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60 paces/22k' or ‘Lago Iseo is my office' or ‘Just below the Zone' or ‘Week 2 in Europe'
The consequences of this are, our place is no longer so rough, and our first service industry consultancy fee received was Spaghetti Vongole (pippies). So, no stories here like ‘Under the Tuscan Sun' where a book is filled with trials and tribulations of a villa's renovation, ours is running like silk! Incidentally, if you do want a good read on this subject, and I mean a good read, find a copy, of the travel writer, Eric Newby's story on a reno he carried out, circa 1968. The title escapes me now*, but years before Peter Mayle arrived in Provence, Eric met and married a guestworker while hiding in the Apennines during WW2, and later returned to renovate a house in Tuscany with her. I think it is the original on the subject, and if not, it's a lovely read, time truly well spent.
Bike riding: We've done a bit lately, surprisingly so, as I truly expected to be doing the painting myself. But when the opportunity arose to exploit the local migrant labour, we ended up with time (instead of paint) on our hands. Last week saw us climb Monte Campione, the base of which is 20k up the road from Marone. Probably one of Pantani's last triumphs, he belted Tonkov up there in 1998's Giro, sealing the win. Two months later he belted Ulrich in Le Tour, completing the Giro/tour double. No doubt Pantani was ‘top-fuelling' at the time, he set a record the year before up to Alpe d'Huez that still stands to this day. Unfortunately he doesn't still ride (or even stand) as he sadly passed away in an untimely fashion in 2003.
On the weekend we carried out some Giro d'Italia reconnaissance, checking stage 20's strade bianche (unmade road) climb, Colle delle Finestre. Paolo Salvodelli secured his second Giro win on this mountain back in 2006. Paolo was mostly remarkable for one talent, he could beat all comers, on any descent. Earning the nickname ‘Il Falco' (the Falcon), he did it consistently. He's impressive, no matter what you think about drugs in cycling, if there's a drug for sale that can keep you upright on 700c wheels, at breakneck speed, down twisting mountain roads, I'm buying.
Unfortunately Paolo's also a bit of an ‘ice man', I've seen him atop of the dais in Milano, 2 Giro wins, and not once a smile, never. I don't envy his wife, trying to keep him happy, if winning Italy's biggest race twice, doesn't cut it.
On Colle delle Finestre, early Sunday morning, with the road closed to cars, and only the names of past cycling legends fading on the road for company, in crisp, still air, we pedalled to the snowline at 1600 metres. Bliss really.
While we only covered 1.5k of the strade bianche before hitting the snow, it was traditional unmade road, as we most know it. Not rough-poured concrete like what was used on the time trial up Plan de Corones in last year's giro. You would not get far descending on this surface, before puncturing. It is truly rough. (Ride detail here...)
The title, or part of one of the titles, of this report is 22k. Not much of a distance to ride, is it? But if we leave our current digs, and turn left, in eleven kilometres you can climb 1,000 metres, up to a Rifugio, 'Croce di Marone'. Quite efficient really, even more so if you consider you can buy a 3 course meal at the refuge, or at the very least, 2 coffees, 2 italian kitkats and one grappa, as we did. Alternately you can turn right, keep Lake Iseo to your left and complete a 60k lap. (See uphill ride detail here...)
‘Just below the Zone'? Our base is in ‘Marone', and up the hill, about 6k is 'Zone', our train station is called Zone-Marone. To pronounce this properly, in the phonetically Italian way, pretend there is a ‘Y' on the end of each word. That's right, you've got it. Just like ‘Boney Maroney' only with a ‘Z'. (Now you'll never forget where we live).
And 60 paces? That's how many I have to make from my bed to the bar, next door, each morning, to order MBW's latte macchiato, my two cafe machiati, two freshly squeezed OJ's and two brioche, senza niente. With loaded tray I return said 60 paces, hop back into bed and fire up the laptop to find out what's happened over night back in oz.
By the by, this island on Lago Iseo is for sale, all I need is 17 friends with a lazy 100k (euro) and we'll get 3 weeks each, plus a party week, can't wait... Ciao,
DO.
*A Small Place in Italy - Eric Newby