Flat and Fast to Asti

To Asti, Italy -- 47.7 miles, 14.0 mph, 850 ft

Our kind host, Bruno, served us a light breakfast in the small dining room downstairs: coffee, juice, and a freshly baked, berry tort. Both Meg and I thought he reminded us of good friend, Pierce, with his wealth of information and dead pan delivery. 

Today's planned route would continue to follow the now twisting Fiume Tanaro all the way to Asti. Kylie and I made a game of predicting which way the river would be flowing the next time we crossed it. 

While previewing the route, we noticed a big “zit” in the middle of the elevation profile -- a definite recipe for walking -- so we added some waypoints to keep us off the surrounding hills. The heavy breathing for the day ended up being our detour into Cherasco early in the ride for food and a quick lunch outside the Maxisconto -- steep, but doable.  Conveniently, many of the Italian markets are open 24 hours as opposed to those lazy French ones, closed between 1:00 and 4:30 p.m. 

Cherasco

Lunch time

We were making great time, fantasizing about a 3:00 arrival, when we came across what looked to be a shopping mall. We took the opportunity to get a Coke Light (with ice) and coffee and replace some of our growing list of lost and broken items -- new watch for Kylie (old one filled with water in Barcelona (Timex!)); new hockey-puck, portable, JVC speaker for Kylie and me (connector broke off the barely-used, old one); new international plug adapter (left in some electrical outlet in France); and two Europe-to-Italy adapters (who knew Italian plugs didn’t match the rest of Europe).  Our bag of cords and adapters are multiplying like rabbits. 

It was really nice to stretch the legs a little bit on the flats this afternoon. Kylie and I tried out our new, fancy-schmancy, red speaker strategically placed in the upper pocket of my Camelback. Perfect -- right between our two heads. Boy is it nice to listen to some music now and then. Kylie just plugs in her Shuffle and then takes charge of the volume. We raced along the last 15 straight, flat miles, dodging puddles from the earlier downpour, and rocking to the tunes. We rode into town with one of our favorites “Dear Future Husband” by Megan Trainer, while Meg and Dex rocked out to "Miss American Pie." 

Showers, homework, and laundry ensued.

For dinner we intentionally searched out something simpler than the last two nights’ four course meals. The Turkish kebab and pizza shop hit the spot, and, of course, an obligatory stop for our daily helping of gelato -- two scoops each.