The Kirks

There were a few people looking a bit the worse for wear on Saturday morning. after some pretty serious sampling of the local white the night before.  Nevertheless, most people were there at breakfast  on time with the exception of Lee and me who slept in due to some mutual but non contemporaneous snoring action.

The day was beautiful and Orvieto looked even more beautiful than it did in the evening.  It truly is an unspoiled medieval city and I would recommend it to anybody for a weekend break.  I wouldn’t recommend cycling there though.  Our route took us from the really charming Hotel Duomo Orvieto down some very steep cobbled streets in a rather hairy descent.  Sadly we had to climb again and from 8km onwards there was a long hard climb out of the valley around Orvieto.  I kept thinking that if they could just build a huge suspension bridge from the top of Orvieto to the top of the valley, we could have just cycled along the flat rather than doing a hairy descent and a horrible climb.

Once again we split into the Elite Group, the…”pacing ourselves” Group and…me.  The countryside was still beautiful and there were lots of little hilltop towns to curse on the way up to them and then marvel at their unspoiled beauty.  There were some nice descents through the woods and all in all it was a stunning but hard route.

The rolling hills (which I’m sure I have mentioned before) are energy sapping.  There’s just no point where you can get into a rhythm and get on with eating up the kilometres.  I stopped for a coffee on my own and filled my water bottle with water.  This was a big mistake as we shall see later.  Around about 50km into the day the huge climb kicked in.  Trish’s knee had blown up and so Janneke and Trish picked me up just before the coffee stop at 48km.  Everybody had left for the big climb.  This was the biggest of the trip and although I rode up it in the car it looked terrifying.  Everybody made it (apart from me because I was knackered and Trish because her knee was finished).  Those of you who aren’t cyclists probably can’t conceive of how long and difficult this was in the heat.  I am in awe of the people who made it.  The Elite group must have sped up it because even at the top we didn’t see them.

I was feeling a lot better after having had a nice gentle sit in the car and so got back on my bike at the top.  There was an incredibly fun descent for about 10km which made me feel great and for a little while I wasn’t last (I know, I know, in the car is cheating).  Then there was the final hill of the day.  Not very long but quite steep in places.  Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the pacing themselves group passed me half way up but everybody was working hard and although it was tough, we all made it to the top.

Sadly, when I got to the top and was just chuntering along getting my breath back I suffered some sort of heat stroke.  My heart rate went from 140 to 60 in about 20 seconds and I fell off the bike into some grass.  When I came round, my phone had no signal and I thought “ok, this is it, I’m dead”.  After a fair amount of time I managed to stand up and Rupert arrived with the van and rushed me down to the lunch stop on the shores of a lovely lake. 

When I got to the lunch stop Janneke and Ivo who are both doctors sort of saved my life (or at least if felt like that to me).  I was coloured purple and shaking and my arms didn’t work and couldn’t talk.  My favourite exchange (relayed to me later)

Lee: He looks like a Smurf

Trish: A dying Smurf.

A couple of litres of electrolyte laden water, some of Lee’s salted crisps and a fantastic cheese and tomato sandwich made by Wendy and I was able to stand again.  Unsurprisingly, for me the trip was over.

The rest of the team started into Rome.  Trish joined them for the final push since there were no hills and the knee might survive.  Janneke and I joined Fulvio at the hotel in Rome after a pretty exciting drive round Rome.  When rupert turned up we taxied down to the Pantheon to meet the team for the final photograph.  A number of spouses and significant others have come to Rome to celebrate the finish and they were there in the Pantheon too.  The group had stopped in St Peter’s square for some photographs and then met us in the Pantheon. It was an emotional scene for everyone but especially for Catherine. 

Then it was back to the hotel, break down the bikes and pack them again, a quick shower and everybody got dressed up in their finery for the final meal.  The food was great, a huge amount of wine was drunk and we got back to the hotel bar for more wine and a final debrief from Catherine.  Everybody got a mention for their skill at cycling (the “Marmalottes” in particular) or their skill at being “domestiques” for the women.

There were two toasts at the end:  One toast to Catherine whose determination and drive not only got her to the finish of the trip but also made the whole trip happen.  And the other toast was to John who was involved at the start and who would have loved to have been there at the end.  He was with us every kilometre of the way in spirit.  “To John”.

The stats were 142km and approximately 1700m of climbing.  The route is here

Here is the photograph album for the day and I will collate everybody’s pictures and videos over the next few days and upload one big giantic photograph album.

