Well, none of that mechanic’s magic dust rubbed off on me back in Novara because that mechanic didn’t have any to spare. He didn’t really seem like he’d seen a disc brake before, actually. He didn’t fix them worse exactly, because the bike stops on command now. The front brake began rubbing badly toward the end of yesterday’s ride though, so we start our day by heading off to another bike store.
Or is it a cafe, or maybe a bar? The Giusta Bike Shop & Cafe tries to have it both ways, and two gents are hanging out having cappuccinos and reading the daily news as we roll our bikes in the door. It’s a pretty great bike store too, and our new favorite. The friendly, personable mechanic clearly does know what he’s doing (it’s a Shimano certified repair shop), takes his time, adjusts all four of our brakes, and chats us up a bit. He wants to know where we’re from and where we’re bound, and when we leave he wants us to pose in front of the shop so he can post a photo on the shop’s website. A great establishment.
Giusta’s big claim to greatness is its association with this Ukrainian lady, who doubles as a world record holding ultracyclist and hot model. The shop sponsors a women’s racing team, which is cool all by itself. Last year though, the team hosted Elena when she was in Piemonte for her attempt to break the 24 hour distance record (female, on a velodrome). She was successful, and broke 11 different world records in the process.
Today’s ride is a short loop northwest of Asti. Like yesterday’s ride, this one is terrific cycling. Piemonte is quickly becoming a favorite region with us. It looks like there are endless small, empty roads to explore. One of the best cycling areas we’ve seen, anywhere.
More cycling greatness is on the agenda today, with miles of quiet roads like this ahead.
They should put an information panel at this viewpoint, to identify all the big peaks you can see from here. I’m curious about this old wall too, that just tapers off to nothing in the field.
It’s a great day for the cycling, but a pretty sorry tail bovinewise. With not a cow to be seen all day long, I do my best. Nearly a cow, if you use your imagination.
We get back to our room by 3:30, shower quickly and then head out to walk through town again while it’s still light out. We get a better look, but our impressions aren’t really any better the second time through. It’s just not an easy town to walk through, and not at all pedestrian friendly until you finally make it to the commercial zone. Too many cars, moving too fast, with too little clearance. Pretty unusual town in that regard.
After it starts turning dusky we return to our room to pass the time until the dinner hour. Tonight’s venue was Il Cavolo a Merenda, a nice looking place we saw yesterday that opened later in the evening, too late for us to hang around for. It’s another fine place to eat, so there’s that to say for Asti - there’s more to life than just pedestrian safety, after all. At the end of the meal we strike up a conversation with our neighbors, a Swiss couple from Zurich (actually, they’re a blend - he’s Swiss, she’s Italian). He’s well familiar with Oregon, from a tour down the Pacific coast he took a few years back. Oregon was his favorite part, of course.
Oh, yes - one last thing to say about the day. We dropped off our laundry at the desk yesterday (a splurge, but reasonable - they charged 10 euros), and picked it up this afternoon. They did a nice job - clean, nicely folded in a bag, but camouflaged - they hid the wet laundry on the bottom, layered over with dry articles. Pretty strange. We’ve got underwear and shirts hanging from the walls everywhere.
We made it back to town in time to see the cathedral again while it was still sunlit.
Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnNot sure about that, but we’re pretty happy with ourselves right now. We’ll have to see if it holds up when the rains arrive tomorrow. We could prove to be fair weather tourists. Reply to this comment 5 years ago
