More on Friends

Daniela Ulissi, Donatella and Daria
Photo by Khosrow S

This photo was taken roughly ten years ago by Khosrow S. during a meal in one of Campiglia’s restaurants. It was the final evening of a tour and for the occasion my wife and daughter joined us. The other person in the photo is Daniela, the owner of Ciclo Sport.

Another significant group of friends is from Ontario, Canada. This is the connection that started with Vincenzo D, again back in the late 90’s when I was working with Cinghiale tours. Vince came on several tours with Andy and we became friends. Subsequently he would return with other friends, culminating with a tour we did in 2009 of Canadians all from the city of Windsor. Vince is sort of a big deal in Windsor and is very active in the Italian-Canadian community, especially within the cycling community. He put together this group of 20+ people for a tour here in Tuscany that took place during the Giro d’Italia of that year. Several people went to the time trial stage in Liguria, one guy even rode there, a trip of about 250 km! There were several rather ‘senior’ riders on that trip, I believe the oldest was Eric N who was well into his 80’s at the time. He was fine on the flats but he struggled a bit in the hills, bear in mind that it was late May and the temperatures were usually in the mid 80’s. Later that same year, by pure coincidence I was in Detroit Michigan which is just across the river from Windsor. Vince came over to pick me up and I spent several days with him and his charming wife Isabel. Vince went so far as to arrange a bike for me, not an easy matter because I ride a 60 cm frame. I brought kit and shoes with me, we weren’t able to find a helmet though and I even got a dressing down from another rider for being helmet-less. These guys, Eric N included, tortured me that day. It was all flat country roads with dozens of turns most of which were taken full speed meaning that if you didn’t know the roads, like me, you were closing gaps that opened on the turns. After about 15 of these I was starting to feel the burn. I recall being on Eric’s wheel towards the end of the ride and groveling, wishing for it to be over. I suddenly realized that this was their revenge for having suffered on the hills in Tuscany.

In that group from Windsor that came in 2009 there was a guy named Peter D. Pete I believe had never been to Italy before despite having both parents from here. That trip made quite an impression on him though as he’s been back every year since. What’s more, he has brought groups with him, all Canadian and they’re a blast. Those of you who have read this blog before will recall the olive mill Fonte di Foiano, well that’s where Pete always takes his groups. I guide them, though by this point Pete could do it himself. In fact he has started to guide on trips with me, he was on the London Lawyer’s tour of southern Maremma last year.

Group of Canadians

That brings me to the next geographical area where I have a concentration of friends from bike tours, London, England. Once again the connection is Cinghiale tours and it goes back to 1999. Two guys came on a tour that year, Rod B and David K. They both worked in the same law firm in London and were enthusiastic cyclists. David is my age and Rod a few years older. I should mention that Rod is almost always accompanied by his wife Stevie who does not ride. She deserves a medal, if for no other reason than having to put up with groups of cyclists for weeks and weeks every year. Because Rod does a lot of these bike tours! One of the tours they came on included a friend and neighbor of theirs, Alan W. In the past 10 years they’ve been on so many tours I’ve lost count. I know for certain that they’ve done the Dolomites at least three times and it looks as though we’ll be going back again this coming July. We were there in Alleghe last summer and as we’d sit around the gelateria in the piazza waiting for dinner time to roll around, we’d talk. Because in the Dolomites after you’ve ridden four or more hours, had a shower and lunch, watched the TDF stage…you’re hungry…again. We would sit there chatting and the idea slowly formed for Daria and myself

The Women’s Olympic Road Race near Hampton Court

to come to London later that same month to visit, stay with them and see some of the Olympics. And that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately Donatella couldn’t get time off from work so it was just the two of us. We flew up, took a train into the city where Rod met us at Victoria Station and guided us back to his flat in Knightsbridge. We divided our week in London between that charming flat and David’s house in Kingston. The road races went right by Rod’s flat and the Time Trials went right through Kingston. Plus we were able to see London and its museums during the Olympics and it was really special.

Daria and Rod at Hyde Park

Pete D is a world traveler. Here he is in Costa Rica.

