Day 10 – Diano Marina to Alessandria

Not sure whether to call this day 10 or day 12, but you get the idea..

Today was never going to be easy after yesterday’s misfortunes. Having not been able to finish dinner last night I’d planned on having a big breakfast however nothing I ate went down very easily. This meant leaving on a fairly empty stomach.

I soon perked up though, the coast road from Diano Marina to just outside Savona was spectacular and there were hundreds of other cyclists out. My legs felt good and I even overtook someone driving a Vespa. Admittedly it was an old Vespa and an overweight driver but I was still pretty impressed with myself.

I was making good progress and the first 2 hours flew by, which is something I had not expected. I was still struggling to eat without feeling sick though so I was a bit worried that the lack of food might hit me later on.

Unfortunately, the traffic thickened coming towards Savona which slowed me down; and not long after that I turned inland and onto a 15 kilometre climb. It wasn’t easy to enjoy though as there were a fair amount of trucks driving up and down it and the amount of other cyclists dropped to pretty much zero once I moved off the coast.

I stopped for a meal shortly after cresting the climb as I was starting to get hungry. Now either my stomach has shrunk, or it was a very big portion but I didn’t manage to finish it. I also didn’t manage to digest it… it just sat in my stomach for the remaining 50kms which was not a nice feeling.

I’m now in Alessandria; which I would not recommend as a holiday destination (apologies if it happens to be your home town) but maybe I just haven’t been able to appreciate it. Anyway, heading north has brought the cold back which I guess I should’ve expected. Fingers crossed it doesn’t rain….

Details from today:
Distance: 96.73miles / 155.7km
Riding time: 6:48:59
Av. Speed: 14.2mph / 22.8kph
Elevation Gain: 1,039m