I needed one more qualifying ride to participate to this year’s PBP in Paris.
I chose to do it in Italy after spending 24h in the rain 4 years ago in Kent. This ride went from Nettuno (south of Rome near the famous Anzio – a fierce battle in WWII saw many American,English and German soldiers die there ).
We set off at 8.30. Stopped at the American Cemetery where a short ceremony celebrated the lives of those who died for our freedom (11.000 US soldiers are buried there).
The group of around 80 cyclists then set off towards the Appennine mountain range. We basically rode in a pack for the first 150km. No really tough climbs but a pace that really was a bit too fast for me considering that I hadn’t been on my bike for the last 4 weeks. Once the road started to gently climb the pack soon fractured in many smaller groups. The road SS82 after Sora was almost deserted and very scenic. We headed up Monte Slivano pass and towards the town of Campistrello (200Km into the ride) where I almost missed the control and the nice little buffet of sandwiches and delicious home made cakes. I stretched a lot, took my shoes off and enjoyed the warm sun and made friends with two guys that had travelled all the way down from Vicenza: Christian (il Rustego) and Roberto, an ophthalmologist. We continued climbing and after a nice descent we arrived in he city of Avezzano that lies in a spectacular valley. Then we started climbing again and reached the highest point of the ride, on the steep descent I hit 75kmh, and almost killed myself on a hairpin… The sensation of my back wheel in the air sent adrenaline pumping throughout my body 
At this point the sun started to go down so I switched lenses on my new cycling glasses I bought in Berlin, attached the front light and put on my wind breaker. The road gradually flattened towards the sea but then the route made us turn left up and down some steep hills. Not what I needed as I was completely exhausted, out of water and really hungry. I had been on the bike 12 hours and I started developing a weird pain in my neck that radiated down to my left arm. There you go… I’m going to have a heart attack and die here. The pain kept coming and going but finally we reached Silvi Marina where I drank 1.5 l of water, eat 3 plates of very nice pasta (to the horror of the ladies who cooked it I added some crude olive oil), a sausage, and a selection of ALL the desserts. Then a coffee and a glass of wine. I smiled looking at the “flea” celebrate the Champions League victory, then put on my leggings arm warmers and started the second half of the ride that would lead me over the Appennines again and back to Nettuno.
This time I cheated together with quite a few people including Sabrina Bianchi (a RAAM finisher!) and headed towards Pescara along the coast instead of going over again the same hills I found at the end but their pace was too fast and I had no intention of pedalling hard.. it isn’t a race, it is a Randonnée.
After stopping for batteries and a free coffee offered by the owner of the Bar , the road started to climb again.
I really though I was going to be alone for the rest of the ride and through the night but then Roberto caught up with me and we continued together chatting about his desire of buying a Mac Book Pro and PBP strategies until we had to make a left turn into what is probably one of the toughest climbs I have ever experienced… 4km at 13%… I had to zig zag to make it to the top and stop twice… brutal.
We got to the top and we could see the light of the new day over the mountains around us. We stopped another couple of times to remove and add clothes and finally started the descent to Avezzano at around 6am.. I wish I had more clothes and long gloves: my teeth where chattering and my hands hurt like crazy and couldn’t wait for the descent to finish. We stopped at a bar had a very good Cappuccino but unfortunately it was too early for cornetti alla crema. We found other riders there… some asleep face down on tables. This is the toughest time of the day… you body tries to tell you to sleep and your eyes burn a little. We set off again and headed to the next climb but just before that I applied another copious layer of cream inside my shots and on my hands that were really hurting.
The last descent was very very scenic and never ending, too bad for the headwind that forced us to pedal against it.
It became brutal when we got 50km from the end, but roberto was in better shape than me and allowed me to draft (you save at least 30%) behind him. We made it back to Nettuno at 15.30.
Paris here we come!