We even managed to ride a few kilometers while in London, albeit on a dirt path that ran along the river from Kingston to Hampton Court. David, Alan and their respective wives and I cycled over to the castle which once belonged to Henry the VIII, locked up the bikes very near to where the Time Trial would be departing in a few more days and walked over the bridge to watch the woman’s road race. The Olympic atmosphere was unlike any sporting event I’d ever witnessed. The Tour de France comes close but in terms of numbers and crowd noise the Olympics were far more intense. It was a rare treat to be showed around London on foot by Rod, I think he too enjoyed the reversal in roles, for once the guide was being guided. Driving to dinner one night, after the TT I believe, Rod went through Richmond Park and showed me exactly where it was that Fabian Cancellara had crashed in the road race. It was a tricky corner but didn’t seem nasty enough to bring down one of the peleton’s great bike handlers. The park itself was quite impressive. I’ve rarely seen tress that old or that big, in fact they represent some of the oldest living trees in Great Britain. Another thing that impressed me was the slow speed of the traffic, I think it was 30 kph. And everyone was obeying the limit! I could feel the effect that years of driving in Italy has had on me, driving that slow would be a challenge.  As would being that disciplined.

One of the things that Daria and I loved about London was the weather, no kidding. Apart from the fact that it didn’t rain all that often and when it did, it wasn’t for very long. What delighted us were the cooler temperatures, it was about 22 degrees C during the day and often necessary to carry a light sweater over your shoulders. Such a welcome change from the 35+ degrees celsius we’d left behind in Italy.

Up next: still more friends. The list is long…

Daria in Trafalgar Square

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The Friends

I remember writing in an earlier post that one of the nicer benefits of  working as a guide and organizer of cycle tours is the number of wonderful people I’ve met and spent time with in these past 18 years. When you are with people for a solid week both on and off the bike, eating meals together and basically spending your waking moments together it means getting to know them, quite well in some cases. Going back to the late 90’s when there were frequently thirty participants on an average bike tour it wasn’t always possible to really get to know everyone. You would try your best but it simply wasn’t possible. That’s one of the reasons why we always taped the person’s name on the left side of their helmet. If you needed to get their quickly  on the road you could immediately use their name and not have to wrack your brain trying to remember it. And this was the trick, for me at least, to remembering their names even without the help of the helmet.

I guess it’s only natural that some folks are more drawn to each other, in whatever situation. This certainly happens on bike trips and while I can’t say whether it was luck or not, the very people I tended to establish relationships with during tours seemed to be the ones who came on trips year after year. And seeing them every year also helped to cement the friendship and they would make plans to come again the following year and on it went. Initially this phenomena seemed random and simply a matter of fortune but as the years slipped by I noticed that this group of friends was growing, people I cared for very strongly and from all walks of life. The common thread obviously was cycling and a love of Italy. I had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.

The Four J’s. Photo from Utah on winter ride.

When I think about it, my theory is that there’s a natural selection to this. First of all being serious cyclists. That puts you in rarefied company straight away as well as placing you smack dab in the middle of any number of other categories. (highly educated, professionals, politically progressive, well read etc.) The selection becomes even more specific when you factor in the travel, coming to Italy on a cycling vacation puts you in a relatively small group of people. Whom, in my experience, share a number of values and traits. What I haven’t quite been able to figure out is the geographical connection; there seems to be certain areas of the world where these cycling friends live and frequently it’s near one another even though there wasn’t initially any connection between them.

Take Salt Lake City for example. The four people in the photo on the left side of the page all live in Salt Lake City, known as The Four J’s because their names are John, Jen, Jan and John. The guy in back is John T (red jacket) and his wife Jen on the right hand side of the photo. Jan is on the left and it’s John W’s eyes and helmet you see in the foreground. I met John T and Jen L in 1999 when they came on a trip to Tuscany with Andy Hampsten’s Cinghiale trips. They had their son Austin with them too, I think he was about eight years old and didn’t ride a bike, at least not on cycle tours. They came back to tour with Andy at least two additional times and then when I began doing my own tours, the came touring with me. That’s how I met the other two J’s, their friends, and have since been with them on four tours, all in Tuscany and Umbria. Last April we rented an apartment near Lucca and spent a week together riding, exploring, cooking and keeping house together. To say that they’re friends is an understatement, I wish they lived next door to me, I wish they were my daily training partners. I’ve had some of my best laughs with them and have generally just had a world of fun with them every time we’re together.

There’s another Salt Lake City connection though. Carl K and his wife Gillean and their friends Khosrow S and Dennis M. Carl and Gillean came on numerous trips with Andy and I connected with them on their first trip. Then they returned with Khosrow and we also became good friends. Then Dennis and his wife came on a trip as well. There were years in which Carl came touring with me more than once which is a real commitment to training and travel. Though I don’t know his exact age, Carl is in his 70’s and rides better than most men 30 years his junior. His daughter Tanya is a natural athlete just like her father and has been touring with me in the Dolomites as well as on Elba. No one can keep up with her on the climbs in the mountains, she’s in a class by herself. I’ve had the pleasure of doing tours with Carl and Gillean as the sole participants. I had a friend as a young man, a mentor if you will, who’s highest form of compliment was saying, ” I’d travel across the Andes with you” and I’ve thought more than once that I could say the same thing about Carl. Even though he is a highly successful man, in charge of many people as well as a medical structure, he’s soft spoken to a fault. More on “Friends” to come…

