CYCLIST WITHOUT A CAUSE

I never missed to write a blog post after a stage. It is because I never missed to finish a stage. I was aware that a cycling trip could be filled with unexpected events; in the past I have been able to manage those contingencies with success and to continue my trip. This time no. I am writing from Paris and I did not get here just cycling on my beloved Bianchi. 

Yesterday was tough, both physically and mentally. I think I crossed the limit between "challenging" and "stupid". An probably it happens after two hours under a cold, strong rain, when I fell from the bicycle on my way to Chambery. From the beginning of this trip probably I crossed 20 or 30 railroad tracks, but the ones near St Jean de Maurienne were too slippery, too oblique, too high, I do not know… I suddenly jump up after the fall, trying to check if I broke something; luckily no arms or legs (and even wheels or frame) were broken. But on the side of that street, under a freezing cold rain, bruised and wounded, I realized that I would not be able to get to my daily destination. 

I do not how, but my Bianchi was quite ok so I hardly got back on it and ride for a couple of kms to St Jean. I was literally shivering while cycling; the first open place where to stop was a McDonald's. I drag myself to a table, I ordered something to eat, trying to figure out what to do. The right part of my body was hurting but after some time spent in the restaurant, it slightly improved (even if outside it was still raining cats and dogs). Thankfully, there was the wifi connection there, so I checked once again the weather forecast: the next day would have been the same rainy day on my way from Chambery to Macon. It was not easy to accept, but I can not cycle for 8 hours a day under a cold rain, considering the fact that I was far from a perfect shape due to the fall. I already started this trip one day late due to the same reason (rain), so probably this is not the right summer for a nice cycling trip across Europe. I needed to put the bicycle (and myself) on train.

I got on the bike again (under the rain) and rode to the local train station to check trains availability; the same evening a train was going to Paris but I would need to put the Bianchi into a bag. After all I was not too unlucky because near the Mc Donald's restaurant there was a huge sport shop. I got back there (under the rain); needed to wait for an hour for the shop to be opened so I got back to the restaurant, ordered a coffee, fell asleep while seated on the chair. As soon as the sport shop opened, I bought a cycling bag (I repeat, in this case I was lucy since it is not so easy to find a place that sell this kind of equipment) and a nice backpack, rode back to the train station, change my clothes and put the Bianchi into the cycling bag. After 4 hours I got to Gare de Lyon, in Paris. I took a taxi to my savior Tommaso, who lives in Paris and gave me a place to stay.

In this moment I feel a mixture of relief and frustration. On one side, I am happy to be safe and sound in my friend's lovely apartment in Paris. On the other hand, I am sad because I was not able to get here with my bicycle, as planned. Unfortunately, I will not be able to take the picture I wanted under the Arc de Triomphe. I am sorry that this year cycling adventure ended up in this way but I am also aware that the things could have been worse. I just experienced an unavoidable aspect of a cycling travel. A lot of lessons learned.

Today was one of the most incredible days of my life. Every time I feel shocked by the relativity of the limits that we give to ourselves. I cycled for 120kms today, thereof 31kms of ascent to Mont Cenis, I rode under the rain (light rain, strong rain, windy rain), I thought several times to stop, come back to Susa (last "flat" town before the climb to Mont Cenis) and search for a train (I know that I already wrote similar sentences before but, trust me, it was truth all the times…).

There are too many emotions that I felt today and I am aware that I will not be able to share it completely through this blog. There are a lot of similarities with last year trip to London (long first stage, alps on the second stage); one of them is the fact that, also today, the ride to get to the Susa was quite difficult because I was still tired for the 165kms rode the day before and also because I was fearing the alps ascent. Same as last year climb to Gotthard Pass, I widely underestimated the effort needed to get on top. I never rode for 31kms on a mountain in my life. On top of this, I relied too much on Google Maps; it means that sometimes I ended up on trail (which is a problem for the tiny wheels  of my road bike) or on road with a steep slope . This happens because I had to select the "walking" option (instead  of "driving"); here in France there is also the "cycling" option, so I am very curious to see how it works.

Anyway, today's ascent was incredible; at a certain point, when I already cross the border to France after 14kms of climbing, I really feared not to make it to the hotel. It was cold, wind, the road continued to go up; I was really tired and for the first day in my like I had cramps (do you remember Lebron James during the last NBA finals?). I started feeling worried because I was not able to see an open bar or restaurant on the top of the mountain. Luckily, after a couple of (very very tough) kms I ended up in a bar. I was freezing cold, it was raining, I was feeling quite bad; so, I took a coke, a ate a package of chocolate cookies and I drank a hot tea. I took out my wet jersey and put on a warm and dry one. I wait for the rain to stop, the tea and the cookies made their effect and I got back on the road. Another 5kms of climbing (and several more affordable kms) to get to the "Cima Coppi" of this trip at 2038kms (for the records, Turin is 239meters above sea level).

During the ascent to Mont Cenis, a light rain poured from time to time. During the last five kms of the stage, when I was just dreaming of a warm shower, the rain become really, really strong. Luckily, all the bags are water proof, so no particular problems for all my stuff. The point is that I am not water proof at all… Let's put in this way:  it was a "perfect" end for this epic day of cycling.

Finally I started this new cycling adventure across Europe. The destination is Paris, which is closer to Milan compared to London but the route is more challenging (at least in terms of kms per day…). I am in a better shape compared to previous year, hope this can help to cope with a more ambitious goal…

I started at around 8.00AM from Cernusco sul Naviglio, my dad (which is still a far far far better cyclist than me) rode with me for a couple of kilometers this morning (before joining his cycling friends for the usual Sunday route).

Since I live in the east part of Milan, I had to cross the entire city to reach Turin; this was a good opportunity to say goodbye to the beloved "Duomo".

My initial idea was to use Strava app to record all my stages and routes, but it drains my iPhone battery, so I decided to check Google Maps from time to time. Is it quite peculiar that today I was more worried by my iPhone battery than by my muscles battery…

In this moment I am in Turin, after 165 surreal kilometers; flat and straight roads (very FLAT and very STRAIGHT) during the most part of the day. One of the best part of this cycling trips is that in every stage I found different ways to live on this planet as a human being. Different landscapes that lead to different "life paces" that lead to the different "life perspectives". And this is even more evident to me since I am convinced that, as human beings, we are deeply connected each other. Oh, I am blathering away now, probably because I am tired and I need to go to bed. Tomorrow there will be the shortest but probably the toughest stage of this trip: I will (try to) climb the Moncenisio to cross the Italian border.