A ride through Italy
Today I did an abbreviated version of what I had planned to do earlier in the season (I won't describe it because it will make todays ride look pretty wimpy in comparison). The plan was to cross two cols that straddle the French-Italian border and ride a big loop through both countries. I drove to La Vachette, just north of Briancon, parked, suited up and set out down the road for Nevache. My legs were feeling pretty good, the weather was glorious, and there were throngs of people out riding. The road is flat with a little rolling terrain until you reach the relatively mild climb up to the Col de l'Echelle. I hammered this section because I was feeling good, and well… why not? Once you arrive at the top of the col, you find yourself in yet another beautiful alpine valley with beautiful praries. People were just arriving to park their cars and set off on hikes. Also, somewhat inexplicably, there were a lot of people out on sun chairs, tanning! It seemed like an unlikely place to get a tan. Anyway, on to the end of the col, where a beautiful Italian cyclist was just arriving at the summit (see video below), and whispered a slightly out of breath "Ciao" to me. From there, it was descending time, which was beautiful, if a little slow. The climb from this side looks much better than from the other side -- must do it at some point. The only issue with the descent was the depth and size of the rain gutters. They were long and ramp like, and I managed to inadvertanly catch some air off the last one. I could immediately tell that I was in Italy by the steepness of the descent and total lack of switchbacks. I continued on the road towards Oulx, which is also downhill. So much downhill in fact that I was beginning to think that I was going to have to pay for it pretty soon. And so I did, riding up the road towards Sestriere and Cesana, sucking diesel through the tunnels. I was sorely tempted to stop at a roadside pizzeria which had fired up its delicious smelling wood fired pizza oven, but wanted to get off the SS24 ASAP. In Cesara, I asked for directions to the nearest fountain, and got stuck behind a mini convoy of the Guardi di Finanza who were also lost. After filling up, I gave the col de Montgenevre all I had, which was not much at this point, ate a rice cake, and then started my descent. I got stuck behind a truck, which was pretty terrible since it was kicking up huge clouds of dust, but driving just fast enough to make it dangerous to pass.
That night we did another pizza-on-the-gro;; experiment, with Simon's help which turned out pretty well. The key is to finish them in the oven, I think, and probably let the mozzarella dry out beforehand so it does not soak the crust.
