VAL D’ORCIA GRAVEL – THE FIRST OFFICIAL RACE OF INFINITY 0Y
Alcide and Simone from Infinity eBike Team challenge the weather in two days of strong wind, lots of dust and rainfalls
Just a few months ago Infinity Zero Y Gravel was an eBike Concept for mixed use. The Gravel Road Series event in Val d’Orcia proved it to be a reliable vehicle ready for anything.
POSTED BY SIMONE AITA , PHOTOS AND VIDEO BY ALCIDE PECE – WORDS BY SIMONE AITA – 30 OCTOBER 2018
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!