We tried to deflate his tires, we tried to steal his shoes. Breaking his bike into pieces is the only item left on the list. Regardless of all the times we tried to talk him out of the athlete’s life we never managed to have him ride slow in a race. Not even when we were partying until 2AM before a race and tried to give him the worst chances to perform.
To be honest that’s not entirely true, because if you get to know Mattia you are well aware there’s another side of the guy. There’s quite a lot of room for the easy going Mattia too, a guy who likes to spend time together and to ride easy looking for new places and landscapes.
We managed to stop him nevertheless (we stole his wheels this time) and we got the chance to ask a few questions.
So, are we having a good break right now?
Well, that was in november. Now we’re already on the dance floor for quite some time. I’m talking about training but not only about that.
What do you mean?
Let’s say cycling is just a part of the game now. This year even more, because with everything that needs to be done to prepare for the season and for traveling and with everything that is cooking right now I use the time on the bike to relax!
It’s already been one year with Enough now…
Yes, a year. One full of news and surprises. When I quit racing I always rode “alone” – not on a personal level of course, but as a cyclist or in any way you want to call riding with an objective in mind. With Enough Cycling everything changed because I felt part of a Collective and many other things that were under the surface for a while came up too.
Everything great…
Yes, it’s been great to shape this from scratch. But I need to be honest: last year I also needed to make difficult decisions and it was not easy to take a clear direction.
I had a lot of thinking and I understood that month after month Enough has become a part of me, after me being part of it. I understood that right now I can’t live without it, it represents a big part in my life right now and it’s something I truly believe in. If you believe in something, that needs to be your priority. And Enough is a priority to me, as a matter of fact.
There were a lot of really good moments too, right?
For sure! I had some unfinished business with bad luck and it finally left me alone on many occasions. I really needed to get it off me and it was really great to have the chance to compete without any major issue involved. One of the best things was also to be able to share such happy moments with friends and with the guys from Enough – such as we did at the end of the Italy Divide.
What about this year?
I’ll have more time and I’ll be able to pedal a bit more without the need to fit training on super busy days. But as I said I got busy already, with this huge calendar ahead. It’s gonna be tough but it’s the right way to approach the season: I don’t want to miss any chance and I want to go to different event and places to discover new landscapes and cultures.
Such as?
Last year I put many ticks in boxes that I drew ages ago. This year I want to put many more. For sure one of these boxes is called “USA” but there are many more that came later on. Africa for sure, but probably the one I care the most about concerns another continent and that’s Asia. Let’s see how it will be!
