8:30 AM. Pinerolo (a small city in north west of Italy). Breakfast done, cigarette lit, Triumph Tiger 1200 parked outside looking way too serious for what we were about to do.
A 1200cc adventure tourer. On a dirt trail. Through the Piedmontese woods. Nobody said this was going to be a smart idea.
My friend showed up on his Honda Dominator — the kind of bike that actually belongs on unpaved roads. Light, nimble, built for exactly this. He looked at my Tiger and said nothing. The look said enough.
We headed out toward Colle Lazzara first. The road starts fine, tarmac, normal, and then at some point it just… stops bothering. Gravel, loose stones, roots crossing the path, the occasional patch of mud that makes you rethink your life choices. The Tiger was not happy. Or maybe it was fine and I was the one who wasn’t happy. Hard to tell.
What I noticed immediately: he was relaxed. I was not. He’d done this before. I was gripping the bars like the bike was about to file for divorce.
Past Colle Lazzara, we pushed through to Vocciaria — small mountain villages, the kind that make you wonder how people decided to build a whole town here and then apparently never left. Forests closing in on both sides, the sound of the engine bouncing off the trees. At some point I stopped thinking about whether I was doing it right and just rode.
That’s when it clicked.
The highest point of the route — I don’t know the exact altitude, didn’t check, didn’t care — opens up completely. No trees. No road noise. Just the Alps sitting there like they’ve been waiting for you to notice them.
We stopped. Helmets off. Neither of us said much.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be a proper off-road rider. The Tiger is probably always going to be slightly overkill for trails like these, and I’m probably always going to be slightly underskilled for the bike. But there’s something about finding your way through the woods to a view like that — starting from a bar in Pinerolo with a coffee and a cigarette — that makes the math feel correct anyway.
First dirt road. Done.
Already thinking about the next one.
