Strava me up 12th marzo 2013

Strava me up 12th marzo 2013

Strava has hit the headlines again - this time at the bbc which must mean that it is mainstream. Strava is a way to utilise your GPS data from things like cycle rides, runs, swims etc, and to compare your time on pieces (segments) of each route. For example, you can go and set a segment yourself of the piece of road outside your house. Then you can see who has ridden that piece, the time they took, heart rate, compare to age, sex, etc etc. You can compare your times, your times on different bikes / the ways to use it are endless. It is largely free - but for a small monthly charge you get access to detailed analysis. The ultimate is to get a KOM - King of the Mountain - that is the fastest time for a particular segment. You can use it from a GPS monitor, but also you can use a smart phone now without any equipment required.

I was shown how to use this by Smokey a couple of years ago. At that time there were very few segments in Italy but since then the number has really boomed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21716686

Sadly there are people who go mental mental chicken oriental for KOMs and this has resulted in some legal cases against Strava. One is because a guy died whilst going for his KOM and his parents are suing, and another is due to a guy running into a pedestrian and killing them. This puts all this stuff at risk - not to mention all my KOMs ;) and all the history of every ride I've done in the last two years!

So - please support Strava because it's great and put down all the idiots who use it unsafely. It is a great training tool, and just a great fun piece of social media.





Meanwhile, the Tirreno-Adriatico finished today. On Saturday, Chris Froome took the lead. He rebuffed several attacks up a mountainous stage from Nibali, Contador and all the other big contendors, broke away and took the stage - this was a fantastical piece of riding and attacking, aided and abetted by an extremely strong Sky team, notably Uran Uran controlling on the front for much of the day, even when Contador was making his attacks, the Sky guys kept cool. And then he exploded in the last km or so and smashed a huge gap into the leaders. And remember that this race has all the big guys - Nibali, Contador, Evans, Cavendish, Sagan, Cancellara - bang full of class. On Sunday he positioned well as Wacky Rodrigez won the stage, and so moved into the lead. On Monday, there was a ferocious stage with some climbing reported being as 27% (although I heard 30% on Italian TV) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsOu76F7E7c. The climb was so severe that some pros even had to climb!! Contador - an excellent climber even reported that getting out of the seat caused him to slip - so if he's struggling then you know it's bang tough.

There were also riders who were "fa il serpente" - "making like a snake" - i.e. zig-zagging across the road to make it easier to get up. Including in this approach was the all round tough guy Peter Sagan - again, if he was doing it you know it's tough.

Andy Schleck pulled out, natch. I think he has only completed one world tour race in the past 18 months. Allegedly.

Froome lost the blue jersey, and Nibali moved into the lead and held on through the individual TT today to win. Chapeau - two years in a row for Nibs.

Froome is a guy that I have just taken a mild dislike for in the past. Same with Contador, Valverde / but surprising for me with Froome. However, I was very very impressed with the ride on Saturday, and it might have even done enough for me to start liking him. We shall see.

Gran Fondo Firenze 2nd marzo 2013

Gran Fondo Firenze 2nd marzo 2013

Saturday 2nd marzo was the Gran Fondo Firenze - a 130 km (80 mile) ride through the Chianti countryside south of Florence, and also on the roads on which the world championships will ride in September 2013. The end of the ride, which the world champs will do several circuits of is brutal - a steady long climb, a descent followed by a short very sharp climb, above 19% - I even saw someone walking on it! This will make the world champs very interesting indeed.

Gran fondos are the equivalent of a sportive in the UK - a supposedly non-competitive cycle route, normally with shorter and longer routes (this had an 80 km and a 130 km), geared at mass participation. It was amazing to be with so many people and to ride straight through the centre of Florence, past the Duomo and all the major sites. The Italians are cycle lovers, it is in the lifeblood of the nation, and at every intersection throughout the entire course there were police monitoring and halting traffic - chapeau! Coming out of Florence there is a major intersection where the motorways meet - even this was blocked off - the drivers must have been fuming!! But, it was well supported, held with a tremendouos attitude, great food and drinks stations, and really was a very well run event, and a pleasure to be involved. Grazie Firenze.

The cobbles were interesting - at the beginning everyone was spending the whole time avoiding bottles that were pinging out of bottle cages everywhere - the call of "borraccia" was loud. There is a nice near miss on the video, close to where a guy near me shouted out "bella donna" to a girl, with a strange guttural italian accent! Also in those first few miles we must have seen more than 30 mechanicals - tubes blown and chains off mainly - did people over inflate or under inflate? but also we saw many people who had spilled, very early on (and much later on). Coming out of Florence, we climbed up to Piazza San Michelangelo and then started descending towards the south of town to get out into Chianti. Down the first big descent and a guy ahead and to the left of me on a nice carbon Bianchi stumbled - I don't know if he hit a bump, or what happened but I saw his left hand come off the handlebars and then he hit the ground hard, at a good speed, but looked ok. His bike however had not stopped - remember it was a descent so the bike slid down at a good speed and started coming my way. It turns out that carbon Bianchis on smooth Tuscan roads slide very well. It came and it came and it came. I slowed down, I speeded up, but it was coming inexorably towards me. I didn't want to brake hard as at this point (and not for much longer!) we were surrounded by riders and I would get taken out from behind. So the bike came towards me, and I moved towards the pavement, and somehow I sneaked in between the curb and the bike. I don't know how and I was very tentative (and I always am very tentative, especially downhill) for the next 30 minutes, as this could have made my day very very different - but thankfully no mechanicals or spills for us on that day.

