Soton -> Dorchester -> Soton

"Woo! Lovley morning! Cya in 15" It's 4.45am and I am getting ready. I just had a quick shower and an energetic breakfast and I am about to meet Jamie. He is cycling to Plymouth and I would love to follow him, but I can't stay away the whole day, so I will ride with him for the first few miles. I think I will go as far as Bournemouth and come back. The air is cold but the sky is clear and the Sun is rising so we take off with no delay. Jamie is riding his road bike while I am on my brakeless Gelatina. I just changed her tyres and chain, so she is really happy! We cycle to the west. The trafic is still inexistent and in no time we already are cycling through New Forest. The only problem is the gusty head wind that will blow the whole day. The forest is amazing, still dark but with the top of the trees that are starting to catch the Sun and, as I say to Jamie, it is exacly how I imagine Canada. I don't now why buth this was my thought. I am riding in front most of the time: I will cycle just a few miles, so it is my duty to fight the wind! Sometimes we ride side by side and chat a little bit, while the leggs start warming up and we find oureselves out of the Forest and into the houses of Christchurch. Everything is amazing and it is too early to turn around, so I decide to go ahead until 9 am. Then I will wish my good luck to Jamie and turn around. We slow down a little bit through Bournemouth and Poole, while we look for the signs that lead us to route A35. It is a big road but at this time of the day it shouldn't be too much of a problem to follow it for some miles until we reach A351! Just before reaching the big road we have a "wee and energy" pit-stop and then we take off again. Remembering what happened last year I have with me two sandwiches with honey, so I eat the first half: I will need most of the energy on my way back! Our second stop is at Wareham for a cappuccino and a water refill. Then we catch route A352 and we follow it all the way to Dorchester with just two other strategic pit-stops. Dorset is amazing! Now the Sun is high and lits up the hills covered with crops. It looks like we are in Maremma (Italy)...what is it today with this geografic digressions? The last few miles to Dorchester are really hilly. I have to stend up on the pedals while we climb, and spin my leggs really fast as we fly down, we are therefore relieved when we get to the town, just in front of a sandwich bar! It is 9.30 and we deserve a second beakfast! My beacon cheese burger is amazing, and I really have to thank It if I got home! 10.00- It is time to go back! I wish Jamie a good ride, tell him to take it easy, and hit the road. At fist the burger makes me feel a little heavy: the leggs don't spin as well as before. But after warming up everything falls into place again! Now the wind is on my back and the Sun in my face, better than this is impossible. And in fact I zoom back through "Maremma" without stopping, I fly across Wareham and I start to fight with the cars on A35. The road is much more busy now and I don't like it. I just look the white line and push as hard as I can to get out soon. As a consequence when I get to Christchurch I am a bit exausted and I decide that it is time to stop. I drink, I stretch, I eat a whole honey sandwich and rest a little bit. I have now to ride 20 miles to Lyndhurst and 10 more to Southampton, the sky is getting cloudy and I am starting to feel some pain on my back...I guess that Gelatina is not exactly of my size. Fortunately the leggs are still behaving well, apart from my right ankle which I hurted last week playing football. As I cycle through the New Forest it starts raining, and it doesn't look like Canada anymore. I have another brake at Lyndhurst and then cover the last 10 miles doing my best to keep a high rithm: it is just 1.30pm when I walk into the University!. At the end of the day I cycled 196km (122 miles) and climbed 812m. It took me 4h30' to get to Dorchester and, thanks to the wind, just 3h30' to head back (overall time, not ride time). The ride has been amazing, both for the landscape, the physical feelings and for the company. By the way, I last heard from Jamie at 2pm when he was in Sidemouth...now it is 5 and I think he is facing the steep hills of Dartmoor! Good luck to him! I hope he survives, since I am looking forward to other amazing rides!

FreeMind 2012

Eccoci quà, anche quest'anno è arrivato Maggio, e come tutti i maggi che si rispettano ci ha portato il Giro d'Italia. Ma non solo: siamo anche arrivati alla quarta edizione del FreeMind di Genova! Sabato 26 Maggio, dalle 14 a mezzanotte, Genova si riempirà di Ciclisti, Traceurs ed Arrampicatori. Il programma bici prevede, per la prima volta a Genova, una Alleycat!! Quindi tanta testa, tanta abilità e, perchè no, tante gambe (ma meno fondamentali che l'anno scorso). Tutte le bici saranno ammesse, come ben evidenziato dal video promozionale. L'importante è liberare la mente!! Per chi volesse ci sarà l'opportunità per avvicinarsi anche ad altri sport urbani, il Parkour e lo Street Boulder. Dopodichè festa con DJ set e musica dal vivo, cibo e bevande (http://www.badattitude.ch/ Se volete restare a dormire c'è disponibile una zona campeggio, bagni e parcheggio custodito per le biciclette, basta prenotare sul sito. Portate il casco, il lock, uno zaino e 10+5 euro per l'iscrizione. La mappa verrà fornita nel pacco gara, quindi non preoccupatevi di comprarla, ma ricordatevi che Genova è tutta un sali-scendi, quindi se siete in fissa il freno è consigliato! Ringraziamo i nostri sponsor: olmo kriptonite iride bad attitude Domenica 27 invece ci sarà una leggera pedalata in riviera, bagnetto e stage di fotografia Accorrete numerosi!

