Sotonopoly, 19th of December, 2pm at the Cowherds

What is the shortest route through 30 checkpoints! Have you considered the crowd of Christmas shoppers, the fizzy December air, a bit of Atlantic wind and there you have it: this is the perfect recipe for Sotonopoly, the race in which each cyclist becomes a capitalist to take over the whole city!

It has been two years since last edition, won by (Dr.) Charlie Main and Alessandro Mozzato with 84 points and 13 points lead over the runner up. There is plenty of room for improvement, though, as they only managed to complete 60% of the course before the time was up. Do you think that you can do better? Have you prepared you bike? Have you studied the maps? Have you been waking up the muscles from the autumn stillness? Are you ready to burn some calories in order to make space for next week’s food craze?

I hope to see you all on Saturday (19^th of December) at 2pm at the Cowherds for race registration, final bike checks and a legs-warming pint. Remember to bring

- a bicycle

- a helmet

- bicycle lights

- a map of the city and the surrounding area (as detailed as possible)

- 5£ for entry

- some sort of digital camera (your cell phone will do the job, if it has a camera).

More details on the facebook event

Video Teaser 1

Video Teaser 2

After the race we will convene at The Alexandra Beer Emporium (6 Bellvue Road SO15 2AY) to celebrate, stay dry, have some drinks and give out the prizes (at 7pm)! The evening will continue with a DJ set from 9pm so tell all your non-racing friends to come along!!

Not in my name

Earthrise - Taken by Apollo 8 crewmember Bill Anders on December 24, 1968

Last Friday I was out at a salsa lesson with my friends when the attacks in Paris happened. Initially I
felt helpless, like last month after the attacks in Ankara at the peace demonstration. Than I felt anxiety, because I realized how many people that I know live in Paris, and started stalking all of them on social media. Yes, cultural and geographic vicinity affected my reaction, and for a while I felt really bad about it. Now that a week has passed, though, I feel a much heavier uneasiness: what the hell is going on? Why are we letting our governments speak about war so easily? Do you remember all the peace rallies that we did in 2001 and 2003-2004? I was 12 and I did not go, but I remember reading on the newspapers many disgusted comments to the Western reaction to terrorism. Millions of people across the world flooded the streets to say NO to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

What is different now? Why are we letting ourselves be tricked? Is it because those peace marches did not have any practical effect? Those wars started anyways, and we are still experiencing the consequences... Is it because this declaration of war was only symbolic? Effectively we were already at war, we were already training militias, we were already funding drone missions... Is it because Paris itself was hit? Are we so hypocritical? Why are we reacting to this by singing the French National Anthem, which talks about slaying wives and children of the enemy? Do we really think this whole national/european/western unity attitude is going to stop religious fundamentalism? Why can't we see that, in other culture's eyes, we have been and are the terrorists on every conceivable aspect?

How can we pretend that the oppressed Muslims of Africa and Middle East overthrow their bloodthirsty oligarchies, if we can't even show them that we fight against our own capitalist and imperialist system? We are oppressed, they are oppressed, and we are all fighting against the wrong enemy. Our governments are happy, because a couple of videos of French kids interviewed in front of flowers and candles are enough to quench our daily need for peace and positive feelings. We share on social media breathtaking open letters by the survivors of Bataclan, that make us feel pacifists. We play "Imagine" on loop, in all sorts of different versions. We are more aware of the daily suicide bombings that happen a bit everywhere...

Then we go back to our workplaces, fighting with our peers for the crumbles; complaining about the mirants that make the line at the hospital a bit longer, or about the excessive heat, excessive cold, excessive drought or excessive rain, while we eat a tasteless banana from across the ocean...

I don't want my world to be like this

It doesn't matter how safe you are...

...it only takes an idiot driver, and you are done!

Yesterday I almost died: I was cycling on a straight stretch of road, slightly uphill, at night. I had my lights on. A driver overtook me only to hit a  traffic island just 5 or 6 meters in from of me. Obviously he swerved to the left and I was able to slow down enough only because I was going uphill.

He broke his front-right rim and suspension, but what would have happened to me if I was just a bit further ahead? Do you think he apologized? Or do you think that he blamed me for going too slow, forcing him to overtake me?

Cars in cities are weapons! Stay safe and look out for idiots!

The road to ECMC 4: all packed up and ready to go

It's time for packing up: tomorrow I'll be flying to Milan!

Gelatina, my bike, has flied already once to come here in the UK, so she knows what is going on. In fact, I felt that she was a bit excited today on my daily commute, knowing that tomorrow she will be riding in Italy!

I think I got everything I need; probably even too many tools, but I prefer being safe than sorry as the headset is still wobbling a bit... I'm even bringing a spare cog, but this is because I'm crazy!

