When we first moved to Italy 5 years ago we lived in Moncalieri. I went out on a ride with a couple of guys who were pretty handy on the bike and made me earn my turn in their jetstream on one particular day. I suppose they were weighing me up and decided to take me up this hill I'd never ridden before. They said before we got there it was about 5km long and the record was 11 minutes. Well, I thought yeah, when you're fresh and haven't raced on the flat for 70km beforehand.
So we hit the climb and the speed didn't let up. The gauntlet had been thrown down and I was up for a challenge. After a few minutes racing together, Marco started to open up a gap. His pal Giampaolo then let on that it was Marco who held the record from a few years previous. Well, mentally that gave me the excuse to ease off. Or maybe I was just knackered.
Since then I've always held that hill as a test of form and never got anywhere near the 11 minute mark.
A couple of years ago we moved much closer to Castelnuovo Don Bosco and it's now our local hill climb and having learnt that 2nd June was to be the first of 2 events this year I thought I'd have a go and see if competition could motivate me to go that bit quicker, even though I hadn't done any specific training.
At the very least it would be a good experience and chance to spread the knowledge of the Clarion.
10€ to enter, not bad and prizes for the top 5 in each category.
5km to climb 250m, that's 1 in 20, not too bad, but in fact like any rider knows, it only hurts as much as you allow yourself to be hurt.
nice day for a hill climb - at the sign on |
I was so special in fact that, when I signed on as rider No. 55 they had run out of saftey pins, the amateur riders fix it method for sticking your number on. We had ridden from home and definitely didn't think of bringing any with us.
Once again the organisers were most accommodating. Behind the signing on tent was the pizzeria who was laying on a little aperitivo. His wife had a needle and thread but only Paolo could sew the number on because he knew a little English. He worked in Brentford for FIAT between 1968 & 1972, the best 4 years of his life he said because it was the time of the Beatles, the mini-skirt & hot-pants.
a first time for everything |
the start of the final 200m |
trying to keep the front wheel on the ground as the power is put through the back wheel |
it hurt but I stopped it from hurting too much - feeble |
passing a walking rider helped moral |
cresting the top I remembered why I don't like hill climbing competitions |
The winning time was 11'33", unbelievable. He won by over 1 minute and nearly broke the record.
The last 200m were a killer and equal to the gradient of any of the shorter hill climbs you might find in the Peak District.
The 1st Clarion rider and 1st British rider came in in 29th spot at 15'13" leaving a realisation how off form I was.
Even so, we came away with a prize. Two nice bottles of red & some inner tubes as 4th in the senior category and an invite to the next event on the same hill on Oct 20th
Speroni !
it took a while to find them, but here are the official results:
ReplyDelete11.33.73 GHIDELLA LUCA 808 CADETTO 01AT002 - SPEEDY BIKE ASTI
12.11.11 TOMAINO TOMMASO FRANCO 5650 GENTLEMAN 01TO159 - REDIL MATERGIA
12.13.49 CRIVELLO ALESSIO 1816 JUNIOR 01CN037 - TECNOBIKE BRA
12.14.90 PORRO MAURO 2014 SENIOR 01CN048 - U.C. EZIO BORGNA HERSH BIKE CYCLING TEAM
12.18.76 RAMELLA PAOLO 1427 SENIOR 01BI041 - BIELLA BIKING
12.27.39 FRANCO CARLEVERO DENIS 2518 JUNIOR 01CN051 - PEDALA SPORT CANALE
