Towards the end of the trip, I got a bit too busy with cycling, cooking our remaining food to avoid wasting anything, laundry, and making the most of our few remaining days in Verbania to have enough time or energy at the end of the night to write on this blog.
After our giant ride on Friday, and the rainy rest day on Saturday, we were left with two days to ride before packing up and heading off for some time in Milano before flying home. After that giant ride, every other ride seemed short and inconsequential by comparison.
Part 1: Mottarone Reverse
On Sunday, we knew our goal was to do at least 50 miles to make a 300 mile week. We decided to head out through Gravellona Toce and Omegna and do Mottarone in reverse. With the rain blew in slightly cooler weather, and as we departed for our ride even from the slight elevation of our street Via Monache, we could see that the rain was snow up in the high mountain peaks. Luckily where we were going it was not, but certainly the peaks above Cheggio, which we rode to only three days prior, would have been snow capped.
The ride through Omegna wasn’t anything special. Omegna is a larger town with quite a bit of industrial area. It’s right off the major train lines and autostrada so it’s ideally situated for industry. We chose a more direct path since I didn’t have a route programmed on my Garmin, which while perhaps less scenic, ensured that we wouldn’t get lost in the maze of roads that is Omegna.
Once we cleared Omegna, we were on a nice quiet road along Lago d’Orta. From there we made our way though a series of little towns, finally deciding on one to use as our launching point for the climb up Mottarone. There is one road up the south side of Mottarone, but to get to it, it seems there are endless options. I have no clue how we got there, after weaving through several little towns overlooking the smaller lake, we finally got onto the main road.
The climb up the back side is interesting. The road is wider, two lanes, but because it’s not a private toll road, like the Borromean road on the northeast side, there is more vehicular traffic. The beginning of the climb is quite steep, lots of 14-15% sustained sections, but once you get beyond that, it flattens out and is really enjoyable. I still prefer to do it in the opposite way because the quieter climb and wider descent are more enjoyable, but no less it was still a good ride.
As I said, it felt a bit anti-climactic after our giant ride on Friday, and although this ride featured over 4000ft of climbing in 50 miles, the Mottarone felt really easy. The ride felt short and while it was really chilly even while wearing our vest on the descent, it was a nice enough ride. We got back to Verbania with time to eat lunch, gather our things and do laundry for the last time.
Part Two: Final Ride
For our final ride, we planned to do something short in order to ensure that we had time to get back, pack the bikes, and spend some time walking to Intra to visit a few shops. On paper, the ride was easy enough. Just under 30 miles with 3600ft of climbing might sound hard, but after everything we’d done, it didn’t seem too overwhelming. The ride covered most of the vertical feet in the first 12 miles, as we climbed, gradually at first, from the moment we went out the door.
Heading out toward Ponte Nivia again but this time not turning up towards Intragna, we heading towards Aurano and Piancavallo, which we had visited on our first real ride of the trip. It was a nice way to bookend things, but I grossly underestimated the climb. I seem to underestimate the climbs in that area. They are all quite steep. I hit out pushing the pace to Aurano and then chilled from there. Unfortunately it was just past Aurano that the climb got steep. After many kilometers of steep grade, much over 13%, we reached the top and were treated with some incredible views of the snow-capped peaks on the Swiss-Italian border to the northwest and Lago Maggiore spread out to the east. We stopped for a while, took some pictures, and that it was a chilly but roaring descent back into Intra.
Once you get past Pian di Sole, where there is a slight climb, the descent is one of the most fun around. The road is mostly wide, the turns sweeping, and there are some really fast straight sections to get up to maximum speed. Despite our windcapes flapping in the breeze, we roared back down to Intra in no time. By that point, we were hungry, went back to the apartment for lunch, showered, and went about the day.
The remaining part of the day consisted of packing and a ton of walking. The walking we did that day was only to be outdone by the immense amount of walking we did in Milano, but still it was very considerable. We first visited Ciclomania Barale’s Verbania location, which was really cool. Lots of great bikes and cool inventory, and not as messy nor crazy as what is likely the original location in Domodossola.
We walked into Intra from there, visited a few shops but didn’t buy anything, and eventually found our way back to Pallanza. It was a good day and a nice way to sum up our time spent in Verbania.
It really makes me sad to leave a place like that, especially after spending so much time there. I feel like after two weeks in that apartment, it really started to feel like home. You start to know the neighbors names, mostly from them yelling at their children, and everything starts to click. From the way you prepare meals, understanding the trash/recycling system, to knowing your way around the maze of old street, we started to feel at home in Verbania. It’s perhaps the perfect place for me. There is tons of great food, the culture is wonderful, the values about recycling and sustainability are in line with mine, plus it’s the perfect balance of medium size town versus being in a big city or out in the middle of nowhere. It’s a nice place to live. Oh, and the cycling is outstanding! I’ve visited a lot of places in Italy and I love them all, but a town like Verbania really speaks to me. I am sure there are tons like it all over Italy, but from what I experienced, I’ve felt that Verbania strikes that perfect balance. I think somewhere in the south of Italy might be more favorable in the winter, and I do love the south and the culture and food there, but from a practical standpoint, Verbania might be perfect.
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