Pisa Rome Day Three VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The internet connection in the Rome hotel is truly hopeless and certainly not sufficient for uploading photographs or blog entries.  Day three will be uploaded once we get back to Cambridge but for the moment it is enough to say we all made it to Rome and everybody is well.  More later.

There is nothing quite like that feeling of getting on a bike saddle on day two of a long ride.  Oh dear, it really is painful.

But before that joy we had a lovely breakfast with the sun rising over the rolling Tuscan hills.  A bit of buggering about with the bikes and the bags and then we were off.  It didn’t take long for the character of the day to make itself obvious.  Endless hills.  Just endless.  That “rolling countryside” is an absolute bugger when it comes to cycling..  After a hill that is just way too long to power your way up, you get a small respite on the other side and then there’s just another one of them.  On and on.

That being said, the Tuscan countryside did it’s thing again.  The adabatic mists rising off the freshly ploughed fields, the dramatic ochre/orange houses perched on the tops of hills, the olive groves.  If it wasn’t for the road itself, you could imagine yourself in the 19th century. 

We split into a fast group (who are really really fast), a slower group and…err…me.  Eventually I just ground to a halt after doing the first 30km in 2.5 hours.  Whilst I might have a sore back to contend with, it is very depressing and dispiriting to call for the sweep wagon. 

I rode in the car past everybody doing the hard work and a very tough hill before lunch.  The wonderful Janneke had gone and bought food and water so we stopped in a turn off and everybody ate bread and cheese and drank insanely huge amounts of water.  It was very hot.  Tim was in a bad way so I gave up my place in the car to Tim.

The fast group had left early and given the speed they cycle at they were probably in Rome by the time the rest of us left.  A nice downhill section was followed by just an endless hill.  Tim had recovered and joined the slow group (now including me) near the top of the final hill.  The descent was hairy and a lot of fun.  It was interupted throughout by brutal short steep climbs up to little villages sitting on the top of a hill.

I had a “geo-social” epiphany during this section.  If you’re going to do a big multi day cycle then it’s best to choose a country which hasn’t been riven with internal strife for four centuries.  Unlike France or the UK, it made sense in Italy to build your towns and villages on the tops of hills for defensive reasons.  Very picturesque but it makes cycling through the country challenging.

Finally, on the last downhill section, we caught sight of Orvieto.  A stunning city set atop yet another high outcrop of rock.  It was so steep on the way up that we (the slow group) all just got off the bike and walked.  Even walking up the hill was a huge challenge.

Our hotel is right next to the stunning Duomo.  The hotel is the Hotel Duomo and I can thoroughly recommend it.  The restaurant arranged by Stephanie is the Tipica Trattoria Etrusca and it is fabulous. The food is great,   the wine is excellent and arrives in great quantities.  Yet another hungover morning I suspect.

Stats today.  2191m of climbing and 136km of cycling but it felt a lot lot lot longer.  The route is here.

Last day tomorrow.  Two huge climbs and then a long run into Rome for the terminal photograph at the Colliseum.

The obligatory photo album:

Pisa Rome Day Two VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The day dawned a bit chilly and we all met for an early breakfast.  With the sounds of JJ McNeil ringing in our ears, we got out and got on the road exactly on time at 8am.  We cycled through Pisa to have the obligatory traditional photo of the group at the leaning tower.  Note the rather fetching cycle shirts that the Prostate Cancer society gifted to us.  They’re not very good cycle shirts but at least we all looked like a proper team.  We have nearly 500km ahead of us and a lot of serious climbing across the Tuscan countryside. 

Getting out of Pisa was a pain with the rush hour traffic but it soon thinned and we headed up the Arno valley which was flat and fast.  Unfortunately, I had put my back out before I left and very quickly had a real problem with breathing and back pain and so I did much of the day myself.  Everybody else whizzed on ahead.  As soon as the hills started after about 50km, it started to get a bit more serious.  We were supposed to stop in San Gimignano (another beautiful hill top town) for lunch but unfortunately it was incredibly difficult to find somewhere to eat but luckily Fulvio found a nice little place just down the road where we could have pasta and cold meat and a bit too much beer.  It wasn’t too tough up to lunch and most people (myself excepted) were feeling quite perky.  After lunch we hit a few hills on the way to Sienna.

