We arrived at Bagno Vignoni (SI) on Saturday morning to take part in the Val D’Orcia Gravel event (On The Roads Of “L’Eroica”) with a desire to explore the route in advance and bring back home some beautiful memories of our Infinity Zero Y on these magnificent valley hills. Upon the arrival we immediately notice the registration and exhibitors’ pop-up tents bowing to the ground, a strong wind was already trying to take them away.

Heading towards the registration stand, I take an opportunity to exchange a few words with friends from all over Italy. While my medical certificate is being verified Alcide makes the last setup for the bikes and the photo equipment.

We enter the alleys of the village and immediately discover the beautiful natural pool in its center; we stop by for a moment to enjoy the scene of the thermal water flowing along a steep slope to form beautiful natural pools.

11:30 am, slightly behind schedule, begins our E-Gravel adventure to discover the endless off-road trails of Val D’Orcia.

We ride a few kilometres on tarmac to reach off road just after a while; the choice of the tyres proves to be successful; the Schwalbe G-One Allround with Schwalbe latex mounted on Infinity Carbon rims and inflated to a pressure of 1.8 Bar gave us immediately a good impression and an optimal balance between comfort, smoothness and grip! The bike looks well balanced, the tyres run fast and the sense of security both in the turns and downhill brings us so much fun.

After about two hours from the beginning of our adventure we stop for some photos and air drone shots with our DJI Mavic Air.
With the assistance of the engine set at 30% of the maximum power we haven’t even noticed to have ridden half of the route and it was always with lots of smiles and emotions!

The wind was blowing strong and although the slopes were not particularly challenging, we pedalled without getting tired, always being assisted by the engine in a natural way.

After many ups and downs and some more challenging climbs we ride the last kilometres before reaching Pienza in the company of a biker who has not noticed at all the electric components integrated to our Gravel Zero Y.

He drives us in an underwood right on the slopes of the village, crossed by a very fast and technical singletrack, characterized by a beaten ground, enriched with rocks and roots to which we had to pay our utmost attention and engage all our skills to pass them over.

When we arrive to Pienza Alcide can hardly hide his satisfaction and enthusiasm for having ridden this beautiful track which got to be even more fun because of the Zero Y assistance.
We cross Pienza, crowded with tourists and onlookers entering and going out from the numerous artisan shops where the time seems to have stopped. The hours of light before to return remain few and although we are attracted by the taste of local goat cheese, we get back on the saddle and cross the valley leaving Pienza behind us.

The colours are amazing and in this precise moment we realize to be in the same place where one of the “Gladiator” movie scenes was shot.

We feel enthusiastic, but the light gets more and more down, so we decide to increase the assistance of the engine to 50% to return before sunset.

We are happy and extremely entertained!

We come back to Bagno Vignoni strongly convinced that the GRAVEL world is beautiful, adventurous and fascinating!

It is the night before the race that Alcide once again consults the weather forecast after a delicious dinner of tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms and Tuscan Chianina steak in the company of his friend Guido. The forecasts do not bode well, but it does not matter, we are here to try our Infinity Zero Y in any condition, and if there is rain and mud it will be even more fun.

At four o’clock in the morning the storm wakes us both up, but we go back to sleep hoping that the wind takes it away. 7:00 am, we look out from the balcony of our Abbadia San Salvatore Hotel and we see the sky that is all grey, gusts of strong wind, but at least it does not rain.

After breakfast we pack our things up and head for San Quirico d’Orcia. In fact, the planned departure from Bagno Vignoni is moved due to bad weather conditions. It rains and the gusts of wind are strong, but once in San Quirico the sight of the first cyclists with the participation number under the saddle charges us with new forces. We quickly find parking and mount our e-Gravel to head towards the start of the race.

At about 9.30 we start and immediately heavy rain and wind crash down on us again. With the Infinity app we set the 50% assistance level to be able to keep up with the lead group. The choice turns out to be successful and even with additional 4 kg we had to carry on the shoulders we manage to keep a good pace despite the storm.

At the 35th kilometre we reach the rest point, soaked through and feeling quite cold. No one is in a hurry, even the cyclists of the leading group. Once again, the attention of many riders switches to our electric vehicles and we allow ourselves a few more minutes of rest to satisfy questions of the most curious. Autonomy and weight are the classic questions, someone goes to ask for more info and we leave everyone amazed informing them that our product is entirely developed in Italy.

We have ridden more than a half of the route and despite the rain and wind we have used just about a quarter of the battery, perfectly in line with the power settings, that on average was constantly adding about 100 watts to the power of our legs.

The most challenging climbs of the route comes immediately after the rest point and finally brief interruptions of rain allow us to make some shots for our reportage.

The weather seems to improve and we cross the valley that connects Pienza and Bagno Vignoni with remarkable ease jumping on puddles and taking advantage of the wet ground to test our Schwalbe G-One Allround tyres. The grip is excellent and fits perfectly this type of terrain both dry and wet.

I start to feel the legs a bit heavy, probably because of many kilometres ridden the day before. So for the last part of the route I decide to increase the level of assistance to 70%. The legs lighten up and I even allow myself to climb on the pedals arriving to the medieval village of San Quirico d’Orcia finishing the race.