Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Bikepacking the Italian Summer on the Torino-Nice Rally (Video)
In their latest video, Tristan and Belen settle into the good life riding the famed Torino-Nice Rally, taking in as much pizza, pasta, and coffee as possible while soaking up the route’s amazing views. Find the video, a brief reflection, and a photo gallery here…
For a few years now, ever since attending the start of the Women’s Torino-Nice Rally in Torino, we have wanted to ride the route ourselves. As life goes, it usually takes a while before you can make a trip like that happen. Seasons play a role in this route, as it covers large sections of the western Italian and sometimes eastern French Alps, where temperatures can drop rapidly outside of summer. But finally, in August, we made it happen, being a little cautious with our expectations as summer holidays hit their peak. Amazingly, the Italian side of the route was almost devoid of summer visitors! These mountains and their passes have year-round tourism, but mostly Italians, most of whom come by car and hike around. The result was that unexpectedly, we had most tracks to ourselves as the TNR covers asphalt and gravel from valley to pass, back down to the next valley and the next pass, and so on. A dynamic yet demanding itinerary that always includes at least a 1,000-meter climb per day.
The nature here feels really free. Birds, bees, and ample butterflies are seemingly everywhere, as flowers grow mostly wild and summer brought nectar. The mountains are covered in shrubs and grassland with marmots inhabiting the ground underneath them. We loved the weather pattern here: mostly blue skies at sunrise followed by a stirring of puffy clouds around afternoon hours, making it look like we were riding through a Studio Ghibli movie set. In the evenings, fog always rose gently from the valleys by sunset as though these mountains have their own air conditioning system. Our tent was usually wet in the morning, but the sun dried things out quickly.
Of course, Italy being Italy, we had plenty of pizza, pasta, and coffee stops along the way, with the occasional day spent on the French side of the route eating breakfast at the first boulangerie we could find. Life was good on the TNR.
This route brings everything that is promised by its popularity, even in high summer. We did adjust it slightly by starting in the picturesque town of Lanzo Torinese and, to save some time at the end bit, by finishing in Ventimiglia on the Italian coast, from where we could jump straight into a bike-friendly regional train to continue our journey elsewhere.
Further Reading
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