La Langarola 2016

Larry participated in the first edition of La Langarola today.  Federico (shown below left) met us at the recent La Mitica event, bought us coffee and went on and on about his new event. Sadly, only Larry could attend.

It was a great first-time event!

 Barolo has gotten a bit "touristy" since the last time we explored it, but it's still got charm, including bike racks as you see above.

As usual, plenty of old bikes to admire, including this Bianchi with wooden wheels.

As well as old cars.

Eventually, after some speeches from the organizer and local dignitaries, we were on the road - including many roads we enjoy on our Paradiso in Piemonte tour each year. There was plenty of strada sterrata to keep that old-time feeling.

Above you see a ristoro, in Grinzane Cavour where the mayor was shaking hands and asking how we were enjoying the event. The only thing missing was VINO! Here we were riding through some of the best vineyards on the planet and not a drop of wine to enjoy?! And yours truly was not the only one to notice!

I spotted Fausto from Cuneo because of his jersey, made by our friends at SOIGNEUR. They made a similar one for us that we wear at these epoca events where something warmer than our new  blue NALINI jersey is called for. Today was warm so Larry donned the classic blue with our old-time logo on the front.

Finally, at the last ristoro - some vino! As you can see I was not the only one happy to finally get a taste of the fruits of all these vineyards!

But, after a steep climb on the bike to get there, you then had to climb three flights of stairs!!! But it was worth if for the view....and the vino!

Barolo was proud to host a time trial stage of the Giro d'Italia back in 2014. Larry was there but it rained so much he got back in the car and watched the stage on TV in a warm and dry hotel room. Today the weather was almost perfect, cool in the morning with lots of warmth in the afternoon.

We finished the ride passing some of the best vineyards in the world. Cannubi is prized by many, many producers who have vines planted here.

The post-ride pasta party FINALLY had enough vino...once we got the siphon hose into the huge demi-john that is.....tasted like Nebbiolo to me and was way-above-average for these types of festivities...though EROICA in Tuscany and our friends at the GIOS Raduno did excellent jobs with their wines as well.

Let us know if you're interested in these types of events....we've convinced the organizers of both La Mitica and La Langarola to let you ride one of our "classic" all-steel bikes in their events even though they don't exactly meet the bici d'epoca requirements. We might be able to add these events onto an existing itinerary or offer them as a separate add-on at extra cost. Based on the experience of the folks we brought to La Mitica, we're pretty sure you'll have a great time.

Mille grazie to Federico and all the great folks who worked on this event!!!