I also took use of my GoPro video camera and made a cheeky little video - check it out below.

http://youtu.be/ppMucv62zi8

http://vimeo.com/61489687

Here are my Strava data - it was a long day at the office 5 h 12 min but we were riding socially so I found it comfortable. All excellent training for the Giro di Sardegna we will do in a couple of months and really I just wanted time in the saddle, to check that I can handle my new saddle and set up for extended periods of time. For that reason I am very happy with the day.

http://app.strava.com/activities/42825602

The roads are some of the best in the world. Beautifully smooth, rolling hills and stunning views. Over 2000 people took part in the event, which also included a bike festival with new, super new and super retro bikes, including the famous L'Eroica bikes - will share pictures from that in a separate post.

We had an early start, and parked at a nearby area - we spotted a porcupine snuffling in the bushes so I jumped out and pulled out a couple of shots!

Before and after shots. It was cold in the morning, very cold. On the higher parts of the ride there was still snow left over from the previous weekend.

Here are some shots of the same roads of the previous weekend - amazing amounts of snow hit the area near Greve and Radda when Siena a few miles down the road missed the whole lot.

Somebody bought themselves a little speed - not me sadly. An S-Works Roubaix, lovely steed. Full carbon wheels, and the crazy "zerts" or inserts to dampen the carbon shock. Really nice looking steed.

Riding in Tuscany March 2013

Riding in Tuscany March 2013

The weather in Tuscany is variable. In August it gets freaking hot - almost unbearable - the last couple of years it has been consistently over 40C for the whole month, without any rain. And yet, the area is a beautiful and green landscape - how can that be? It's simple really - there is a lot of rain. Around this time of year we have had quite a bit of snow, and lots and lots of rain. Normally up until the end of April the clouds hit the Tuscan hills (two significant mountains over 1750m and plenty of smaller mountains) and the rain cascades down. Very fertile land.

Here's a little look at one of my rides - look at that beastly climb and the height you can pick up!

In between the times of rain, we have sun. It really is beautiful this time of year, and you can see beyond the usual hedges and tree-lined roads and discover what is behind. Despite being cold and frosty in the mornings it can be as warm as 15C during the days.

So, for the past few weeks I have done well to find some beautiful time to ride the bike. It really is one of the most beautiful, safe, clean-roaded place to ride in the world, and I intend to make every advantage of it that I can. Here are some pictures of riding in Castelnuovo Beradenga and Gaoile in Chianti.

In fact, on 10th March I managed to squeeze in a century ride (100 miles) in short sleeves and short legs (plus compression socks!) and in the same time look at the snow in Norfolk. Mwah hah hah :) This week I have managed over 16 hours of riding / and ok some of that has been through ice and lots and lots of rain, but overall the roads are great, the cars very forgiving, and the weather really good.

And that weather is nothing compared to what I encountered in Boston a couple of weeks ago - they had a huge snowstorm that dumped about 3 feet of snow in a day - mind you, they cleaned it very well and I was amazed to see how many "normal" people were cycling everywhere!

One thing I do regret is not investing in an Italian bike. I bought a very nice second Scott Addict SL which I do like very much, but part of me, and a very big part of me, regrets that I didn't dive in and get some pimp ass Italian bike - a Pinarello, a Bianchi, a Cipollini, a Daccordi etc. Italian design is great, and although I think that Italian bike design slumped in the late 90s and early 2000s I think they are back strong nowadays. Sadly little full manufacture is still done in Italy - Daccordi which I visited recently and had the opportunity to see the manufacturing floor - real beautiful old school manufacture for carbon designs, and Cipollini - which I think just look stunning.

Bianchi has to be the classic Italian bike manufacturer - in fact Edoardo Bianchi SpA is the oldest bike manufacture in the world, dating from 1885 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianchi_Bicycles). The classic light blue bikes (the colour is actually called "celeste" - is instantly recognised world wide. So, I have the Scott and I love it. I cannot really justify the purchase of a new Italian bike - all that I own Italian is some kit - a helmet, Cuore Italiano bib tights, Castelli gloves, a couple of Italian tops, a retro wool top, and of course my classic Vittoria gold cycling shoes which look cool but are actually pretty darn uncomfortable.

I have been picking up a couple of items recently to redress this balance though. The first was my 1973 (great year!) Bianchi that has been converted into a single speed contropedale (back-pedal brake), with a Brooks saddle, a wooden handlebar (manubrio - I also picked up a second of these from Italian eBay for future conversions), a classic 1949 "B" chainring (guranitura) (I also picked up a spare one of these for future conversions!) and some beautiful new wooden wheels - made by www.cbita.it. It really is a work of art.

