Waking up, we ate our breakfast in Arturo and Mark’s apartment. We had instant noodles, cereal and lactose free milk, which was easily available everywhere we went on this trip. “In the alps, people are lactose intolerant, that’s why it’s so available.” That was completely counter-intuitive to me, because all through the alps, the sound of cowbells was the soundtrack that kept us company on our climbs!
Leaving Isola 2000, we climbed the last 300m to the pass with no problems, and in fact the scenery improved dramatically once we left the village. There was an annoying garbage truck driving up and down the pass, but other than that, with light traffic we had a very enjoyable arrival at the top where Xiaoqin and Bowen quickly joined us. We took a few pass photos and immediately started our descent. Once again, Mark and I leaped frog each other, getting action shots of each other on the descent.
The top of Col de la Lombarde was open, with multiple lakes that begged for good weather. After that, the road turned into a one lane affair with multiple narrow switchbacks, diving into wooded areas with occasional wide open views that were breathtaking if not for the sheer concentration needed to keep tires on pavement and anticipate cornering angles and lean. This was an exhilarating pass for a skilled cyclist confident of his equipment and at this point in the tour we were all dialed in.
The road was headed down towards the Stura di Demonte, and whenever there was a clearing we could see clearly across the valley to the beautiful ghost town of Nerraisa Superior. At one point there was an intersection with another minor road where the GPS directed us to the right and from there it took on a different character, no longer steeply descending but still full of switchbacks, at one point bottlenecking on the road when a group of cows were being herded along. By and large, though we had the road to ourselves and where the road doubled back upon itself the views were spectacular. You almost wished you were going slowly so you had more time to enjoy it, but who am I kidding, the road put you in a continual state of flow, mind, body and machine acting as one, leaning, braking, turning. It’s as close as a human can get to flying like a superhero without leaving the ground.
After a series of switchbacks where we rapidly lost altitude, at Pratolungo (893m), we turned away from SS21 (the Col de Larche highway) onto a series of delightful bike paths. While we were low and warm, the bike path was mostly shaded and while not fast, we still made good time as we still had altitude to lose. The bike path was undulating, but with Mark pacing us whenever there was a flat section we made very good time and arrived at the Cuneo train station at noon, having just missed the train. Since Arturo was a good 10 minutes behind, it was just as well. We bought train tickets from a human, showing him the tandem so he understood how to charge us and he gave us the direct train from Cuneo to Torino, where we would change for the train to Cuneo.
We found the track and discovered that the train was already at the gate, granting us plenty of time to board with the tandem. There wasn’t exactly a tandem parking spot, but I found an aisle where I could put the wheels of the tandem on top of a curb next to a handrail, and use my helmet’s strabs to lock the tandem to the handrails, ensuring that it wouldn’t move at all despite looking precarious. The outside of the train looked dismaying, full of graffiti, and with the windows fogged over, but inside the train looked in great condition, even with air conditioning which was very helpful in the heat.
We took turns walking to the vending machines to buy lunch and drinks and then proceeded to eat and plan what to do in Torino, where had a 2-3 hour layover. ChatGPT had told us there was a bicycle parking station at the train station, so we could actually explore and see the city and the famous arcades.
Arriving at Torino, we discovered that the bike parking facility was closed to tourists—their customer service/point of sale system was down, and they didn’t have the means to check anyone who wasn’t already registered into the system. Mark didn’t want to visit Torino anyway, so he declared he would guard our bikes while Boen, Arturo, and I went to town. Once out of the air conditioned train we could tell that the heat was quite something. We walked past the arcades which were necessary shielding from the hot Piedmont sun and found an ice cream shop. I spotted another supermarket that sold (quite bad) sushi for an additional supplement lunch. Arturo wanted to see the palace so Boen and I started walking back to the train station. We stopped by the Decathlon shop but couldn’t find the cycling food section in a reasonable time so abandoned that to join Mark and eat the rest of our lunch.
When the gate for the train was announced we used our paper tickets and showed them to the train police and they let us through the gate as the automated gates would shut on the tandem if we had tried to go through them. To our delight, the Ivrea train line had very modern rolling stock, with no problem accommodating the tandem. Whenever they finished the electrification of this train line, this train was going to allow 200+ miles of skipping the piedmont plains in air conditioned comfort.
Arriving in Ivrea, it was a mere 10 minute ride to Borgo Yporegia, where the car was already parked with sufficient charge to make it to Aosta the next day, so we didn’t have to move it from its paid parking spot. There were several gelato shops within walking distance, as was the spar, so once we got showered and enjoyed the AC for a few minutes we took advantage of that. While the booking app told us there was no breakfast, the apartment actually came with a significant amount of packaged breakfast food free of charge! Ok, so they didn’t nickle and dime us for everything.
Arturo found and made reservations at La Cantinetta, which was all the way on the other side of town because he had use the WhatsApp contact to find restaurants rather than the booking info I’d sent to the group. That meant it was an entire 15 minute walk to the restaurant along the Dora Baltea river. When we arrived it was outdoor seating with no AC, but at least it was in the shade and they served coupious amounts of cold water.
They asked us if we’d like the sample package, which was a little of everything. In a fit of hunger and ambition we said yes. The food came, we ate it all, and then the empty plates went away and more plates came. It repeated multiple times, and each time it got a little harder to finish all the food. By the time the pasta dishes came we were well and full and stuffed. But it was a good stuffing, and since we didn’t finish our pasta I put my foot down and said “No dessert!” I wanted to try the gelato place Xiaoqin had pointed out and I feared we had been running up a bill at the place.
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