Mud fun in New Forest

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa
Sunday afternoon I went for a ride in the New forest with Sarah. After a late wake up and a satisfying bruch with panckakes, beacon, chocholate milk and cereals we headed for Southampton Train Station where we took the train to the center of new forest: Brockenhurs.
It was a bit cold, and the sun was mostly covered by clouds, nevertheless we started cycling with the idea to get to the sea through bike and foot paths. Even if we started a competition to see how many wild animals we could see, we soon lost track of the score: too many ponys. Some of them where nice and friendly, others slowly walked away when we tried to aproach them.
Next time I go there I want to buy a proper map, because the one we used was not really detailed and soon we got lost in in the numerous paths that cross the forest...that actualy in not a forest at all!! The route that I recreated through google maps is not exactly the one we followed: I can't recall all the detorus we took. We took it easy, cycling slowly and enjoying the landscape that is mostly grassland and bog. The "New" Forest was established as a deer-hunting ground in 1079 by William the Conqueror. It was a comon land, this means that the Commoners were allowed to graze thei animals, dig clay and gather wood in the area, and most of these rights are still valid now!
On saturday afternoon it rained a lot, so most of the paths were really muddy. It was fun to face those conditions with a bike that obviously is not meant for it: the wheel kept sliding and sinking in the ground, but the small weight of the bike and the absence of frictions allowed to travel smoothly on grass and hard ground. Someone would say "lovely"...!
Anyways, after finding some deers we finally got to the sea. The sun was setting, we finally saw the Needles which we couldn't see in October, and we decided to cycle along the coast to Lymington, and then take the train back home. But we didn't consider the fact that there isn't a proper path! Just a narrow track, often blocked by fences that finally ends in a bright and wet green field. When we managed to get out and find a proper road our feet were soaked, our shoes covered with mud and the bikes were dirty as well. In the cold night we struggled with our last strokes on the peddals and finally we found the station.
Best way to recover from this small but tiring trip? A nice, hot, homemade Pizza!

Gelatina ritrovata

I haven't even had time to write a post telling you that my bike was stolen...and I am already writing that I got it back!
A stupid joke from stupid friends?
An amazing bliz of the police?
No, just the advantage ov knowing a lot of people. But let's procede with order.
On Friday night, after the Italian Society social night at Stags some of us decided to head to a house party, but in the end is just me that gets to Milton road. It was really cold so I locked the bike as fast as I could and walked in the party. It was a nice party and everything was ok, untill I looked out of the window and saw that my bike was missing.
The day after I uploaded this picture on facebook and tagged as many friends as I could. Then I sent it to the National Oceanography Centre mailing list, to some cash converters, bicycle shops etc. At first it appeard like somebody was using it since a similar bike was seen close to the university. Yesterday morining I went to check all the bike racks of the campus, talked to the security people and waited for one hour on the road where the bike had been seen on monday.
I was demoralized and I was already thinking of how to replace my beloved track bike. Many options where available, but none would have been perfect: I won Gelatina at an allycat in Parma, and the wheels at an allycat in Florence...it was an itinerant trophy!
Finally today a friends of mine calls me: apparently the housemates of a friend of his stole a bike on friday night, so he was going to their house to check...and then he calls me again to ask for the pin of my lock...Gelatina was safe! In fact, because of the cold, apparenly I didn't lock it to the street lamp, but just the wheel and frame together. The thieves walked away with the bike without any trouble. Shame on me!
Now, it is really hard to decide what to do. I am infinitely grateful to the friend who rescued my bike and I have a present for him. I want the thieves to understand how wrong they behaved but nevertheless I don't want to create problems to my friend, so I will probably just talk to them to have my spedometer back...and they are better give it to me.
One really funny thing happened: just after I got Gelatina back on thursday, while I was riding home, I have been stopped by this guy that I had never seen before, but who thought that I was the thief! And it happened again this afternoon! This means that my strategy was effective, and therefore I am a little less worried about the faith of the human society.
The only thing I can say is that I have been really lucky. Thanks to those who helped me. I hope we can all go riding our bikes together when the weather gets better!