12.33.73 ELLI DAVIDE 998 JUNIOR 01AT023 - POLISPORTIVA CASSA DI RISPARMIO ASTI
12.53.87 GIROTTI ENRICO CARLO 5015 CADETTO 01TO069 - A.C. REANO
12.54.66 BONAMICI MAURO 19314 VETERANO 04PV085 - CYCLING TEAM OLTREPO INTERNATIONAL
13.19.54 ROSSO MARCO 2417 VETERANO 01CN009 - CICLI PEPINO
13.22.22 FENOCCHIO MASSIMO 2584 VETERANO 01CN033 - ROERO SPEED BIKE
13.37.12 BENEDETTO UGO 5214 VETERANO 01TO074 - A.P.D. PESSIONESE
13.47.49 GUGLIELMOTTO MASSIMO 6046 JUNIOR 01TO020 - GATTOBIGIO CYCLING TEAM
13.55.02 RIZZI ANDREA 6453 JUNIOR 01VB001 - BICI CLUB OMEGNA
14.02.69 VANOLO ANDREA 3004 SENIOR 01NO003 - TEAM SCHAEFFLER ITALIA
14.04.55 CURRELI MAURO 5675 VETERANO 01TO051 - CICLI CAPELLA RACING TEAM
14.09.11 PRINA DANIELE 6537 JUNIOR 01VB001 - BICI CLUB OMEGNA
14.09.13 CARUSO SALVATORE 4859 GENTLEMAN 01TO063 - TEAM PHSETTE
14.14.90 FILA ROBERTO 1030 SUPERGENTLEMAN A 01BI006 - ASD PED.COSSATESE-BUFFET STAZIOE
14.19.13 DOMINI GABRIELE 629 CADETTO 01AT012 - TARTARUGA TURBO BIKE
14.29.42 DEPLANO GIORGIO OO3112 SUPERGENTLEMAN B 01NO009 - CICLI TURRI - CARRERA
14.33.64 DESCHINO FRANCO 4291 VETERANO 01TO024 - PEDALE SETTIMESE
14.34.60 AMBIEL DIEGO 6411 VETERANO 01VB002 - VALDOSSOLA
14.51.77 BATILDE OTO 4335 GENTLEMAN 01TO193 - VALETTI CICLI DEMARIA
14.52.08 MANCUSO DANIELE 5310 VETERANO 01TO095 - RACE TECH TEAM
15.05.18 CALOSSO FEDERICO 5064 CADETTO 01TO012 - BORGONUOVO COLLEGNO
15.08.81 DI STEFANO MARCO 654 JUNIOR 01AT006 - R.P.M. CICLI ASTI
15.11.82 BARO GIAMPIERO 6573 GENTLEMAN 01VC048 - TEAM F.LLI OLIVA
15.13.38 JULIAN MORTEL XXXX SENIOR ITAL001 - NATIONAL CLARION CYCLING CLUB
15.24.32 RINERO PIERGIORGIO 1897 SUPERGENTLEMAN A 01CN001 - ARREDAMENTI BERUTTI
15.25.22 PEDRETTI LUDOVICA 6393 SUPERGENTLEMAN B 01VB002 - VALDOSSOLA
15.28.01 VALLE BIGLIA DAVIDE 4875 CADETTO 01TO022 - RIVAROLO DI CICLISMO
15.28.72 CAZZAMANI ALBERTO 4279 SUPERGENTLEMAN A 01TO024 - PEDALE SETTIMESE
15.31.82 PORTA GIANCARLO 989 SENIOR 01AT023 - POLISPORTIVA CASSA DI RISPARMIO ASTI
15.32.49 REMONDINO ANDREA 628 SENIOR 01AT012 - TARTARUGA TURBO BIKE
15.35.80 MISSIAGGIA STEFANO 726458C CADETTO 01M2073 - RACING TEAM RIVE ROSSE
15.39.22 MOINO DIEGO 834 VETERANO 01AT024 - S.C. AVIS CASTELNUOVO DON BOSCO
15.40.98 BOSCO GABRIELE 833 CADETTO 01AT024 - S.C. AVIS CASTELNUOVO DON BOSCO
15.55.59 VIETTO IVO 1931 SUPERGENTLEMAN B 01CN028 - CICLI ARGIRO' S.C. PEDONA
16.01.76 PIETROCOLA LEONARDO 4290 SUPERGENTLEMAN B 01TO024 - PEDALE SETTIMESE
16.15.00 VIOLI FRANCESCO 5790 GENTLEMAN 01TO001 - ASD CICLI COLOMBA MERIDA
16.19.91 CALVARESE CLAUDIO 4543 SUPERGENTLEMAN B 01TO040 - C.C. PIMONTE
16.25.85 MARTINO PASQUALE 5199 SUPERGENTLEMAN A 01TO004 - BUSSOLINO SPORT
16.27.74 BORLINI PAOLO 6694 GENTLEMAN 01VC048 - TEAM F.LLI OLIVA
17.01.11 RICCHITELLI SILVIO 978220N GENTLEMAN 01W0793 - C.C. PIMONTE
17.02.78 SIMIONATO RICCARDO 4295 SUPERGENTLEMAN A 01TO024 - PEDALE SETTIMESE
17.17.12 ORELLI EDOARDO 4886 SENIOR 01TO077 - CUSATIBIKE RACING TEAM
17.29.52 RICCHITELLI GUIDO 702473C GENTLEMAN 01W0793 - C.C. PIMONTE
17.34.98 PERINO PAOLO 5778 VETERANO 01TO077 - CUSATIBIKE RACING TEAM
18.23.06 MOMENTI ROBERTO 19412 VETERANO 04PV079 - TEAM FINOTTI
18.25.19 VALLE BIGLIA SILVIO GIUSEPPE 4876 GENTLEMAN 01TO022 - RIVAROLO DI CICLISMO
18.25.41 BESSONE RENATO 5295 GENTLEMAN 01TO153 - G.S. MONCENISIO
19.02.51 DEMARIA UGO 2790 SUPERGENTLEMAN B 01CN044 - BARBERO BIKE
19.42.73 SARACCO IVANO 639 GENTLEMAN 01AT013 - POLISPORTIVA D.L.F. ASTI
20.02.18 FREGADO MARIA JOSE 120849428 PRIMAVERA 2^FASCIA M 0422 - TARTARUGA TURBO BIKE
20.36.84 QUIRICO FABIO 634 SENIOR 01AT013 - POLISPORTIVA