Carl and his daughter Tanya
Notice Tanya’s Eroica jersey

Carl and Gillean

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How I Met Ernesto Colnago

Below is the text of a letter I wrote to my long time friend from Brooklyn, Michael Haddad. Yes, the same guy I rode the Eroica with this year. We had been corresponding last week about the death of Fausto Coppi’s last surviving ‘gregario’ or team worker, Andrea Carrera who passed away at home in his sleep at the age of 90. Some how this led to us talking about the bike frame builder Ernesto Colnago and I responded with this story of how I met him over 10 years ago. I hope you don’t mind me using it, though I suppose it is a bit lazy of me.

So, I haven’t told you about Colnago and my pilgrimage to his place. In order to tell you the story I have to back up a bit in time, I went up Milano to meet him over ten years ago. I was still working for Andy Hampsten’s cycle tour company back then. On his tours we used a local mom and pop bike shop for technical support, the son (Riccardo) was our driver/mechanic and everything we needed we got from their store. They have a really good selection of riding kit so we always took the clients there and people would take good advantage of the opportunity to buy things not readily available at home.

This shop is the only Colnago dealer between Livorno and Grosseto and in fact they are personal friends with Ernesto. My guess is that he likes and respects them because they are self made, just like he is. The dad (Gerardo) was a steel mill worker in Piombino (he drove the over-head cranes) and repaired racing bikes in his spare time, when he wasn’t racing himself. As the repair business grew and prospered, the mom (Daniela) started doing small stuff like repairing sew ups and began selling cycling clothing too. Eventually they invested all their savings into a small commercial space and became full time bike shop keepers. They would go to the Milano bike show to make yearly orders and one year and ended up meeting Colnago who took an immediate shine to them. It wasn’t long before they became such good friends that Colnago began coming down to visit them here in Tuscany on the coast. Which is how he encouraged Saronni to bring down the Lampre team for their winter training camp back in the late ’80’s, the weather is mild, the roads are fantastic and the terrain is varied. That started a whole movement of teams doing their winter training here and for close to 15 years, from the early 90’s until just a few years ago this area would be filled with pro teams for the months of January and February. Which is how Hampsten discovered the area, the Motorola squad did their winter training camp here in ’94 and Andy fell in love with the place. So much so that he eventually moved here, bought an old farm house that he renovated and stayed for close to 10 years. So in a round about way I owe it to the Ciclo Sport family for meeting Andy!

You might be wondering if the teams still come here. Some of them do though the number has dwindled considerably. This area became so frequented by teams in the early season that in 1998 a pro race was organized, in large part by the Ciclo Sport bike shop, it was called “Gran Premio Costa degli Etruschi” or the Etruscan Coast Gran Prix. It was contested every year from ’98 until last year, sadly this year they were forced to concede for lack of funds. It was a great opportunity to see a lot of big name pros in their first race of the season and while being mostly flat and a sprinter’s event, it was nonetheless fascinating to see all these guys on the same roads we ride everyday. One of the causes of the Etruscan Coast demise might be the Terreno-Adriatico race that has begun to use this zone as its depart since last year. We were treated to two stages in 2012, the first stage team time trial and the start of stage two on its way east towards the other coast of Italy and the Adriatic sea. In all the years of going to see races, many stages of the Giro d’Italia, Milano-San Remo, Giro di Lombardia etc. I’d never seen a TTT. It was extremely fascinating! And these were all of the best teams in cycling, my God they were simply FLYING. Poetry in motion is the only way to describe it. I was standing on a highway fly over with a curve in it, a good place to see them I thought, and was awed by the whole event, the incredible precision, the speed, the bike handling. I realized then that few moments of bike racing bring home the absolute universe of skill, training and dedication that separates us mere mortals from professional riders like a TTT does. Maybe a mountain top finish in a stage race does as well or even an individual time trial. But I digress.

Anyway, all of that to give you a bit of the back ground. I have worked for years and continue to work with these folks at Ciclo Sport and it’s an understatement to say that we’re good friends. Anytime I’m near Donoratico I stop in just to say hi, like yesterday. I don’t go there so frequently anymore  though, in part because I tend to train on different roads which takes me further south. And in so doing I made the acquaintance of another bike shop and a different mechanic. But don’t tell anyone, I’d hate for Ciclo Sport to find out!

