Richie Cross Posted May 21, 2012 Report Share Posted May 21, 2012 Thought I'd get in early with a quick review of the trip before you have to read 13 others!!! Other anecdotes and gap fillers will appear shortly Wow!! What a trip. Many, many highs and very, very few lows. Left on the Thurs with the remaining Joansin and it was a long day of travelling but the good company made the day go in. Arrived in Bologna safely...apart from Al McLean's bike which was still in Gatwick The hotel was really good. Great location near to the beach with a pool over the road. Food was excellent and we didn't pay much at all considering it was half board. Arrived late for dinner on the Thurs night but the staff stayed on so we could eat. Friday saw us out on our first ride, all looking fantastic and very professional in our black jerseys. The Wednesday arrivals had been out the day before so we eventually split with some of us heading up the 10km climb to San Marino. Lovely climb and Paul McD was soon a small dot on the horizon as the rest of us made our way up. That soon slowed as we came across long queues of traffic from a Rome - Rome rally. Amazing array of cars from classic Porsche/Mercedes etc to new Ferrari's. Didn't make it all the way as the local polis wouldn't let us so we stopped to admire the view and get choked on old exhaust fumes and burnt out clutches before having a long descent to a lovely village for lunch. Think we clocked up 50 odd miles that day. Saturday was a wee leg stretcher along the coast to Rimini for a cafe stop before back to the hotel for a change and into Cesenatico for lunch. Some amazing, and huge portions, of risotto later (pics to follow) we had a look round the bike expo. Lovely stuff on display but thankfully the credit card stayed at the hotel. Paul McD (my roomie) and I were in bed for 9.30pm in preparation for the big day on Sunday. A lack of sleep for me due to some nearby disco/rave kicking off around midnight and I eventually fell asleep before being woken up by Paul around 4am with 'Richie...did you feel that' Paul was thankfully referring to the earthquake tremors!! That was us awake so after breakfast The Wheelers rolled out at 0530hrs to make our way to the start pen which was the 4th of 7 thanks to the hotel we booked through. Nerves were taking hold of me a bit but excitement as well as the numbers around us started to swell. A wee bit after 0600hrs, the flag went down and off we went....the first 90kms of totally closed roads!!! Having never experienced that before, it was pretty amazing. Didn't take long to lose wheels but after a few kms at about 25mph, we had a group of 6 or 7 Wheelers. Saw a couple of unfortunates who had taken a tumble early doors but we all survived til the first climb....an 8km one but only with an average of 3%. This was the first wake up call of the day. I realised that the averages I read about were due to there being downhill bits along the climb. Felt really good though and we made our way through hordes of people. That was the theme for the day for the first 4 climbs because everyone was on the route before they split for the long and short courses. The descents were amazing. Having a blast with Tom flying past loads of people before we would come together at the bottom. We fragmented a bit as a group but I was still with Chung, Duncan and Tom after the 4 climb. I was feeling it a bit in the legs but was kept going by the others. Felt worse on the climbs but Wingman 1 in the form of Duncan kept me company and a couple of climbs later we had a small regroup. The climbs came think and fast with not much flat in between. We're sure we did more than 9 but some didn't register as proper climbs over there! I fell back again but then had Wingman 2 in the form of Chung who saw me through to the end. We had two 9kms climbs in a row with the second one going on forever but after that, I knew there were 'only' two 4km climbs to go. Thankfully there was a long stretch before the last climb and we latched onto a wee train and had a tow at a good pace. After the final climb, we filled our bottles...by this time I was on a water/coke mix..and made off, latching onto 3 Italians who were going great guns. The rain had came on by now which was refreshing...then cold..and my descending bottle had well and truly crashed but following Chung, we stayed with the Italians and our group slowly grew on the 20km or so run in to the finish. We eventually had about 12 in the group and rolling along nicely from 22-25mph which I never thought would be possible but the adrenaline must've been kicking in. Thought Chung would take the Italians in the sprint but he let them have their team moment across the line. When I crossed the line, if one more person had said 'well done', I think I would've started blubbing Got our medal, headed back to the hotel, getting lost on the way and finished the run with a bit of cyclo cross via the beach! Fantastic feed in the hotel in the evening....bed....shattered! All in all...amazing. Great weather, great food. Only 1 puncture (Billy) and 1 crash (when Richard slid at a roundabout) between us. Fantastically organised with the closed roads for the first 90kms and then really well marshalled at all