Angelo Furlan's De Rosa

as seen on Ciclismo Espresso

Tutto serve ma nulla e' indispensabile

Marcus Burghardt's new rig

as seen on Ciclismo Espresso

The 2012 Italian Gran Fondo Season: June and July

After the two warmup months of February/March and the two peak months April/May (yes, check the links for more info), it's June and July when the Gran Fondos in Italy hit the high mountains. Hard core courses like GF Sportful in the Dolomites or Fausto Coppi in the Southern Alps are more man versus mountain challenges than head-to-head races. The “lungo percorso” in these events is usually 150-200k long, hits 3-5 passes and has over 4,000m of climbing.

GF Sportful (fka GF Campagnolo) is the opener of the big daddies. With its 5,200m of climbing over 210km it will test your abilities to merely finish. Only the extremely fit are still competing at that level. There may be other events in Europe that have a little more climbing (Oetztaler and Alpenbrevet) but Sportful has the atmosphere and competition on its side that's unique to an Italian GF.

A week later GF Giordana throws Gavia and Mortirolo, aka the beauty and the beast, at you. Yes please!

Back in the Dolomites only another weekend later: it's time for the Queen of Gran Fondo. I may have referred to Nove Colli with that title but scratch that. La Maratona dles Dolomites trumps them all. It's a 140km long mountain party on closed to cars roads over absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and challenging  dolomite passes (Passo Giau anyone?). The field of 8,000 has to be drawn in a lottery. If the valley could handle 30,000 riders, they would be there.

You can't decide between sniffing some Tour de France air and doing a Gran Fondo? You don't have to. GF Fausto Coppi starting and finishing in Cuneo is close to the French border and not far from the likes of Izoard and Galibier. It's usually held around the time when the Tour hits the alps so your chances are good to make it a combo trip. GF Fausto Coppi tackles the lesser known but Giro proven Colle Sampeyre and Colle Fauniera aka “Colle dei Morti”. Now, the “Pass of the Dead” shouldn't keep you from riding it but some respect is definitely due. While Cuneo lies at a mere 300m above sea level, both Fauniera and Sampeyre hit 2,500m.

To sum it up:

Sportful – the toughest true Italian style GF

Giordana – to tackle Mortirolo

Maratona – the Queen

Coppi – you can't stay away from the Tour

But, of course, there is more, such as the Maratona Apennini or La Pinarello who have their own characteristics and challenges. Email me at ilpassista at gmail.com if you want to know more.

Around mid July, the GF season comes to an abrupt halt when Italy hits the beaches and it's family first for the riders. It ain't over till it's over though. September has some highlights in the bag before winter hits Europe. Stay tuned.

For further information check out cycling.it, Dalzero and leComariedellaMdD.

February/March

April/May

Sportful

Giordana

Maratona

Fausto Coppi

03/06 Le Cento Gobbe (Ciclot) Rho MI
03/06 Vigneti dell'Oltrepo... Broni PV
03/06 GF dello Stelvio Sondrio SO
03/06 GF Damiano Cunego Verona VR
03/06 GF del Castello Dieg... Rosignano Marittimo LI
03/06 StraSubasio Spello PG 2
03/06 GF Danilo di Luca Chieti CH
03/06 GF Alberobello e Murge Alberobello BA
03/06 GF delle due provincie Finale di Pollina PA
10/06 GF St. Vincent GF St. Vincent AO
10/06 Milano-Sanremo Milano MI
10/06 Gröden Marathon Ortisei BZ
10/06 GF Eddy Merckx Rivalta di Brentino VR
10/06 La Ercole Baldini Massa Lombarda
10/06 Fondo del Capitano Bagno di Romagna FC
10/06 GF delle Cerase Moser Palombara Sabina RM
10/06 GF del Vulture Rionero in Vulture PZ
17/06 Ciclolonga del Sestriere Collegno TO
17/06 GF Prologo Giovanni ... Voghera PV
17/06 Sportful Dolomiti Race Feltre BL
17/06 GF dei Colli Amerini Amelia TR
17/06 GF Udace Teramo Teramo TE
17/06 GF BCC Comuni Cilentani Torchiara
17/06 Granfondo 4 Colli Dauni Ortanova FG
23/06 GF Oderzo-Falcade-Oderzo Oderzo TV
24/06 Kappa Marathon Rivoli TO
24/06 GF Giordana Aprica SO
24/06 GF Carrera Bassano del Grappa VI
24/06 GF delle Valli Parme... Langhirano PR
24/06 La Sterrata Bucine AR
24/06 Granfondo dei Giganti Montemurlo - Loc. Ba PO
24/06 GF dei Colli Piceni Servigliano AP
24/06 GF Due giorni della ... Rieti RI
24/06 GF Città di Grottaglie Grottaglie TA