So one year, it would have been 2001, Daniela, Gerardo and Riccardo were planning their yearly trip to Milano to Colnago’s place to make their order for the coming season, it was the month of November. Knowing that I’m nuts about everything having to do with cycling history, they invited me to come with them and I quickly accepted. We left well before dawn for the four trip in order to beat the rush hour traffic around Milano and were probably at the gates around 9:00 AM. I don’t have a photo unfortunately but when you think of his “factory”, don’t imagine anything remotely industrial or 19th century. He has built a totally modern structure in what is basically a semi-residential neighbourhood, right across the street from where he lives. This two story, glass paneled building houses his office space and warehouse where all the frames are built up (those requiring a build) and boxed and sent off all around the world. The whole place is immaculate, I don’t think there was a dust mote in the entire building. The curving stair case up to the second floor had a carbon fiber railing with super technical steel attachments, everything gleamed from polish. Since I was with them, Gerardo made sure to mention that I worked for Andy, so we got a tour of the entire works and Colnago personally explained everything. One thing I’ve realized over the years here is that people like Colnago are totally, utterly in love with bike racing and racers in general. It’s a passion that flows out of them and I dare say that it’s contagious.

One of the surprises I learned about Colnago’s set up is that all the carbon frames were assembled in a basement workshop UNDER his house across the street from the office/warehouse. No kidding. He could see the perplexed expression on my face and before I could ask why, he explained that this way he has immediate control over everything. The steel, aluminum and titanium frames were built elsewhere, my guess is that this work is farmed out to trusted builders. Nowadays of course, almost all the carbon frames are made in China, all except the top end frames which are still made in his “basement” workshop. Frame painting on the other hand takes place here in Tuscany and again, Ciclo Sport was part of that. In the late 80’s early 90’s Ernesto wasn’t happy with his painting set up, for a time his frames were atrociously painted and it was costing him business. During a brief vacation to Donoratico to see his friends Gerardo and Daniela, he was talking about this fact and asked them if they knew of anyone who could help. So Gerardo took him to meet a small frame painter in Pisa whom he used for re-paints on used frames and after seeing what this artisan was capable of, Colnago offered him a deal. So what happened is that Colnago built a totally new structure in Pisa from the ground up with the most modern painting operation you can imagine. Now these guys work exclusively for Colnago. When you walk in to the place you can barely even smell the paint and the painters work out in the open, not in enclosed spaces. Just like at the Colnago HQ, at the paint facility the gleaming cleanliness struck me. It was fascinating to see how the painters used the decal masks which are laid on the frames during the painting, pealing off successive layers and airbrushing in the next color in such a way that each frame is slightly different than the next one, even ones with identical color schemes. The airbrush canisters, each color, are on flexible, extendable, rotating arms that swing in any direction. The frames are attached to a sort of rotating ball that fits into the bottom bracket opening and with one finger the painter can rotate the frame almost 360°. The reason that I couldn’t smell the paint was due to the virtually silent vacuum that sucked it all down into special filters under each paint station. I mention this just to give you an idea of the maniacal nature of Colnago, he’ll stop at nothing to get the best result possible.

BTW, I visited the paint factory on a separate occasion and Colnago wasn’t with us that day. But back to the day at his place in Milano…or actually Cambiago as the neighbourhood is known.

After being offered the obligatory expresso cafe, we went into his office and he told stories, about racers, races, team directors, race organizers, he went on for 90 minutes easily. If only I’d been recording this, there was material for a book! At one point, talking about the future of racing bikes, he reached down under his desk and pulled up two carbon prototypes he’d designed, one in each hand. Unlike anything we’d ever seen before, they had slightly sloping top tubes, curving upwards though, from a bulky, sculpted head tube back to the seat tube. Which, if you think about it, is pretty much what a lot of carbon frames look like today. Those mock-ups were unpainted and he let us look at them for about 10 seconds before putting them back under his desk and out of sight. Incidentally, all the furniture, desk, chairs, lamps etc in his office were from his designs. The chairs were all in carbon fiber as was the base of the huge table in the office. His office also had an enormous window that partially opened that looked out on the floor of the warehouse so that he could control what was happening down there too.

He was a bit disappointed that I didn’t ride one of his frames and told me that I needed to rectify that asap. I’m still working on getting it sorted. When lunch time rolled around Riccardo and Gerardo and I went to a nearby restaurant while Daniela remained behind with Ernesto to go over the season’s order. Which is typical, she runs the show at Ciclo Sport. Without Daniela nothing much happens at the shop. Once we had finished eating we leisurely made our way back, spending another half an hour shooting the breeze with Ernesto before departing for the drive home. As we headed out the door he shook my hand, thanking me for coming to visit and gave me a carbon ink pen with the Colnago Ace of Clubs imbedded in it as a keep sake.

