Atestina Superbike Marathon 6/6/10

After the Giro d'Italia MBW (My beautiful wife) and I have three weeks of downtime, before heading off to France for Le Tour. We are entertaining ourselves in the Veneto region, in Casalserugo, about 50k from Venice. It is a terrific small town, with a bunch of rolling hills (Colle Euganei) just 10k away, and in the opposite direction, flat riding to the coast. Also of note here are the worker's lunches (Pranzo di Lavoro) usually 10-12 Euro for 4 courses, weekdays only. I shall write a story on this topic next week. It's quality, budget eating, beyond belief. MBW slacked off to Germany for the weekend to visit her mate Scrimmo, and left me to do the race on my own.

Now, the race.
There are many things that make races different, enjoyable, special. Ones you talk about for longer than the others, and there are many reasons for this. What goes a long way to obtaining a good impression, I believe, is what you receive for your money, particularly when you are given a ‘race pack'. The race pack I received yesterday for the Atestina Superbike Marathon had, not only, a jar of pesto, a jar of small pickled onions, an edible food bar, a drinkable drink additive, along with the usual race publicity, but a bottle of red wine from the region. Don't ask me if it's drinkable yet, I'll report on that later, (it doesn't have the year on it, but it does say ‘goes well with roast meats', so that will do me) (insert ‘smiley face' here). The last race I did in Australia was at a winery, and I had podium aspirations in the hope that this was a sure way I could obtain a bottle from the Mt Avoca vineyard. Here, you get one just for turning up! And paying 23 euro... (Just to recap, I crashed out at Mt Avoca, and bought a bottle of red anyway).
Entering late, I allowed an error to occur in that I started in the cyclo-turistico class, and not my own age group. While this was no biggie, it did mean I started behind at least 650 elite and age group riders. This is kind of a ‘biggie', as I prefer to start fast, but with that many wheels in the way, it just ain't going to happen.
The 45k course starting in Este, in the Euganei hills, was spectacular, if you think about what we, as ‘skips', envision as winding country lanes through the olive groves and vines of Tuscany, that's the scenery I raced through today. It's not Tuscany though, I could tell, as there were no busloads of fat Americans telling me my English was good, and asking me if I drove here from Australia. (my sincere apologies go to the American readers on our list, but the above is not made up).

At 1,300 metres, there was not too much climbing, but enough for me, and I was riding a bike that I built myself, which is quite rewarding- as long as you finish. The frame is an 03 or 04 Giant, and the accoutrements, well, I'm finally going to be able to quote from Mad Max (a literary triumph, really). Remember the scene when Max was being coaxed back into the force? "it's the last of the Phase III's Maxie.....a p-p-p-piece from here, a p-p-p-piece from there" That's my euro mtb, a piece from here, a piece from there. I tried the Mad Max line out on a group of new Italian friends who were admiring my ‘wintermint' steed at race end today, but somehow, they remained unimpressed.

Coming in to the finish, with a small gruppetto that had gathered together on the final flats, I was feeling strong, and lead out the final 500 metres, really winding it up across the line, easily rolling everyone in my little group. Given that I am not a sprinter, I had either improved my sprinting technique or soft-pedalled the complete race, and finished with a bunch of hubbards. I think the latter explains it best.

The pasta party afterwards was good, but not exceptional (ie, no wine was served) and I won my Ciclo-turistico class, by nearly 25 minutes. However, there was no proscuito prize for this winner, so no great injustice was done. Here, it is all about the proscuito. If you win a proscuit, you are a legend, as you get to literally ‘bring home the bacon'. But remember, it's valuable bacon. After a tough race once, south of Rome, a friend, unhappy about losing, remonstrated to me that amateur riders in Italy get on the gear to win Proscuito... (well, it made me laugh). MBW won one once, just before we were leaving for home, so we gifted it to a friend who owned a restaurant. I swear, we will never pay there again. Gaetano almost did a backflip.

Specs, for those who are into these things: 45k, 1335m ascent, 2h 24mins, average heart rate 170, maximum 185, temperature 24'-33', average 28'. Placed 195^th out of about 700 starters, and 4 women finished in front of me.