If the BikeBuddies team would like to take a break from the many rides on the Swiss mountain slopes, this does not mean sitting in the parlour and drinking tea. We cannot get away from mountains and valleys, but for a change we would like to give foreign bike trails the chance to prove themselves under our bikes. 

Last week we visited Piedmont in the northwest of Italy, where a special kind of bike tour awaited us. For once the focus was not on the sporting challenge of biking - but on a culinary adventure. A wine tasting round trip on the bike led us through fantastic landscapes in a constant up and down, with a manageable embrasure height of max. 200m, from wine-growing estate to wine-growing estate. No matter for which company we decided to rest, we were always warmly welcomed with open bottles and full glasses. Smaller obstacles crossed our path, but they did not know how to stop us: When the locals spoke only Italian, we used our hands and feet. 

If the signs on the roadside were large and conspicuous, but still misleading and contradictory, the first-class bike wine list of Piedmont, on which all the local wine merchants are listed, helped us out. During the tasting in the farmhouses of the wineries we did it as we recommended: We greeted friendly, chatted with the people, tasted their wine and with tasteful harmony we made one or the other purchase and picked up the bottles the next day before departure. 

Biking through the hills of Piedmont is highly recommended! If you want to make it a bit more adventurous, we recommend that you don't stick strictly to a given route, but rock a little freestyle through the area and maybe take a turn-off through the vines. Don't be shy, Piedmont knows a lot about bikers - in fact, we also met biking enthusiasts among the locals, whose preferred downhill trails are mainly in the mountains around Piedmont. As balanced as the Swiss bike trails may be, the trip to Italy has done us good. A trip to Piedmont relaxes the taut biker's heart, which knows forest and snow borders, but is blind to political boundaries. 

 
Biking good, everything good.