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Saturday 12 August 2017

Blog12

Picking up where I left my last blog, I've now been staying at Dominico Garbelli's house for 4 weeks. This has been a good experience, training with Palazzago and seeing how their training differs to ours. Dominico's house is situated at the foot of the mountains near Bergamo, not too far from Milan and also Lake Como. It is a great location for training with a mix of terrain and plenty of good climbs.

Riding with Palazzago
Before actually getting out on the bike with these guys, I'd heard a lot of rumours about the team - hard core, tough, many stories floating about... However, after training with them and experiencing their set up firsthand, I believe they are talented based on the work they put in. It is definitely a tough, regimented Team. Put it this way, just a few days ago, one of the riders missed a break in a race and because of this was made to ride 5 hours the following day!!

I've done some solid days training with Palazzago, always working the hills hard. The number one rule with the Team is to train in one line with riders taking a turn on the front every 5 minutes. So you can see how they are successful. On some of the steadier rides we have had the opportunity to get to know some of riders such as Ribushenko from Belarus who is a real nice guy and a good laugh.


Racing
It's been good that me, James and Paul have had the opportunity to throw a few races into this period when we thought we'd just be training. First up we had the Bassano Monte-grappa which finished on a 26 kilometre climb - yes you heard right! I managed a top 25 here which was pleasing as the temperature was in the mid thirties and the race just exploded on the finishing climb.

Then me, Paul and James travelled with Palazzago to a couple of regional Italian races. They are called regionals but don't be fooled into thinking these are a lower standard as in general the same top teams are represented. The first of these races was in Tuscany. The race wasn't too severe but had one climb on the finishing circuit which took its' toll after a few laps and the race finished up a 1.5km climb. I was super happy with my race here; my best race of the season finishing 17th. Nice to start feeling competitive in these races whereas early season I was happy to just finish one of these Italian races.

For the next race we travelled 5 hours South. Italy is going through a crazy heatwave and it was 44 degrees in the race! Even the locals were struggling with the extreme temperature. 215 started the race and just 30 completed it. I physically just couldn't deal with the heat. I felt as if I was going to pass out and had a banging headache so pulled out after only 45km. This was a bit of a shame but my body just wouldn't let me function.

Touristy bits
Whilst we've been here we've been able to see some pretty special places such as riding across to Lecco at the edge of Como. The scenery once we get in these mountains is pretty special too. Visiting Bergamo Alta was great with the old town built up on a hill top with views overlooking Milan in the distance and the mountains on the opposite side.


I almost forgot - dentistry......
As I left the last blog I had a rather large bit of a front tooth missing that I had to get sorted urgently. I weighed up the options of returning to the UK versus visiting an Italian dentist. I looked into both and the treatment worked out a hell of a lot cheaper in Italy! The only problem being my lack of Italian and Dominico's Dentist's lack of English. It was pretty amusing having Dominico prodding around my mouth showing the dentist what had happened and laughing at my misfortune... However, after a couple of trips, the dentist did a great job and my teeth are back to normal. I'm now being ultra careful as I don't want this to happen again!

Next up I have a UCI race. 34 teams are racing including 14 foreign teams (i.e. non Italian). I'll let you know how I get on in my next blog

Ciao