junctions and roundabouts for the rest of the way. War and Peace for you! Probably missed some bits for you that you stay at homers will surely want to hear about.....again and again and again. And it's good to be home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul C Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 A great trip!!! I really enjoyed the first day climb up to San Marino 500 m in 5 miles - never thought it would end but it was a taster for what was to come on Sunday. The event itself was easier than i thought - no cramp and no stiffness in the legs after!! As Ritchie said the start was mental - groups whizzing off at 25 - 26 mph. I wisely didn't get sucked into that and lost the Wheelers after a few hundred meters. I eventaully caught and passed Ritchie, Tom, Duncan and Chung on the fifth climb. For the final 15k run in I was in a train of about 12 with Duncan and I taking our turn at the front at 24 - 25 mph - totally mad after 120 miles!! - pure adrenaline trip! Crossed the line with Duncan with Tom about 200 m ahead having dropped me on the last climb. Our final train organiser (Italian) came over and shook my hand at the end so I musrt have been doing something right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Cross Posted May 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 I thought I would leave it to Paul to describe his ride. After getting split up at the start, we thought we wouldn't see him again until he came blasting up to us looking really fresh!!! Not good for morale!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EPCC Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 A great trip fab bit the run from climb 8 to 9 and the run home from 9 Fairly happy with time as I am not really a climber found out I am not very good going down either Did most of it on my own left Chung and Tom Richie after first climb ran over a zip wheel on the 4 club first time I have seen somebody fall on the way up Would I do it again maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 Billy. is that you just finished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2023 Subscriptions duncan thomson Posted May 22, 2012 2023 Subscriptions Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 anyone uploaded any pictures yet? duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Richard Posted May 23, 2012 Members Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Yes, where are all those photos? There are five mobile phone snaps on my Facebook page, none of which feature people or any great excitement. Somebody must have done better. The official photographic chronicler of the event has been adding pictures all day. Some of you look quite fast. :-) Go to this page, select the event and type in your number: http://www.fotostudio5.com/default_en.aspx I thought the Nove Colli was brill. Much easier than Flanders but all the better for having closed roads to the summit of the Barbotto. I had a great wheel-about with a wee Italian on the way to the final climb. It was pouring down, I was alone and there were no other riders about who were travelling at my speed. This wee fellow came by and I jumped on his wheel. My conscience got the better of me because of our isolation and the terrible weather - I went through, pointed to my back wheel and shouted at him to get on. We took spells tearing through the rain for what seemed like miles. When I told him I was tiring, "Go on! Good luck!" he wasn't having it. He let me sit on his wheel, and as he got tired too, we went back to spelling about, all the way to the base of the Gorolo. Up to that point, he was the only rider I'd encountered who was prepared to work not only collaboratively but selflessly. Bravo, wee man! I will also remember this particular corner fondly. I didn't know what it was at the time, but it made me smile as I rode by. I did a bit of googling this morning and matched the picture in my head to one on the web. It's the fortress at San Leo and that screen grab doesn't do it justice. If we ever go back there - and I'd like to - perhaps we could head for San Leo on the first ride. See you all on Sunday, folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul C Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Yes, Richard, it was a great view as it was shrouded in cloud aswell - quite eerie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2024 Subscriptions Darryl Gunson Posted May 24, 2012 2024 Subscriptions Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 A few piccies here: http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/67924619@N02/ Just phone shots but help yourselves anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark O Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 I've got a file of piccies telling bits of the tale of the Italian adventure on the work's laptop, however the usual firewalls and security stuff etc prevent me from posting them. I'm happy to clog up someone's inbox if they can then stick them on flickr or on the bunch somewhere. If someone could PM me an email address I'll forward them on as a zipped file if I can. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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