New bike weekend

When it comes to a bike the concept is quite the same. As a matter of fact, for the first ride we shared a simple brief to the collective: do whatever you want. Whatever you feel like is the best to get to know your new companion. Here what they decided to do for their first one with their 3T Exploro Racemax over the weekend!

First gravel experience for me. My friends are planning a 200 kms ride for Saturday and I like the idea. I’m not checking the route: the most important thing is riding! “We will be in Bassano at 12.30, 1.00pm max” my friend says, the one who picked the route. Well, we arrived in Bassano at 3.00 pm. I let you wonder how smooth the track was. When in Bassano we stopped for a quick lunch and luckily we met Sam and Mattia there. Sam gave me a USB charger to keep my Garmin alive – mine broke during the ride. Without his help I would have lost my first 200+ track and I wasn’t let this happen. Mattia rode with us for a few kilometers, giving me helpful advice and teaching me a lot about off-road riding.

I’ve also run up against my first river crossings and I felt a little happy girl passing them at full speed like if I was on a roller coaster. Everything was great until my friend broke his new pair of bib. I think it’s better leaving untold what happened next. Arrival time 21.00, so happy that I would have never stopped. 

(Sam is a man of few words and a lot of watts)

Saturday I’ve been on Monte Grappa with Mattia. We went up through quite a difficult single track – number 195 (ex. 95 if you want to check it out). Next time I’ll push him a bit further. As for now, I’ve still too much respect for him to make him suffer more. It was a great day on the bike, for sure!

The best way to know someone is spending time together. Friday night, right after work, a stroll around with my new bike was necessary. I did it with Frank, following a komoot track on the edge of the Piemonte and Lombardia boundaries. The offroad sections were cool, as well as the sunset and the delicious pizza to close up the loop.

But to get to know someone for real you gotta spend time just with each other. That’s why the alarm was set at 4.30AM on Saturday and I left at 5AM to take advantage of all the hours we are free to go out riding. off to Como, the full tour around the Lake and then Lecco. Then a detour to discover (because -shame on me- I never rode it before) the Valcava climb. And then Bergamo old town, Milano and Navigli. 12 hours together in which we had them all: headwind (a lot, way too much), sunrise on the lake, blue skies, fog, storm, rain, sunset on Navigli. We pedaled, we talked with people, we took some pictures. We put out quite an effort and we enjoyed each other’s company. A .zip file of what we are going to live in the next few months. Could it get any better?

It was definitely time to baptize my new bike. A 5.00am to 10pm ride – the exact time we are allowed to be out – was the perfect way to do it.

I thought I could ask Sam to join me, since waking up before sunrise is no issue for that guy. He happily accepted and he took me on his favorite playground, on Monte Grappa. There, I had the pleasure to let me be carried around for 8 hours along wonderful single tracks with the best guide ever. In the meantime we chatted, we remained silent and we undertook crazy descents in which Sam is a master. Chances are we finally arrived in Bassano right with Asja, who was in the middle of her first off road ride. I was curious to see how Asja handl her bike in tough conditions and so I went West with her and her friends. I must say I was impressed to see her riding in dirt as well as she rides on paved roads.

After saying goodbye to Asja I had 80km left. Completely wasted I finished my 300 km ride at 9.58 pm, blessing the food machines.

Monday was a great day too, spent through the Prosecco hills where I borough a few friends off-road for the first time. A sentence is enough to understand: “thank you Mattia, you filled my eyes with amazing landscapes and my heart with wonderful emotions”.

That’s my saturday. I wake up pretty early as usual. I don’t know why, but I feel like washing my hair. I know that’s a pretty stupid idea since in a few hours I’ll be on a bike. Whatever: it’s 7.05 and I get ready to go out.

It seems like I’m going out with someone: I pick the right socks, sunglasses matching my bibs, some more details matching with my helmets. I feel a bit naive doing so because I know it’s not gonna take much to get all sweaty because of the effort. But – you know – I like to do that and I get ready the way I want.

I can’t miss my morning rituals, whether they make sense or not. Any given morning I get breakfast at the bar downstairs. Cappuccino and pan au chocolat: that’s how I get to understand how my day will look like.

Cappuccino is missing its foam on top and it’s the sign my brain associates to “it’s gonna be a crap day”.

My mood is directly proportional to the quality of my cappuccino. It’s quite easy for someone who is cappuccino addicted to say the one I got today is very bad. The croissant nevertheless seems to be quite good: maybe the day won’t be that bad in the end.

I get on the bike – for the fifth time this year. My butt urges to remind me that I didn’t ride that much so far. I go and I don’t even realize I ride 43 km to get to the Alta Langa region. I don’t have music with me today, but everything sounds so good!

I suffer and push for another good 72km. Up and downhill on these hills. I find myself smiling: maybe that cappuccino wasn’t that bad. Or maybe I need to stop believing that things can change in a moment.

115 km and a good pat on the shoulder. It’s Sunday now. It’s Easter: time for Christ to get back from death. And – somehow – for me too 😉

I kicked off my weekend Friday night, riding the line between Lombardia and Piemonte with my teammate Federico. Saturday morning I went out with Chiara in search of new Drittoni to include in the coming soon Drittoni Ride. On Easter Sunday I stayed on my couch, watching the most fascinating cycling race – goes without saying that I’m talking about Flanders. To top off my long weekend I had one more ride with Federico – another Federico, not the same as Friday – for a fun loop together.

My first weekend out with my new bike was really something promising for the upcoming season. For sure these days you need to be careful and you can’t do much. Still, I was able to spend the night out in the woods, with a fire being a really good mate for the evening spent with a couple of friends. Then – it goes without saying – I rode quite a bit too. Exploring  the left side of the river Piave was fun. It’s just great because you get single tracks, sand, loose gravel and stones and you need to put up quite an effort to get through.

I’m always up to find new gravel alternatives in my beloved valleys around Bergamo. Easter seems like the right day to go and check a couple of singles tracks marked S1 on komoot to get to Passo di Zambla. It was great to check them out – some hike-a-bike was involved too. Then the great idea to try to ride some XC-ski tracks. Not the best ever, actually. Even less if you realize it’s April 4th and I’m on a bike and not on a pair of skis.

Still, with quite good will and stamina you always get through. In the meantime I got to race a couple of e-bikers, I tried to explain to some elders what a gravel bike actually is and I got to meet a donkey that was resting in the middle of a cycle path. It’s not much, but it’s already enough.