The scenery here is just outstanding.  Tuscany is maybe the most beautiful place in the entire world.  Those rolling hills currently coloured brown and ochre, green trees, olive groves, fabulous houses perched on the tops of hills.  The views are amazing.  This is helped by the routes which JJ has done for us.  I can’t imagine there are better routes between Pisa to Sienna.   The photographs don’t really do it justice.  It is one of the great advantages of these cycling trips: one travels on roads that one would never travel on in a car if you were on holiday.  You see the best of the countryside.  Of course it would be a better tourist experience if you weren’t sweating and about to be sick… 

Coming into Sienna was fabulous.  We circled the south of the city though little back roads and ended up at the hotel.  There was a useful sign to tell us where to put the bikes!

On this holiday the hotels are a lot better than us boys are used to on our cycling holidays.  The women are rooming together and are therefore enjoying a snore free night and us blokes are having to put up with each other’s nocturnal noises.  Luckily we are all so tired that it sort of doesn’t make much of a difference. 

The hotel in Sienna was wonderful.  Very friendly and pleasant.  We went out to a restaurant very close and ate some very nice food with effectively unlimited wine.  The service was very slow so there was a lot of wine being drunk: there are going to be a lot of sore heads tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow is going to be very very hard.  Slightly scared.

The stats for the day are the following:  3 punctures, a small number of mechanical and bio-mechanical problems, 148km and 1400m of climbing.  This isn’t extreme cycling but it is certainly challenging for a fair number of our group.  It felt like more.

The route is here

Here is the traditional photo album.  Guy is the tour photographer and I’ve tried to choose the best of his pictures and include everybody in them.  If I haven’t…blame Guy.

Pisa Rome Day One VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

As many of you know, a whole bunch of people are going to cycle from Pisa to Rome in memory of John Stewart who died of Prostate Cancer recently.  It’s a tough cycle despite travelling through some of the most beautiful countryside in the world.

This trip has been a long time in the planning and there’s a great deal of logistics that needs to be sorted out.  Catherine and Trish and JJ McNeil did all of the planning for this trip ably assisted by Stephanie Baudino who is our resident bi lingual English Italian.

Apart from Lee (who came from New York, the Dutch contingent and a couple of guys who had to fly from Gatwick, we all met at Stansted for the obligatory low cost Ryan Air flight to Pisa.  As one might imagine, getting 14 bikes on a Ryanair flight is an incredible pain in the ass. 

Much beer was drunk in Stansted, Catherine never stopped talking either in the bar or indeed on the flight.  Those of you reading this who know Catherine will understand just how constant the talk is.  We laughed a lot on the plane.

Arriving at Pisa was a bit interesting.  Trying to get all the bikes in the van and then negotiating the medieval streets wasn’t fun.  Then we had the pain of making the bikes back up in the car park of the hotel.  Slightly disorganised and lots of people mumbling things like “where’s the track pump” and “can you give me an allen key” and “where the hell are my skewers”.  Eventually all the rest of the guests of the hotel complained about the noise in the car park.

The hotel had kept the bar open so we met for a late drink in the bar.  Catherine did a speech reminding us (if we had forgotten) that we were doing this in memory of John and also that he would have loved to have been here.  It was a moving moment.

And on that note, there is a just giving website where you can sponsor us and donate money.  Prostate cancer is a big killer of men like us.  It is a cause that deserves support.

The complete list of participants is very long.  The UK Male Team is Richard Belcher, Guy Boyce Cam, Greg Glass, Richard Hall, James Heath, Christopher Howe, Steve Ives, Ewan Kirk, John Lane, Iain Law, Matthew Moore and Tim Tindall.  The UK Female Team is Catherine Stewart and Trish Turner joined from Italy by Wendy Turner.  All the way from Switzerland, we have Edward Currie.  From Holland we have the super fit Dutch team of Jan Willem Van Crevel and Ivo Van Shaik and the lone US team member of Lee Vance.

JJ McNeil (who did a huge amount of organisation) and Peter McNeil and Lucy Farrer very unfortunately couldn’t make it due to family issues.  They are sorely missed.

These sorts of trips are totally dependent on great support.  We are very lucky to have three vehicles doing support this year.  Fulvio Baudino is driving the big van and scouting restaurants etc.  Janneke Van Shaik is driving the Dutch support Volvo and Rupert Jennings has a land rover which will be doing support too.

Off to bed now.  A lot of nerves about.