After getting a pretty good taste for the area (literally and figuratively) with Dale last fall during our Bar to Bar ride, I was excited to have the opportunity to get out for another long ride in this beautiful area. We were unfortunately there during a big heat wave and the logistics worked out such that my big ride was the same day that we were picking up our rental bike in Alba, which meant that I didn’t get rolling from the bike shop until almost 9:45am. By that point, it was already 76 degrees and climbing fast, especially under the sun that was beating down on me.
I decided to ride a counter-clockwise loop so that any repeated roads would feel somewhat new. This took me first up to the top of the classic La Morra hill. I planned to do about 60 miles and 6,000 feet of climbing on the day, so I tried to pace myself accordingly. What I didn’t sufficiently factor in was the limited number of calories I’d brought with me and the scorching temperatures…I would pay for my relatively hard push up La Morra later.
From La Morra, it was a glorious descent to Barolo before climbing up to Monteforte d’Alba. This area was one of the nicest of the ride, with views of vineyards in all directions and legs that still felt pretty fresh. From here, I turned back North to add a really nice set of roads running through Castiglione Falletto and then back South through Serralunga d’Alba and all the way up to Roddino. I thankfully found a fountain by the side of the road outside Roddino and was able to dunk myself under it to cool off a bit and refill my water. It was 95-100 degrees at this point.
Heading East from here brought me out of the vineyards and into a very different feeling terrain, often with orchards. I’d been intrigued by some squiggly roads on the map I’d seen heading through Borgomale. These turned out to be quite fun as a narrow, quiet descent and then a bit of a grind back up. By the time I’d made it to Manera I knew it was mostly downhill to get home, which was a good thing. The cumulative impact of the temperature and limited calories was really taking its toll.
I rolled into our spot in Barbaresco a bit under 4 hours after I’d started and was absolutely shellacked. I laid down on the floor under our air conditioning for a good while, waiting for my heart rate to come back down. Too bad the heat made this otherwise spectacular ride not as enjoyable as it could have been. Regardless, it was wonderful to get out there once again.