Another early start...this time the number started with a 5 as the alarm went off at 5.20am. We were entered in the Gran Fondo Nove Colli Marco Pantani and the depart was at 6.15. In the chill early morning air we ate breakfast, assembled bikes and headed off to join the 11,000 othe riders massed at the start. 11,000 riders is a lot and at the base of the very first climb everybody was forced to walk as the road couldn't accommodate everyone.
As the sun rose the climbs started. I had wondered where all the hills would come from as the coastal plain looks pretty flat, but before long we were in beautiful 'typical' Italian scenery of verdant hills with clifftop villages perched on top. Some of these 'small hills' were almost 900 metres high and the ride seemed to ascend virtually every one of them......which meant that legs would probably be mashed.
The field split out after the first feed stop and after the split between the 130k and 200k route, got much thinner indeed. Amy and I made good progress up the field on the climbs and we started to wonder if we were either having a good day, or, we had started at the back of the field and were passing all the really slow riders. I think it was a bit of both, but probably more the latter.
The feed stops were the best I had seen on a sportive...all sorts of delights could tempt you including sandwiches, lovely cakes, flapjacks, oranges, biscuits and even honey sachets. I remember the cakes best. Indeed the feed stops became a little too frequent and we had to ride on past a couple of them as our calorie intake was threatening to exceed the amount we'd burn off in our legs. The sun got pretty hot and getting enough fluid in became very important...it reminded me toiling up alpine slopes in extreme heat last year. Hard.
The villages and countryside continued to produce fantastic cycling terrain and after the final climb (which was starting to take it's toll on my legs) we started the long descent back to Cesenatico. There was a chap in a white shirt at the front (who will never realise I am writing this), but basically he towed our group all the way back to town and no-one felt strong enough to take over.....a very impressive performance and I gave him a pat on the back as we caught the group in front.
We finished in about 8 hrs 30 in total I think (inluding stops and faffing), 130 or so miles and approx 3550 metres of climbing. Worryingly Amy said how good she felt all day.......my legs were starting to die by the end. The winner (disgraced pro Raimondas Rumsas) finished in 5rs 45 mins or something, which is hard to believe. Results will be posted here : http://www.novecolli.it/MainSiteEng/003.Classifica.asp
After a pretty pathetic attempt at a sprint finish, we were presented with medals by very podium girls (first and last time that will happen), Amy was also presented with a commorative flower (we are in Italy) and we then tucked into some free pasta and downed lots water to rehydrate. My face, jersey and pretty much everything was coated in salt from the ride and we pedalled back parallel to the beach to finally get off the bike. It was a tough day in the saddle but I think we did Marco proud in his home town, he was looking down at us from a giant poster at the finish.Overall I was extremely impressed with this area for cycling. It looks like nothing special on the rather large scale map that I have, but once in those hills it is idylic. Amy says it reminded her of Girona, which hopefully we will have time to visit on the way back.....so little time, so many places to ride a bike.
Post-script - Overall I came 2680th (374th in my category) and Amy 2681st (31st amongst the women) on the 200km route in 9hrs 13 minutes.
