So what happened in 2022? Have I been cycling at all? According to my Strava profile I completed a distance of 6’370km and 59’863m of vertical ascent in 2022. The year has not yet ended but I’d be surprised if the numbers changed in the coming weeks. In fact, I haven’t been cycling a lot […]
And then came Covid…
Will I be back in Gaiole next year? I don’t know. But if I want to, I will choose to do so. That’s how my last post in October 2018 ended. I had just finished Eroica Gaiole and was contemplating about life and opportunities it presents. Obviously at that time no one could foresee that life’s opportunities […]
Why am I doing this?
After missing out in 2017 I returned to Gaiole in Chianti for the XXII edition of L’Eroica. As I mentioned in my previous post this years visit was preceded by a trip to Srebrenica, Bosnia. With all the experiences and emotions still fresh in my memory, cycling for a full day in the Tuscan hills […]
From Srebrenica to Gaiole
A week ago I returned from Srebrenica, Bosnia where I was involved in a social project initiated by Bauern helfen Bauern, that aims to provide new homes for people who were affected by the Bosnian war. I experienced a very thoughtful week with many emotional highs and lows. Visiting the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potočari […]
Cycling “Sabbatical”
No, i did not take a sabbatical for cycling. In fact, I did take a sabbatical from cycling for about ten month. After finishing the long route of L’Eroica in 2016 my focus turned to maintaining and refurbishing old bikes. Each one of my projects would deserve its own blog post but I want to […]
Eroica – Grande Finale
While the 135km route takes a shortcut on asphalt road from Pianella to the finish line in Gaiole, the long one takes a detour uphill via Radda on gravel roads. After having cycled 180km I wasn’t too keen on another climb but then again: no pain, no gain! Also, the route to Radda turned out to […]
Grazie mille, Meccanici!
The back pain was not the only problem caused by the bumps. My rear wheel got bent during the ride and started to touch the frame with every rotation. When I stopped to have a look at the damage I realised that one of the spokes had broken at the nipple. There was nothing I could […]
Grazie mille, Dottoressa!
The refreshment stop at Montalcino was followed by a long gravel stage with some nice bumps and holes. On one occasion I wasn’t paying attention and hit two bumps in a row. I could feel almost immediately that this caused some severe trouble to my lower back. The longer I cycled the more it hurt. […]
Gravel Road to Glory
On race day the plan was to get up early and be ready at the starting line at 5.00am. Well, that was the plan. I had quite a bad night and couldn’t sleep very well. While I was pretty relaxed in the weeks before L’Eroica I became a bit nervous at the last minute. We got […]
Road trip to Tuscany
The initial plan was to travel to Italy the day before the big event as we did the year before. However, we reconsidered our options in September and checked with the B&B if we could arrive a day earlier. We wanted to have a less stressful day on Saturday and have the chance to do […]