01/07 Maratona dles Dolomites La Villa BZ
01/07 GF Straducale Urbino PU
08/07 La Fausto Coppi Sell... Cuneo CN
08/07 GF Bellunese Ridley Sedico BL 3
08/07 GF del Collio - Nord Est Marathon Buttrio UD
08/07 Prato-Abetone Prato PO
08/07 GF dei Monti Sibillini Caldarola MC
08/07 Granfondo Altopiani d'Abruzzo Castel di Sangro AQ
08/07 GF Mare e Monti Capizzi ME
14/07 Montegrappa Challenge (Rando) Romano d'Ezzelino VI
15/07 Maratona du Mont Blanc La Thuile AO
15/07 La Pina Cycling Marathon Treviso TV
15/07 GF Majellonga – Città di Sulmona Sulmona AQ
22/07 La Fabio Casartelli MF Kuota Albese con Cassano CO
22/07 GF Charly Gaul Trento TN
22/07 GF dell'Adriatico Senigallia AN
22/07 Granfondo San Gottardo Ambrì
29/07 Giro delle Dolomiti (fino al 04/08) Bolzano BZ 1
29/07 GF Città di Pordenone Pordenone PN

Meanwhile on Route 9W...

Gran Fondo New York at SKY Italia

Meanwhile in Milan, Italy...

..."tutto il rosa della vita". Gazzetta dello Sport water.

Still in...

...Lazio, Italy. This place is unbelievable for winter riding. During what was one of the toughest winters since the ice age in Italy, Terracina and surroundings allowed us to ride almost every day.

Selle San Marco Concor

I recently wrote about the San Marco Mantra, a saddle that may be a solution for seat plagued ladies. The options for men seem to be greater but that doesn’t make an appropriate choice easier. Just as for the ladies, trial and error is usually the only way to get happy.

My first road bike saddle was a San Marco Rolls. They were heavy but comfortable. Back then you either rode a San Marco Rolls, San Marco Concor or Selle Italia Turbo. After a couple of years I switched to the Turbomatic from Selle Italia. Its shape is similar to the Rolls but after a while it started making a noise that even WD-40 couldn’t stop.

The Selle Italia Flite was a revelation at half the weight of traditional saddles while still very comfortable. The SLR was a better looking evolution from the Flite and my first choice in the recent years on all my bikes.

Now that I am part of Gruppo Sportivo Gran Fondo New York, I enjoy the sponsorship of Selle San Marco. It brings me back to my origins. Almost I should say, given that I was a “Rolls” and not a “Concor” guy. Essentially, the peloton was split in those two groups.

Twenty years later I now sit on the 2012 San MarcoConcor. The “Concordisti” must have been truly excited when they heard that the Concor is back in a modern (read lighter) version. At first I didn’t notice that I sit on the Concor because I put it on my new Pinarello Dogma 2 complete with Campagnolo Super Record. The whole bike is so exciting that the saddle isn’t really the first thing you notice. Which goes to the credit of the saddle - if the saddle was bad, it would have stood out immediately.

Once I’ve done the first miles on the Pina, my thoughts were wandering around all its parts. Thinking “how’s that saddle anyway?”, the answer to myself was “wow! This thing is awesome. Even with my most beloved saddles it always took a few miles to get used to an off-the shelf update. I had to break them in. But the Concor felt great immediately.”

Several hundred miles later, I’m still very happy with the Concor. Only one thing bothers me a little: is it cheating if a Rolls guy now rides a Concor? What would Tafi say?
Check out the 2012 San Marco Concor and other San Marco saddles at NYC BIKE EXPO on May 18 and 19.

Sean Kelly. Passista.

Paris-Roubaix 1984

Snow day

Bar Trani, Sperlonga, Lazio

Diadora Jet Racer

There are few things that I expect from a racing shoe but they are absolutely key and something I would never again compromise on.

- First, a racing shoe has to be light because you move your legs constantly and you don’t want to add unnecessary weight.

- Second, they have to have a completely rigid sole for the most direct energy transfer from your foot to the pedal. Light and rigid are contradictionary concepts, but carbon fiber is the material of choice to produce stiff and relatively light soles.
- Third, they have to fit tightly around your foot. You wouldn’t want to have your feet move first and then have the shoe follow. That’s a waste of energy.

And that’s it. A good racing shoe gets these three things right. Everything else may be nice to have but isn’t a need to have. You may have noticed that “comfortable” isn’t on my list. If you race, you want a racing shoe, not a couch for your feet. Sure, they shouldn’t make you cringe after a few miles but they don’t have to be like “I could leave them on all day!” comfortable either, because you don’t. You take them off as soon as you get off your bike. Many pros rip open their shoes at the finish not unlike downhill skiers because they have to be super tight for the sprint finish. And if you buy a new pair and can’t decide between two sizes, take the smaller size. If in doubt, size down. You are not walking around in them and your toes don’t need to move freely. Bike racing shoes are not walking or running shoes. 

