world, the Skieda.
And there I found myself, in an autumn day, pedaling on a bike with really big tyres. They
come from far away and they’re called Fat bikes.
I’d always thought Telemark and Fat bikes had something in common and I wanted to know
what that was.
Anyone who sees Telemarkers bending their knees for the first time makes a weird expression,
is astonished and gets all curious about it. It’s the same thing that happens when people see
those huge Fat tyres for the first time. The questions are always the same ones: “But can you
go anywhere with that thing there?”, “Does it make it harder to pedal uphill?”, “And is it easier
to go downhill?”, “How weird, I’d like to try it out…”
There’s something else that links the two sports though: their innate freedom. They take you
away from classic skiing and classic cycling and let you travel, explore, go up and down any
surface naturally.
I adore slowness, or better I love following my own rhythm in doing things. This means being
able to perceive better the connection between me and the tool I am using.
I wanted to know whether the emotions I felt skiing in Livigno could be somehow reexperienced
on my Fat bike so I called my friend Zanna. He lives and does Telemark skiing in Livigno.
He organizes the Skieda and he loves Fat bikes as I do.
So during one weekend at the end of September, all those places, valleys, mountain huts and
alpine huts whose routes had been traced numerous times on skis were then reached by huge
tyres. We met other friends on the way, as you do when you go skiing and it was simply great
fun.
I don’t know whether Telemark and Fat bikes are truly the same thing. Though I’ve realized that
we are the common denominator and when we visit a magic place in good company and in the
enchanting and colorful autumn sun, we can’t be anything other than happy. Awfully happy.
About the Author
She’s called Miss Grape, she’s Italian and although her name could be misleading she doesn’t
produce wine, but Bikepacking bags. She also deals with the organizing of events linked to the
world of FAT and adventure.
This year, at the end of September, Michele Boschetti and Marco Costa, the two creators of
Miss Grape, organized the first FAT international gathering called Funny Fat Festival in the
most international and freeride European town, Livigno.
Constantly busy finding out what’s new in the action sports world, Livigno has decided to give
extra room to this new cycling dimension and is planning to open bike paths dedicated to FAT
both for those who want to pedal and those who like the freeride.
To make this Livigno FAT initiation official, Miss Grape planned the shooting of a short movie
which was undertaken by Martino Vincenzi, a young and emergent Italian director who
is already experienced with filming bikers.
That’s how “Going Fat in Livigno” was born.
www.missgrape.net
www.livigno.eu
Words & Photos: Michele Boschetti