Assietta gravel ring from Susa - Salbertrand variant

@Piter86 from Susa about 2000 meters of difference in altitude in about 30 km with gradients never above 10%

On the first day we rode from Susa up the Colle delle Finestre and further on. The Colle delle Finestre is probably one of the most legendary passes in road cycling, firstly because of the countless hairpin bends and secondly because the upper half isn't paved. (Thirdly, perhaps, also because it was where @chrisfroome started one of the most daring maneuvers of recent years, thus winning the Giro d'Italia). . Since we've climbed this beautiful pass for the first time in 2015, we've been drawn back there again and again. This time, however, the top of the pass was only an intermediate destination... . From Colle delle Finestre there are three options to continue: On asphalt back to the valley, following the route of @torinonicerally on gravel relatively directly to Colle Assietta or via another steep gravel road up to Cima Ciantiplagna. We chose this option, which meant we had to climb another 600 m of altitude. . The old military road is mostly still rideable, but there are also places which we found too dangerous and where we preferred to push our bikes. From about 2600m asl, we both felt a little lack of oxygen and had to stop every now and then. . The road is an absolute dream: Again and again you pass old, dilapidated forts and the views into the valley and to the massive mountains on the left and right are breathtaking. Once again, however, we had forgotten to take sandwiches for the road, respectively we thought we would be faster at the one refugio to eat something there. Since the energy supply came consequently a little too late and we had already done the rest of the route to Sestriere once, we decided to leave the Strada dell'Assietta at Colle Blegier and go down into the valley. A never-ending gravel descent followed, which we had never experienced before and would probably not do again. (You can count the bends, the route is on our @komoot profile.) . Our search for a cheap B&B led us to Exilles which turned out to be an absolute stroke of luck.

This time the sections of the state road have been minimized: only one is 3km long... everything else is just excavation and wonder ⛰️💞