Bella Italia Stage 2

Arvier to Rivarolo Cavarese

Strava 103.3 km, 2,186m, 9:30 elapsed, 255 shifts

Honestly, I was dreading this stage a bit. Right from the start there was the one climb of the day, nearly 2,000m up in 35 km. And there was a section we didn’t really understand – if we had I would’ve really been dreading it!

So yes there was a significant low point, when we had climbed for hours up a nice road that ended. The trail we had to take to continue looked difficult for hiking and was ridiculous with loaded bikes. But there were two real high points:

• Getting to the top of the pass, after persevering for a very long time. No pain no gain.
• Setting my all time max speed record for inside a tunnel! It was 3.5 km long and we cruised at 70 for a large part. Max speed 71.3. It was so steep but dry and well lit, amazing.

Right from last night’s hotel, I was using my lowest 38×52 gear. But finally we got to our road up the valley which was more reasonable, mostly 10% or less. After climbing 850m we stopped for a long session of drinks and snacks. I think it was over 90 minutes non-stop to that point. Then another 450m up to the end of the road. Looking up the trail was daunting to say the least. And it got even steeper and rockier above. Getting our loaded bikes up was an all-body workout for sure. It’s hard to describe this experience but it was definitely in my lifetime top 3 in terms of biking craziness.

After forever, we came out to a high point (snack time again) and from there it was so different. Not as rocky and actually rideable in parts. We were in a high valley, desolate and beautiful. We could ride more and more. Finally my Garmin said I just had 4.4 km to a road. And sure enough someone had built a road up there. We were at 2,500m by this point, higher than many passes in the Alps.

We rode by a lake, two refugios, saw lots of hikers, and then had a final climb up to the Colle de Nivolet, 2,625m, the highpoint of our whole trip. It was 3:00 and we had done one third of our distance for the day in about six and a half hours.

We added clothes for the long descent, took some photos and started down. It was steep and curvy but not crowded and quite fun. It didn’t take long to drop down 1,600m and we finally stopped at a little bar at 80 km for drinks. The final 25 km from there went quickly because it was still downhill. We had to detour from the route to get to our hotel. The route designers would’ve given us extra points for the special way we avoided riding the main road into town, a tiny, muddy gravel path that was much more rideable than earlier parts.

We checked in and I was relieved. Shower and laundry, so civilized! Soon we walked downtown for dinner. Wytze has a theory that we tested again: if there is an expensive highly rated restaurant in a small town, off the beaten path, it is good – or it will not stay in business. So we tried the one in town and it was a huge success. We ordered the four course meal with three paired wines and it was great, especially after the kind of day we had. I do wonder how normal people can eat like that.

What a day! And it’s only #2!