Magazine

Cycling in Langa in August Practical tips

August 30, 2019

The heat didn’t manage to scare you and you decided to have a nice ride in Langhe?

You don’t want to cheat with the electric bike and you are a traditionalist who wants to gain every meter with fatigue and sweat?

Well, here are some practical tips for your survival !

Don’t be sleepy heads!

August in Langa is hot, very hot.

Especially in lower Langa, the area of ​​Alba and of the great wines, we reach very high temperatures.

So the first piece of advice, as trivial as it may sound: leave early! If you can organize your departure by 8am, you should get home by noon, and avoid the hottest hours of the day.

In my opinion it is not advisable to bike in the evening. It is true that the heat fades in the late afternoon, but the asphalt returns all the heat accumulated during the day: the feeling could be like that of biking on fire.

So the morning wins over the evening. Unless you are super trained cyclists, in which case you don’t need much advice, 2 or 3 hours up and down the hills are enough to satisfy your desire for bikes.

Keep in mind that, as we explain in this article, the ups and downs of the Langa hills puts you to the test even without great mileage.

Not only wine

Tip number 2, simple but fundamental: drink!

The good thing is that you do not need to load liters of water and weigh yourself down, every 10 km you will surely encounter a town, and there will always be a fountain to refuel.

To counteract the loss of mineral salts you can consider bringing some sachets of supplements to dissolve in the water when needed.

They are very light, and with a few grams of load you can have a great help every time you fill the bottle.

Take it easy!

The third suggestion is: stop! After all you are on vacation, you are not taking part in the “Giro d’Italia” race, there is no need to overdo it.

When you ride in the heat your heart rate goes up faster, you lose more minerals and it’s easier for your muscles to produce lactic acid.

My advice is to stop more or less every half hour for a few minutes. You have wonderful views all around you, take the time to admire them.

The fourth piece of advice is: go up! A good way to fight the extreme heat can be to plan your tour by aiming at the Alta Langa, Murazzano, Bossolasco and the neighboring towns so to speak.

There you can easily reach 600/800 meters high and the climate is certainly cooler, even in the middle of the day.

You can create ring routes that allow you to always stay at high altitude. The air is cooler and less humid, maybe the climb is more challenging, but after all it will eventually become a descent!

Travel light

The fifth and final tip is: travel light!

I often see tourists riding bikes with sweatshirts, jackets and various sweaters all over the place. You don’t need them, it’s all useless weight.

The climate in Langa is stable, if it is good when you leave it will hardly change in a few hours. You just need to get yourself a good quality breathable bike vest and a technical shirt to put on.

This double layer will not make you sweat more, as long as they are valid products, but on the contrary it will keep you drier and protect you better from the wind in downhill sections.

If you really want to be sure not to get cold on a very long descent, just bring a bike vest. They are perforated on the back and windproof in the front, they weigh very little and prevent you from cooling down too much.

Time to go!

I hope that I didn’t frightened you too much with these tips to tackle the rides in Langa in August, but as they say: you wanted the bike, now you have to ride it!

Image credits: BikeSquare