A little over five hours later, as the last rays of the sun sank into the rich Tuscan soil and the horizon disappeared in a purple blush, we staggered back to our penzione. Maybe Marco was not kidding when he said he was going to ride a hundred miles every day. I hardly tasted dinner that night, literally falling asleep in my chair.
In the remaining days before the race, we trained every day on the roads of the course. Stopping for water at a sleepy café, Marco would point to the race poster stuck on the wall and quiz us on the race course. “After the departure, what is the next town? Yes, Pitigliano, correct. And the climb after that? What? Sorano? No, no, no! Come on, pay attention! That is the Pantani climb!” In two days, we did the entire “long” racecourse of 158 kilometers (about 100 miles). Other days we did the medium course of 60 miles. Day by day, we grew to know the area, anticipating the turns, the landmarks, and the cadence of the hills. I’ve never ridden such enjoyable descents. I am not a huge risk taker, but these gently sweeping downhills were pure fun: minutes on end of flying through green and golden springtime, leaning my body into curves and trying to avoid the brakes altogether.
All in all, I don’t think I’ve ever been so well-schooled in a race course before the event. When the big day came, we were picked up in a van together with the rest of Marco’s crew, and driven to the race start in the “big town” of Manciano. Until race day, I was a bit unclear on what a gran fondo actually entails. Basically it’s a huge mass-start cycling event, where some pros (those without professional contracts for the year) and up-and-coming junior riders compete to win, and a whole bunch of other riders race for honors in their age category. Still more riders are cicloturistas who participate strictly for fun. The best analogy I can make would be to a marathon like the one in NYC, where participants run the gamut from the fastest runners in the world, who hope to break 2:10, to people in Sponge Bob costumes hoping to finish. The ways in which the gran fondo differs are: 1) there are three different course options (short, medium, and long), 2) the water stops serve sparkling water, not Gatorade, and 3) Italians are far too stylish to be caught dead in anything adorned with Sponge Bob.
PREVIOUS PAGE