Yes, if the shoes are ventilated it may help you to stay a little cooler on a hot summer day. But when was the last time you went hard and thought “Oh, if only my feet would be a little cooler!” Well, if you did, chances are that you weren’t going hard enough.

Bring in DIADORA’s latest racing shoe, the “JET RACER”. It’s the shoe of Gruppo Sportivo Gran Fondo New York (and that guy who won the Tour last year but who cares, right?). Yes, it is extremely light. Yes, it is stiff. Yes, you can tighten it until your feet bleed. It does its job, being a true, full-on racing shoe, to perfection.

I’ve done several 200k Gran Fondos and a one-week stage race across the Alps wearing this top-end Diadora shoe and didn’t have foot pain even once. Plus, they are engineered in conjunction with GEOX, the Italian shoe company that specializes in ventilated shoes, so yes, your feet will get the air they want and need.

And because they are from Italy, they look sharp and stand out, especially in the fluro and black/fluro colors. This is 2012, fluro it is!

The DIADORA JET RACER and other models will be available at NYC BIKE EXPO on May 18 and 19. 

No.

Yes.

Meanwhile in Terracina/Italy...

...another great day in the saddle ends.

GF La Magnifica: Forli-San Marino-Forli

227k, 5300m of climbing, cobbles, dirt roads and a velodrome finish: the inaugural Gran Fondo La Magnifica from Forli to San Marino and back promises to be indeed magnificent. 

Mark your calendars: September 9, 2012.

 

Training like the pros: Terracina

Fifteen years ago I heard for the first time about the town of Terracina in Italy, situated between Rome and Naples. It was an article in an Italian cycling magazine about a pro Team Saeco training there in January. At the time, I spent two weeks in Cecina Mare in Tuscany. It's a perfect training ground and the weather is usually great for cycling even in January with temperatures of 10-15C. 

Usually. If you get unlucky, it can be colder. Bring in Terracina. Its shores and the coast south of it are sheltered by various mountain chains. The "Golfo di Gaeta" is the warmest region in all of Italy (equal to Sicily that is hundreds of kilometers further South). 

Italy currently experiences the snowiest and coldest winter since 1986. I almost got stuck in Rome in a snowstorm. Now, Rome is only 100k north of Terracina. Currently, Terracina is one of the few places in Italy that is snow free. While Rome still was in a state of emergency yesterday, only allowing cars with snow chains to drive, we rode 110k around Terracina in 8 degrees Celsius.

Sure, there are other great places to train. Many travel to Mallorca that has great roads, flat or hilly. The Canary Islands are off the coast of Africa, which is a guarantee for warm weather in the dead of winter. But Mallorca can get cold. It's snowing right now and a bunch of pros are staring out their hotel room windows. The Canary Islands may be warm but expect storm like winds and a lack of roads to train on. It’s the same old every day.

While southern Lazio is cycling fantasy land, it is not on the radar of the amateur rider or cycling enthusiast. And that's just baffling. Rome's airports Fiumicino and Ciampino are a mere 90 minutes north of Terracina. Terracina is close to the train Rome-Naples. The fact that Italians love cycling and you're not a weirdo there is a big bonus. Yes, Tucson, Arizona may be warm but as a cyclist you're not a normal sight. I don't have to mention that the food is amazing in Italy (but I still do). 

There is a hotel in Sperlonga, 20k South of Terracina, that hosts most pro teams, including Cipollini's Saeco and Domina Vacanze, Pantani's Mercatone Uno or just recently Vini Farnese with Pippo Pozzato. 

But if you stay longer than a week, I suggest you rent an apartment. We paid 1,000 Euro for three weeks for a two bedroom, one bathroom, living room, kitchen and a humongous terrace just by the beach. Sat TV and WiFi included. Restaurants and supermarkets with all the fresh food you'd ever wish are close by.

Cycling.it had a nice article on the main rides you can do here. But Terracina is not like Tucson, San Diego or Gran Canaria. You don’t have to know the three or four rides that you can do. With its hundreds of roads you can just head out the door and take the road you fancy. See that town on the hill over there? Let’s check it out! But of course there are highlights you don’t want to miss. Here are my three favorites:

1.     The Sperlonga climb is easily one of the most scenic climbs I’ve done. It starts in Sperlonga at the sea and heads inland. The road hugs the hill with spectacular views of the Mediterranean sea. It’s a steady 5-6% climb which is ideal so early in the year. Pros use this 5k long beauty to train “salita forza resistenza” (SFR), big gear strength training. If you continue towards Itri and from there to Gaeta, make sure you take the small road turning right just before Itri saying “Valle Quercia”. Spectacular and car free.

