cronoscalata 'Castelnuovo Don Bosco to Albugnano'

Stivali !
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.

A Clarion Team, 900 miles and the 1998 FBD Milk Rás

Stivali!

In June of 1997, Graham Pearce, the Stockport Clarion race guru came back from that years edition of the Rás telling us all of the great experience. He was leading one of the teams from their support vehicle. He made it sound ridiculously hard & insane, but also like the nearest an amateur could get to a true ‘tour’ experience. Over 30 teams, 9 days of racing, over 100 miles each day, 170 riders, team support vehicles, racing around Ireland, the home of Kelly, Roche, Earley & ofcourse Guinness. It sounded epic. It was…..This was going to be something we’d never forget.