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Italy Bikeman |
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Written by Dave Barr
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Wednesday, 01 October 2008 |
Make the best of work in Italy...
 | | Running a little late driving to work? Ha…good luck. |
So it happens again (work!) My company sent me to Italy for a week long installation just as cyclocross season was getting started. I did a couple early season races and also a Wednesday night cyclocross training race in Wrentham Mass (all in one week) before going to Europe for the next week. The idea was to hammer myself and then use the Europe week as a rest. Nice idea, but overseas work travel never seems to end up being “restful”. I didn’t bring my Ritchey break-away bike but, I did end up getting in some cycling after all. Oh…and the Tuscan food isn’t too shabby either.
 | | A beautiful evening bike commute across the river Arno on my way home from the customer site. |
My work was in Pisa Italy at the National Center for Research (CNR). The Italian representative from my company suggested that I stay in the beautiful historic district (you know leaning tower and all…) rather than near the CNR. That was definitely a wise choice. However, now to drive to the CNR from my hotel was an absolute nightmare of one-way-street-madness. You see, there is this approximately 1000 year old wall that surrounds the historic part of Pisa. If you drive in this area you may well spend an hour trying to figure out how to get out! (See picture below).
 | | Bicicletta Italiano style….or maybe silly Americano style? |
To avoid the daily stress and hassle of trying to drive to work I rented a hybrid bike (not too bad at 35 Euros for 4 days.) Ok…so now I get to experience cycling in this Italian traffic mayhem. The basics: no one wears a helmet, cars must pass scooters and scooters (and cars) must pass bikes. It seems the more aggressively they can pass you, the better! They cut you off at every possible opportunity, yet there are hundreds of cyclists dealing with this day-in-day-out and no one seems to mind. I found it humorous on day one, but by the third day, quite annoying. The Italians are so funny. They are in such a hurry in their cars, scooters or motor bikes…then when they get out, they stroll along so slowly it’s like they are on a Sunday walk through the park. And they spend 2-3 hours at the Trattoria casually eating dinner. (Actually quite pleasant) We would do well to adopt their dining habits.
 | | The Wall that surrounds the medieval town of Lucca. There is a bike path on top of the wall! |
Work ended on Friday leaving me Saturday and Sunday for some R&R. Hey I’ve still got the hybrid bike, why not do some cycle touring? A good hint: always pack a pair of cycling shorts…you never know. I didn’t. So in a pinch, try wearing three pairs of boxers (the tight fitting ones preferably) and then a pair of gym shorts over those. Not exactly Giordana, but it’ll have to do. Saturday was interval day. I rode from Pisa to Marina di Pisa and through Tirrenia and Livorno then turned around and came back. The route was beautiful and followed along the Ligurian Sea (part of the Mediterranean). I was amazed how many serious cyclists (in full kits) were out on group rides (Cycling really is “the sport” in Italy). I decided to get a bit of a workout by poaching-in on a couple of the group rides. How ridiculous does this look? A silly American in gym shorts riding a hybrid with flat pedals, a backpack, and a 7lb chain lock looped around the rear rack. Not sure if these guys were all racers or not, but they definitely sported the look (and looks are important in Italy). When I first latched onto a small group of 5 riders they seemed a bit amused at first, then maybe a bit alarmed when they could not drop me. I even did some pulls. I think it may have been embarrassing for them as we went by other equally decked-out groups going the other direction (definitely got some looks…very funny! J). Oh well…until this work trip came about, I had planned to be cyclocross racing in Vermont on Saturday. So 30-40Ks of keeping up with these guys (with rental gear and a backpack) was the best workout I could have asked for. I did this with a couple even faster groups before stopping for a nice lunch and a beer in Marina di Pisa on the way back to the hotel. In each case they bid me a friendly farewell with a smile, so I think no harm was done.
 | | Please tell me this goofball isn’t going to try to ride with us… (note the lack of helmets) |
These guys seemed more casual, but most of the serious racer-types also did not wear helmets. Sunday I did a mellow ~70 K out-and-back ride up to the town of Lucca. Lucca is an amazing place with its 1000 year old wall still fully intact (much of Pisa’s wall was destroyed in World War II). The city center is surrounded by this wall (~2 stories high). Only limited car traffic is allowed, but bikes are welcome. You can easily spend 2 hours slowly pedaling around this maze of narrow medieval streets trying to avoid the thousands of pedestrians. It does wonders for your track-stand skills.
All-in-all a really good trip…now it’s back to cross racin’.
Dave
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; "Running a little late driving to work? Ha…good luck.")
; "A beautiful evening bike commute across the river Arno on my way home from the customer site.")
; "Bicicletta Italiano style….or maybe silly Americano style?")
; "The Wall that surrounds the medieval town of Lucca. There is a bike path on top of the wall!")
',500,334,0,0); "Please tell me this goofball isn’t going to try to ride with us… (note the lack of helmets)")
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