2.    Pietra Porci: this climb starts right behind Terracina and loops around a hill. Use it as a beautiful start or end to a longer ride or simply a nice 30k loop. Olive trees, orange trees, farms.

3.    San Felice Circeo is a village at the bottom of a 400m hill that overlooks the flat coast around it. It pops out of the ground from nowhere. The climb up is steady but has some steeper parts as well. North of the hill is a natural park with a beautiful road on a small stretch of land between the beach and a lake.

The proximity of Terracina to Rome makes for fantastic bad weather or rest day excursion.  I’ll be back next year.

Delayed due to cold weather: Gran Fondo Loano UPDATE: and GF Laigueglia

The first Gran Fondo of the season should have been today but it has become victim to the frigid conditions that captured Europe since late this week. GF Loano has been postponed by three weeks to February 26. That leaves Laigueglia to be the season kick-off next Sunday as it was the tradition only a few years ago. Or does it? The weather forecast isn't entirely clear yet. If the cold continues and the winds bring moisture from the North West, cold is the least of the problems but snow will put a definite halt on plans to race bikez. Either way, the start to the Italian Gran Fondo Season will be a cold you. If Laigugelia kicks it off, I'll be there.

UPDATE: "Granfondo di Laigueglia: rinviata al 18 marzo - Sembra che la stagione 2012 non voglia partire. Le previsioni per il fine settimana del 12 febbraio sono nuovamente pessime. Vittorio Mevio sceglie di spostare la Granfondo di Laigueglia al 18 marzo. Inalterato il programma. Le iscrizioni restano aperte."

In other words: also Laigueglia is not happening because there will be more cold weather.

Gran Fondo Stelvio UPDATE

More details have become available about the new Gran Fondo Stelvio on which I have reported a month ago. We knew that the mountain top finish of the 2012 Giro would be replicated in a Gran Fondo a week and some later, namely on June 3. Now we also know that the race starts in Bormio and that the Gran Fondo passes the infamous Mortirolo before heading up Stelvio from the less famous Bormio side. Still, a Gran Fondo not to be missed. Plus, Santini sponsors the event which means a maglia rosa will be included with the inscription. I'll be there. Hit me up if you need more info.

NOME - GF STELVIO SANTINI – Valtellina Extreme
DATA - 03/06/2012
LOCALITA’ - BORMIO - PASSO STELVIO
N. EDIZIONE - 1^
COMITATO ORGANIZZATORE - UNIONE SPORTIVA BORMIESE
CIRCUITI DI APPARTENENZA - NOBILI
PERCORSI (KM/DISLIVELLO)
MEDIO - Bormio, Tirano, Bianzone, Teglio, Tresenda, Stazzona, Tirano, Grosio, Bormio, Passo Stelvio. 
KM. 132 – dislivello 3120 metri (con salita di TEGLIO e PASSO STELVIO)
LUNGO - Bormio, Tirano, Bianzone, Teglio, Tresenda, Stazzona, Tirano, Tovo, Mortirolo, Grosio, Bormio, Passo Stelvio.
KM. 155 – dislivello 4260 metri (con salita di TEGLIO,MORTIROLO da Tovo, PASSO STELVIO)
PARTENZA - Da BORMIO - ORE 7,30
ARRIVO - PASSO DELLO STELVIO
QUOTA DI ISCRIZIONE - € 35,00
CRONOMETRAGGIO - CHIP (da definire chi lo effettuerà)
NOVITA’ 2012 - E’ UNA GRAN FONDO NUOVA CON ARRIVO AI 2760 METRI DEL PASSO DELLO STELVIO (CIMA COPPI PER ANTONOMASIA)
PACCO GARA - MAGLIA ROSA
ALBERGHI CONVENZIONATI - APT BORMIO 0342/903300
DA VEDERE IN ZONA
CENTRO STORICO DI BORMIO
PARCO NAZIONALE DELLO STELVIO

COME ARRIVARE
MILANO-LECCO-VALTELLINA-SONDRIO-TIRANO-BORMIO
BRESCIA-VALLECAMONICA-EDOLO-APRICA-TIRANO-BORMIO
BOLZANO-MERANO-PASSO STELVIO-BORMIO
INFO LINE - UNIONE SPORTIVA BORMIESE: TEL. 0342/901482
SITO INTERNET - www.usbormiese.com
E-MAIL - info@usbormiese.com

Albert's ride

I'm not sure about all the white on a bike built for brownish mud but this bike gets three things right that many, many other in recent years got so utterly wrong:

1. No sloping, it's a cross bike for f's sake.

2. An extra tube to fill the angle between seat and top tube to help with the whole carrying part of the race.

3. NO SLOPING.