A little trip to the Italian Lakes.

A few days in the Italian lakes.

I am (as I speak, (while writing anyway)) traveling by train back to Beaulieu Sur Mer. As some of you may have noticed from my Strava rides I have spend the last few days in the Italian lakes near Varese with my friend Andrea and his family. I arrived Thursday evening and we got in 4 rides, including a 50k loop this morning (Monday am), he has done before. He is traveling to Australia very soon for the Tour of Margaret river so wanted to do this 50k loop as a “team Time Trial”. I know its a small “team” with just the two of us, but it would be good prep for him as the race in Australia has a 50k TTT.

These few rides were the first proper climbs I have done since fitting my new Info-Cranks to my bike. They have a harder gearing so I was intrigued to see if I struggled and ran out of gears on the steep Italian climbs. Andrea had said we would go out for a steady ride on the first day but the same as it was last year, his steady is not what I call steady. We did one major climb and rolling terrain for the rest of the ride, all was rather strenuous for my first outing in 3 days. The second day we both decided to try and do a 20 min test. With local knowledge, Andrea picked a climb which was pretty consistent and had 30+k to get there and fully warm up thoroughly. we started the ride in light fog that morning so I was happy to have the longer warm up. We were chatting and both felt our legs were not at the races, but still started the “test”. It seemed Andrea was struggling a little bit more very early on, then as I started to edge away my legs blew and I gave in very quickly, I easy pedaled for a few seconds and then saw Andrea overtake me, he was pushing on. So I had to restart. We both finished the climb but knew we had a lot more in the tank, so a test for a different day.

Andrea zipping up ready for the descent.

I did not know before I arrived at the Nicosia household, I had accidentally chosen to stay when it was his Son’s birthday. There is of course no problem with this, only 2 little ones for me.... First there was a 7 year olds party and I am not the best with kids, they are all too noisy and energetic for me (who just likes to sit and chill (be lazy)). The second, I was in an Italian household and there was 3 parties over 2 days.... This means 3 birthday cakes, and a ton of kids treat type food. Andrea’s Wife as you can imagine does AMAZING food, and I am not the best of being restrained, especially when it is so nice.

So Sunday came and I told Andrea I would ride on my own that morning and give him some time with his Son and family. Off I went on a 112k loop which he said was “pretty tough” and “long”. I thought it could certainly be tough but not so much of the long?!.. Little did I know. The route took me near to 5 hours, some of the climbs were very tough. So I arrived tight on time for lunch and the feeding frenzy to begin. This was good in a way as I just had time for a quick shower and then pile down some awesome gnocchi and many other things I can not spell or pronounce....!

One of many stunning views around here....

I do not believe there was much more than 45min passed that day when I was not eating, the Italians really do know how to cook/eat/throw a party!

So this morning came round, the plan was to get the kids off to school, then do this 50k “Team” TT and grab a bite to eat before packing up my bike for the train just after 13:00. The ride went well in the end despite Andrea saying he would aim to do a certain power, which I can tell you ended up being much higher, this made the “easy” bit on the back drafting harder than I was expecting. Then as he waved me through I felt I had to contribute to the speed so was going pretty deep. All very good training in the end, sort of top end Threshold, lower end VO2 max efforts with some recoveries between.

We got back with a decent chunk of time, but with my super slow eating and a bit of faffing I ended up having to pack the bike and all my stuff in 8 minutes. Oh yeah... thats not long...! I thought I had done a great job as I only over ran by 1 minute when we drove out his drive. Then to my complete shock and horror I had forgotten almost the most important item!! Earlier in the day I made a tupperware full of porridge for the 7 hour journey, I had left it sat on the worktop in the kitchen. I was distraught as the train pulled away, a ton of travel and none of my beloved porridge.

And, yes, another one... :-)

I am now almost half way and still surviving, but I did have to invest in a toasted cheese and ham baguette. First world problems eh... (one of my favorite saying recently), I will leave you with that one, until next time I thank you again for the read!

Cheers.