Specialized Turbo Creo: A Visit to Lamastre
Words by Brad Roe; Images by Chris Auld
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Lamastre is a charming small town on the Dolce Via trail network in the Ardèche region of south-central France. It is known for Picodon (a goat cheese made in the Drôme and Ardèche), Ardèche chestnuts (that have achieved AOC status) and enough Côtes du Rhône offerings to fill up all of your free time.
The town of 2,500 inhabitants also features the Vivarais railway line, on which you can take a 33-kilometer steam train ride to Saint-Jean-de-Muzols. Our adventure did not involve trains on this late-winter day, but two Specialized Turbo Creo e-bikes and a plan to ride as far and as long as the sun allowed on the 90-kilometer Dolce Via network. The scenery and gravel options in this area are remarkable and we tried to hit every town, climb and view we could in an unforgettable day of riding bikes.
The Turbo Creo SL was the perfect choice for our adventures with Specialized this winter. The revolutionary e-bike is available in six versions from the $5,000 Turbo Creo SL Comp E5 to the S-Works Turbo Creo SL that will run you $13,500. All models feature a 120-mile-range option and a 28 mph assist.