Wow, today was awesome! The pros might start their racing tomorrow but my first big event was today. The GranFondo Mondiale Franco Ballerini, a 130km jaunt in the hills surrounding Lucca. Lucca is a quaint but now touristy maze of a town surrounded by ancient Etruscan city walls. Today, the amateur racers took over the foot path on top of these walls from the typical tourist on rental cruisers and bike "taxis".
The day started out early. Alarm set for 5:45 and a train ride, crowded with Italian cyclists, in their super Euro Pro- style team kits. It seems club cycling isn't a thing here. If you ride, you race and are on a team, even in the Masters ranks. I have to be honest, it was a little intimidating. Never have I been around so many serious cyclists.
Once I sorted out the mess of finding the sign-in area and dealing with that, I was finally off to the start line, to line up with 1000 others. Gran Fondi here are taken much more seriously than in the US. Since they are new to the US, and cycling is still a growing sport State-side, Gran Fondi seem to be filled with sloppy club cyclists, both in riding style and appearance. Here, a Gran Fondo is a race. There is a finish line with signs indicating 1km, 500m, etc, chip timing, announcers, feed zones (no, not rest stops of guys loading up on cookies, we're talking feed zones with people handing off bottles as you crest the big climbs). The roads are closed for the first 40km or so, and after that, traffic is limited, including police at intersections that immediately stop all traffic to let cyclist through without stopping at a single light. Corse markings are UCI regulation, families paint the names of the racers on the climbs, and there are tifosi lining the streets in towns cheering as though we were the pros. Very cool and very inspiring.
The race started on the walls of Lucca and took a loop around the town to the sound of cheering crowds, until we headed out of town onto the pancake flat roads to away from the city. At around 16km, the first steady climb began. I was just taking it at tempo, but I was flying by people. I was surprised. I was hoping I wasn't going to hard and the locals knew something I didn't, but I trusted my body and kept in mind the long ride to come. It was actually kind of tough, because there was so much traffic of slowing cyclists that I had to actually slow down on the climb.
After the descent of that climb, I settled into a group of 50 riders, who were flying. At times we were doing 50k/hr on the flat roads. The group worked it's way down to about 30 or so by the time we hit the base of the next climb. Not knowing the climb, I again settled into my tempo. However, I guess my tempo was fast. I quickly started riding away from the group. And this isn't a group of schlubs either, remember these are all shaved legged, fit amateur racers. I couldn't believe it. I crossed the top of the climb (the longest but steadiest climb), grabbed a bottle and sat up for a second with hopes that some one would join me on the descent. At the bottom, we were three.
The next climb started almost immediately. This one was brutal. Though not as long, it was so steep. Not Iron Bridge steep but 10% average for over 3km. Again, I started passing people. The one rider who was closes on the last climb was falling off, and then a group came up besides me. I look over and it's three pro women from team Russia, doing some training before their race next Saturday. Somehow, I lifted my tempo to stay with them. This is where all those times up Federal Twist, Iron Bridge, Adamic, Shire, Uhlerstown, etc really helped out. The Russians weren't all out crushing it, but I could tell, since they were speaking a bit of Italian, that they weren't enjoying themselves. At some point close to the top there was a little reprieve of 10 percent from the previous 14% and when it kicked back up again, I dropped it down a gear, got out of the saddle and got a gap on the Russians. As I did so, I could hear one of them grumble, "tifosi" as though to say "shit, we're being dropped by one of the fans."
After some fast and very technical descent, I was back with another three again. Eventually, on the flat a group of ten came back together. The next climb was a real muro (Italian for wall). At this point, I was starting to feel it, but I guess so was everyone else. Again, I rode away from everyone. The one guy who has been chasing me up these climbs and staying within sight, rumbled "allora" in a sarcastic voice as I rode him off my wheel.
After that brutal muro, I wasn't feeling great on the flats, especially not at 40k/hr. But the final climb was easy, high cadence all the way, my favorite type. In the group I was with, no one could stay with me on the climbs. It was a spectacular feeling. The race back into Lucca was frenetic and if it weren't for a bit of traffic before the run-in, we could have had a nice small group sprint.
Either way, the Gran Fondo was an amazing success. I felt invincible when the road went up and being in that atmosphere made me really feel like a Euro Pro. And, the train ride home (Italian trains alway run late) made me feel even more like a pro, with a tortuous transfer, just wanting to get to the hotel asap.
Race Specs:
76 miles
5,830ft ^
3:50:29
19.8mph average
A couple of observations:
In Firenze, they have these giant underground trash bins. Since there's not a lot of space for dumpsters, restaurants, businesses and residents must bring their trash to these bins. Cardboard get's placed next to the bin, there is a bin for recyclables, and bin for garbage, and a bin for compost. A garbage truck with a giant hook comes around and lifts these out of the ground to empty them. Very cool.
If you want a plastic bag in the grocery store, they charge you 0.08 Euro. And said plastic bags are biodegradable. Even cooler.
However, Italian cyclists, in emulating their beloved professional idols throw wrappers and bottles around without even thinking about it. I saw one guy toss a 1.5L water bottle right over the guardrail into the woods! It's shocking to me. I must have been the only weirdo to come home with empty wrappers in my pockets. I even felt guilty tossing a water bottle into the pile on the side of the road after the feedzone, though I know they'll all get picked up.
Italian cyclists really follow the Euro Pro rules. White everything, even white bibs. They almost all only carry one water bottle, leaving the other cage empty or having a tool bottle there so they don't have a saddle bag. I thought I traveled light but damn!
Anyway, that's a lot for one day. Tomorrow the races start with the Trade Team Time Trials. Hopefully some cool photos to come!
congrats!
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