Good Moment: Pisa Arrivals, seeing John there as arranged. I
love it when a plan comes together!
Bad Moment: Realising after 20 mins we were in the wrong
queue for the hire car.
Good Moment: Nice Italian girl giving us a
free car upgrade when she saw our bike bags. “L’Eroica?
Benissimo!”
Bad moment: Stripped bolt on John’s rear
mech
Good moment: He bought a complete ‘60s mech in the jumble and
used the bolt from that
Bad moment: Discovering our accommodation only had a
double bed (John was laughing!)
Good moment Discovering a quilt in the wardrobe we could
roll into a dividing bolster.
Bad moment Disastrous service in the restaurant,
eventually gave up.
Good moment Crashing out with tummy full of cakes -
emergency rations.
Bad moment Waking up and realising we’d
overslept
Good moment Signing on ready to go.
Excitement!
Bad moment Realising our watches were still on UK time,
we’d lost another hour. DOH!
Good moment Climbing the first hill, waymarked with hundreds
of oil lamps in the dawn light.
Bad moment John dropped me already! The pattern for the
day established then.........
Good moment Reaching the first stop for breakfast. Sumptuous
Italian fare. Mmmmmm!
Bad moment. Crank already coming loose.
Good moment Yup, I remembered the spanner!
Tough choice 1. Take the 135km option with everyone else or
soldier on alone with 200k ? (Guess)
Bad moment. Next refreshment stop had been stripped bare
by all those thirsty 200k’ers ahead of us.
Good moment Reaching Montalcino, at 2600km the highest
point. More grub, warm welcome, wine.
Great moment Swooping down on tarmac roads for a change. 50
mph is an under-estimate.
Ooops moment Overshot the turn-off, back onto
the gravel stuff.
Bad moment Realised I’d left my musette at Montalcino,
with water and grub.
V. Bad moment: Grumpy old man at next check
point. “No Aqua”. We were parched.
Good moment Great lunch stop. Pasta, cakes, water.
Overhauled dozens, not dead last anymore!
Tough choice 2 Tea stop: Jump in the sag wagon with the
rest?? Or plod on knowing we were going to miss the cut at the last check?
(Guess)
Great vista John silhouetted against the setting
suns rays, dust billowing behind as he set the pace up ahead
Great moment The final checkpoint re-opened for us, fed us,
watered us then guided us 6 miles out of the town with motorbike.
Scary moment Swooping down more roads in the pitch black,
just relying on instinct, silly frog lights and John’s rear light
ahead
Amazing moment Cheering reception crowd as we
entered the finish area. Free souvenirs, wine, panforte. Felt like
heroes
Tired moment Trying to do justice to the free pasta party.
My tum was too full of gels. I was dog tired. Hope John was too.
200k, 10,000 meters of granny-ring climbing on gravel roads
with gradients up to 20%, most descents on rutted, corrugated gravel with brakes
hard on, so so slow. After 100km my legs and brain were dead and I was glad of
my strategy of taking it easy from the start. No punctures despite tubular
tyres, only one departure from the bike in a loose gravel descent – ooops! -
few mech probs though close inspection back home revealed my bottom bracket
bearings were starting to break up, victim of the hammering vibrations. An
amazing experience with hospitality not to be missed.
Peter Bedingfield
