The Sella Ronda by Mountain Bike

Skiing around the Ronda massif in the Dolomites is a long-standing day out for skiers. It takes a leisurely two to three hours to cover the 55 or so kilometres. But since summer 2009 the chair-lifts have been happy to carry bikes and so it is possible to do the same circuit on a mountain bike. You take the lifts up and then bike down (and up in places to reach the best paths) to the foot of the next lift. The area is exceptionally beautiful, so it's a fantastic day out.

James Henderson of A Life of Adventure completed the circuit and wrote about it for the Financial Times Weekend section in 2010. You can read his article, Riding High, below.