Tomorrow at this time I'll be having an aperitivo with my sister and my dear friends Camilla and Michele, planning summer holidays and enjoying the pre-race excitement. I can't wait!!

The road to ECMC 5: a busy programme!

Here I am, landed in Linate and in the process of unpacking and rebuilding Gelatina. While on the plane I thought of giving you a quick overview of what will be the plan for the next few days.

We are going to start tomorrow, with a group ride to the sanctuary of Madonna del Ghisallo, protector of cyclists and travellers. This is a sanctuary placed at the top of a really famous climb, often used in the Giro di Lombardia and Giro d'Italia. It is also treasured by cyclists as it features a museum of cycling, with old bicycles from champions of the past.
There we will also meet a large group of couriers that has been riding from Bern (Switzerland) for the past few days, heading towards Milan. Once back to the city, there will be the opening party at the ECMC headquarters: time to meet everybody and get in the mood!

Friday will be a relatively easy day, as the only race in the programme is scheduled for 6pm, and it will only be raced by OutOfTown couriers. Since I'm just pretending, I'll see if the organisers need my help at one of the checkpoints. The positive thing about this is that I'll be fresh for the party at the Velodromo Vigorelli, sanctuary of Milan's cycling history, which has been neglected for a long time but which is now slowly coming back to life!

Saturday will be the busiest day: main race qualification's from 10.30am, dispatchers race qualifications from 3pm, Private Alleycat at 7pm...and of course a big party afterwards! The qualifications will be held in a "closed" circuit at Parco delle Memorie Industiali; there will be a range of pickups and deliveries that we will have to do, following a manifest. Only those that complete most jobs will qualify for the finals.
I'm not entirely sure whether I'll be taking part in the dispatchers team race as well: from the looks of it there is already plenty of teams, but it would be nice to put together a group of us solitary souls and give it a go!
The Private Alleycat is now a tradition of the Italian scene, and this will be the 5th edition. Along with the competitors for the ECMC there will also be many other riders from all over in Italy, and it will be a hard race in the busy streets of Milan. I took part in the first two editions of the Private Alleycat, once racing with Sarah, and once on my own. Not being really an expert of Milan's geography I never had amazing results, so this time it might be a good idea to follow the locals...who knows, time will tell :)

Finally, Sunday we will wrap up the event with the final race, a group ride to see the end of Giro d'Italia, and the awards ceremony.

I hope this gives you a good idea of the busy schedule for the next few days. I'll try to keep you posted as much as possible here, on Twitter (@Mat_Cha_Ich) and on G+.

Now I'll try to find my way to my sister's university...it is going to be a good first test of my orienteering skills..

Up and Down - Southampton 27/06/2015

Last Wednesday Ben, Chris and Tomas went out for a ride and came up with an idea for a simple race. This is the result:

Unsanctioned race in the busy streets of a Saturday afternoon in Southampton

Distance: 11.6 km - 7.2 mi
Ascent: 83 m - 272 ft
Plenty of traffic lights!

Meet: Southampton, at the very end of Red Funnel Pier (it is a parking lot), 3pm.
Race starts at 16:00. NO HELMET NO RACE! Only one checkpoint at the top of the Avenue, all routes allowed. First racer that gets back to the start wins!

Prizes for:
First overall
First man roadbike
First man trackbike
First woman roadbike
First woman trackbike

Bring:
Helmet
£3

Race teaser

The road to ECMC 3: Stay True - the zen of wheel building

I built my first wheel about 5 years ago.

When I went in the bicycle shop (La stazione delle biciclette) I did not really know what I was doing: I needed a rear wheel to convert my current city/road bike frame into a fixed gear bike, as the whole drive train was failing miserably. I asked for the most basic hub, a Novatec flip flop, the most basic rim that they had, 32 spokes and nipples and I headed back home. That same night I started building my wheel following a YouTube tutorial.

Everybody can build a wheel, it is a relatively simple process. The only "professional help" that you need is to calculate the right length of spokes, as it is the "conditio sine qua non" for the whole process to work smoothly. Then you need patience, loads of it. Especially if you are using an old, slightly bent rim, you should not expect a perfect result but you will succeed.

Repeat the mantra: I am True, my soul is True, my body is True, my aim is True, my wheel will be True. Only slight adjustments, fractions of turns on the nipples, like when balancing on a slack-line, or when avoiding an annoying argument. Just like when you are looking for the smoothest route between A and B. You pull a bit here, you let out a bit there, and everything falls into place.

What just minutes ago was a pile of metal pieces without purpose, is now a coherent race machine, a sword ready to cut the air and roll over every surface. Is your soul that has found its path.

Once a man said: "be water". You are now your wheel, and your wheel is you.

Stay True - ECMC is just behind the corner.