Wooden wheels were all that existed many years in the past - all racing was done with wood and they are now very highly prized. Of course, like carbon spokes they have a spectacular failure mode, so are still used sometime on track racing, but not for casual riding. In fact, I have not yet properly ridden the Bianchi as I only want to take it out in perfectly dry conditions!

I am fascinated by steel bikes, my carbon bike is amazing, and I still ride my alloy (plus carbon fork) Claud Butler Roubaix all the time for commuting, but steel is supposed to be the bomb. For that reason, I have picked up a couple of Bianchi frames so that I can in the future make my homage to Italian bikes.

Of course, I am still tempted by the other bikes. A friend recently bought a Daccordi Tuono and it is a really lovely bike and the owners (the whole family are involved including the daughter who is in marketing) were just wonderful people. The Pinarellos are just beautiful, and of course ridden by Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins, and the advertising for Cippolini is as crazy as is the man himself.

Daccordi Tuono 2013

Pinarello Graal

Cipollini Bond

And of course, I recently converted my old Eroica Peugeot into an Italian colour-schemed fixie - a labour of love, and a nod towards the Italians, but nothing Italian on that bike sadly. Still looks nice though!

But for now, I will keep with my Scott!

(Actually - this is a very poor photo and breaking several laws of cycling photography in the eyes of the velominati - rule 26 (http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/) taken from the wrong side so that the chainset cannot be seen, pedals at the wrong angle, etc etc, but it's ok)

Tirreno-Adriatico Giovedì 7th marzo 2013

Tirreno-Adriatico 2013

Thursday 7^th March 2013 saw the Tirreno-Adriatico come through Siena. This is a pro cycling race and is on the World Tour – that means that it is one of the most important multi-day stage cycling races in the calendar – it is not the same level as the gran tours – le tour de france, il giro d’italia and la vuelta espagna – but it is still a big race. This year the racers are top level: Mark Cavendish, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador, Vincento Nibali (winner in 2012), Chris Froome etc etc.

It races from one side of Italy to the other, from coast to coast, and is called the sea to sea race in Italy (mare a mare). Each year is a different route and it is very well supported generally. This year the route starts in San Vincenzo on the Tuscan coast and after a team time trial goes through Siena en route to Indicatore near Arezzo – a distance of 232 km, with several laps at the end.

This morning was hot. I cycled to work with full winter kit and almost melted. In fact I saw snowdrops for the first time this morning. By the time I got out to watch the race it was toasty warm, about 16.5C, the weather has not been good recently and off and on it was raining hard. I had a good selection of where to watch the race but decided to go where the feed stop was at Taverne D’Arbia just outside Siena – on the off chance of getting a freebee J

The race set off from San Vincenzo at 10:30 am, followed the coast to Follonica and headed to Siena. It came very close to our house as it passed through Rosia and Ampugnano (location of Siena’s mighty airport! J ). At the feed station there were a lot of fans assembling and all the team cars were there and it was fun to see what was being put in the bags. From the photos you can see drinks were being made up and most of the teams were having energy bars and gels. One team was putting cans of coke in the bags which was a surprise. Bars were Etixx energy bar and a protein flapjack. It was a very wet and slightly windy day, so energy was probably important.

The race came through eventually, led by a huge concourse of cops on bikes. The Italians love a bike race and the organization was absolutely superb. Roads were cleared, trains were halted (near us was a level crossing) and the cops put on a great escort. The route was marked out with sign posts (I may have come away with one!) two days before and was very clear. I shall ride a little of the route on Sunday as the course they chose was superb with lovely high quality road surfaces (except for the level crossings) and not an area that I would have immediately thought to ride.

It was great seeing the riders and their bike handling skills as they came through at enormous speed, picking up feed bags from the support crews. They threw away old bottles and replaced new bottles, eating on the bike. The feeding area was a very flat 1 km stretch, and the beginning and end was very clearly marked, riders expected not to make any moves during this time.

And then they were gone! A scramble of punters looking for freebees, the support cars roaring off, more and more police cars and bikes and the road was quiet except for the scavengers. I did quite well at scavenging and came away with a great selection of bottles, and found a Leopard wind breaker that was stuffed into a cut off bottle – size small but it just about fits my gut! Interestingly, from the nose test only, half of the bottles seemed to contain water which I found very surprising - I thought everyone would use some sort of liquid nutriton. The Sky bottles had some crazy smelling very syrupy stuff and the other something that smelled of real orange juice. Sadly I didn’t get a feedbag, next time!

Three riders had a breakaway of about 10 minutes, not big names, and they stayed away for most of the day, being caught about 30 km from the finish. Mark Cavendish had been in the blue journey for the day after his team won the team trial and put him over the line first, but his team failed to fire in the rainy finish as Matt Goss from Orica-GreenEdge took out the win. In fact, Cav was very disparaging and even dismissive of his team – typical Cav!

Update: the RadioShack top  has got a name in it / so it beloings to Giacomo Nizzolo / if anyone knows him and he wants it back please tell him to get in touch!

A couple of days later I rode part of the course and posted the results on Strava.com - check it out here.

http://app.strava.com/activities/43698107