I wish I had written an account of that visit when it happened, while my memory was still fresh. Over ten years have passed and there are details I no longer recall. I do however readily remember the sensation that I was in the presence of an extraordinary person. He was close to 80 years old even back then and displayed an energy level and sense of vitality that someone much younger would be envious of. He said at one point during the visit in his office that he was behind his desk by 6:00 AM, only ate an apple for lunch and went home at 7:00 PM. Daniela, who knows him better than her husband or son, explained that he is a totally self made man. He comes from a modest working class family and began as an apprentice to a bike mechanic at the age of 13. The rest has happened because of his incredible genius, his indomitable character and work ethic.

So that is the my story of meeting Ernesto Colnago. A bit long I know,  I won’t tell you again though, I promise. But I do have a story of another frame builder, Irio Tommasini. But that will have to wait for another day.

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January..already off the back

Shame on me, that’s the sense I have as I look at the date of the last entry. Sure, Christmas and New Year’s are decent excuses for slacking off but I took it too far.

It was nice to be in Umbria for the first part of the holiday season at my wife’s family house in the country. A Christmas tradition, it’s one of the few times of the year when the whole extended clan of her sisters and brothers with their spouses and children are all together. When we sit down to eat we’re generally 18 people unless friends or other relatives are also there. It is a boisterous, lively atmosphere as I am sure you can imagine. It took some getting used to initially.

Food preparation and the meals that follow are basically how Italians socialize. That is never more true than during holidays or festive occasions with Christmas and Easter being the pinnacle of culinary expression and creativity. At least this has been my experience. While it is generally difficult to resist over indulging when surrounded by incredible food, this time of year it becomes particularly challenging. This is when all the family traditions are brought to the table as it were, when old recipes are used and much of the special food is made by hand. Well, everything except bread, not too many Italian households make their own bread anymore. Though loyal readers know that we do!

When Donatella’s entire family sits down at the table we are 18 people, including spouses and grand-children. It’s a boisterous, lively group, one that took some getting used to. There is also an international flavor to the gathering, besides myself there is my brother-in-law from Turkey and my sister-in-law from Spain. Between us we have five children, all girls, in fact all (six of them) the grand-children are female. Which is in keeping with the “feel” of this family, that is decidedly matriarchal in natural. But that has been more or less my take on Italian families in general, women organize and run the family. They allow the men to think that they, the males, are in charge but it’s a smoke screen. Women make the important decisions, men are ‘encouraged’ to get with the program. It can lead to friction at times, we males are notoriously difficult to train in human relations. But I digress.

We were speaking of food and sumptuous meals and this Christmas meal was the same menu it has been for many years. In the twenty one years I’ve had Christmas with the Pagliacci family it has consisted of numerous anti-pasti, a first course of home made Capelletti, which are stuffed with a meat filling and cooked in a broth made from both chicken and beef. They are exquisite, the home made pasta gives them a texture that, boiled in the broth, makes them both light and wonderfully satisfying at the same time. I’ve been known to have three servings of capelletti but in recent years have learned to reign in my appetite. The second course is a stuffed grouse hen that is filled with a filling of chestnuts, from an old family recipe. Along with the hen are side dishes of potatoes and wild greens. The spuds are made in a traditional Italian way that consists of boiling them 10 minutes, peeling and cutting them into squares and sautéing them in a bit of olive oil with rosemary and garlic. Try doing that without burning your finger tips! The wild greens are gathered from  fields just out the front door, greens like dandelions and other common field greens for which I have no translations. These are boiled briefly then sautéed in olive oil with a few cloves of garlic. I’m crazy for the potatoes and greens, the grouse hen I am happy to pass over, preferring the veggies. Which also leaves just enough room for the ‘dolci’ or dessert. Unfortunately I didn’t have the presence of mind to take photos of the incredible desserts we had this year. The list included a special “panettone”, a traditional Italian Christmas sweet bread that derives I believe, from a Lombard recipe in which the bread rises 7 or 8 times over the course of four days in special containers that make it grow upwards. This particular one was made by a local pastry shop and covered in bitter sweet chocolate. OMG! Another favorite is “torrone”, bars of almonds and egg whites and honey that are somehow turned into some of the most  unbelievably delicious stuff you can imagine. The Spanish version of torrone is other worldly it’s so good. There was also home made apple strudel, not a traditional Umbrian dessert but one of Donatella’s sisters makes an impressive strudel. All of which explains how it is that I managed to gain 3 kilos since the Eroica.

Daria and Donatella making pasta for Christmas dinner.

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