After getting high on high-altitude gravel splendor on the Altipiano della Gardetta, Day Six was a bust because of the weather. We had planned to ride the Strada dell'Assietta, but bailed because of wind, rain, chilly temperatures, and predictions of thunderstorms up in the mountains. After a nice long string of days of sunshine and warm temps, the weather caught up to us.
I was bummed, because this was to be yet another day of insanely beautiful military road escapades: 65 kilometers, 38 of them gravel, 1900 meters of vertical, and 11 cols, all of 'em above 2000 meters:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30782413. But so be it.
On the evening of Day Five we stayed just outside the town of Garzigliana, near Pinerolo, where my brother had found a B&B, a kind of hidden gem that was incredibly nice and comfortable. Garzigliana is <600 people, and this town is far off the tourist track. It was the start of their local feast days, the Festa di sant’Anna, their patron saint. Everybody was out, kiddie carnival rides set up in the piazza, people dressed up a bit. The signora at the B&B directed us to the main restaurant downtown, a trattoria that was packed with people, three generations of families at long tables, grandparents walking the toddlers around. Men talking about Nibali doing well that day in spite of the crazy truncated TdF stage. This was one of their busiest nights of the year, and yet they seated us right away. This was a real local trattoria, one that brought me back to my childhood, and while the food wouldn't win any Michelin stars, it was delicious, honest, and plentiful. We hit the antipasto bar twice before going on to primi and secondi.
Next day: No riding up in the high mountains because of the weather. Instead we went to Torino, had the famous layered coffee/chocolate/cream drink at Al Bicerin, walked around some of the many palaces of the House of Savoy, had lunch at Eataly, and then drove north to Grignasco in the hills of Novara, where we had another amazing winery tour. Davide Carlone works in a machine shop by day and makes incredibly bright, lively wines by night in his garage... so passionate about what he does that he doesn't seem to sleep much. At 7 pm on a Saturday, he was drawing off samples for us, while he, his mother, and his sister were labeling bottles by hand, because he doesn't have enough space for a labeling machine. Then we drove to Sauze d'Oulx for the night, and the next day went back to Switzerland. I can't wait to go back and explore more high gravel horizons.
08-07-2019, 07:13 PM
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