Bella Italia Stage 3

Rivarolo Canavese to Alessandria

Strava 114.6 km, 375m, 4:57, 192 shifts

I slept well in the modern hotel and we had a good breakfast at 8. We looked for a local bike shop but it was a figment of Google’s imagination. We rode off and soon connected with the Italy Unite gravel track which took small roads but often diverted onto farm tracks or gravel paths between fields of rice and barley.

We found a real bike shop along the way, out in the country, with a nice owner who wanted to know all about our route. When we told him about the Colle de Nivolet, he said “Maybe it would be better in reverse” meaning the way it was designed. Wytze got a replacement cleat for the one he lost on that climb and I got a cool looking rear light.

We powered on to Livorno Ferraris for drinks, then again with a lot more gravel to Casale Monferrato at about 80 km for lunch. We went pretty big, each ordering lunch then getting three dishes more to share.

It was warm but not really hot, high 20s. The last part was 35 km to Alessandria, again on a mix of paved roads and dirt tracks. Sometimes riding on grass, sometimes rocky gravel or dirt, with occasional mud or big puddles. I’d estimate we rode 30% offroad. It was 29° when we arrived and we immediately found a great bar called Esco bar. Four big 🍺 arrived and all was good. This cooled us off and we headed the final 900m to the apartment we had rented. We had to wait 20 minutes for the guy but he was very nice and even helped me carry my bike up the two flights. The apartment is nice, with Aircon and a washing machine, luxury. It feels like quite a deal at €25 per person.

After showers and laundry everything seems nicer. I wrote up this post then had a fun video chat with Katie at home in Santa Cruz. Then it was dinner time. It was sort of a repeat of yesterday, a very fancy place, elegant fine dining outdoors. I like these meals because they are so tasty but the servings are small. I am not yet needing more. And we’re not going overboard at all on alcohol.

Back at the apartment it was icy cold, then we noticed there are no blankets… Oh well, after hot nights, being cool is great.