Tag Archive for 'ciclismo'

Bike #Unmetroemezzodivita

When a man with a car meets a man with a bicycle, the man with the bicycle is a dead man. In Italy more than in any other country in Europe. We are black jersey in civilization. #UnMetroEMezzoDiVita.

Source: Associazione Corridori Ciclisti Professionisti Italiani dal 1946 – ACCPI Assocorridori @ACCPI1946

The beautiful cycling of Vingegaard and Pogacar

The Tour de France has taken us back to the great challenges of the past, those between cyclists who want to win and do battle. Vingegaard and Pogacar this year made us experience this epic condition with their endless duel. This direct confrontation like that of cycling’s legendary period between Coppi and Bartali has been missing for many years.

For many years these races were the territory only of big teams that dominated mainly due to team organization (not to mention the roaring years of doping). Instead, these two athletes, aged 23 and 25, conveyed to us the pleasure of trying everything that is one of the typical dimensions of cycling. They also showed us their fairness when today Pogacar fell downhill and his opponent slowed down to wait for him. A gesture of a champion who does not want to win by taking advantage of an accidental fall of the other.

Stage cycling to a sport of total exertion, where the effort is clearly seen. Where there is also the passion of the hundreds of thousands of spectators who wait on a mountain all day to see the riders pass for a few seconds. There is no other sport that has this kind of audience.

Despite technological, scientific and organizational development, cycling continues to remain a simple sport where the person with the most in his or her legs wins. This is good news.

My passion for endurance sports

The cycling of the great classics and stage races has always excited me. At home as a child I heard about Coppi and Bartali, and when I went to the mountains at 12/13 years old when they raced to overtake us we took the names of the cyclists, and I always took the name of Pambianco. Until I was 16 I did a lot of biking, starting in Turin and going into the mountains on military roads. With a Legnano with four gears.

Then I left the bike to go more frequently to the mountains, at that time these multi-day tours were not called trekking but mobile camp. Now I have started using it again, as running has become a bit too wearing. I always enjoy biking and it allows me to be in nature and outdoors. Biking, mountaineering and running are what I like to do and I am fortunate to have friends with whom I can do them even though I often find myself alone.

These activities have taught me to accept fatigue and to distribute physical and mental resources I learned when I was in middle school, and even at that age several friends were dropping out, precisely because they didn’t like facing fatigue, it was too cold or hot or you had to get up early in the morning. I don’t know where this motivation of mine comes from, I tried to play basketball, volleyball and soccer but they bored me while I always enjoyed going for a run or a bike ride. I was never interested in becoming an athlete, I wanted to study psychology and sometimes to achieve this goal or to establish myself as a professional I gave up sports, resuming it as soon as possible.

However, I wondered for what reasons I write these reflections. These days I am watching, when I can, the Tour de France and these thoughts came to my mind, how beautiful it is to be in the open air, to watch these young people struggle just when they are tired, to see them give their all what energy they have inside and, then away like that day after day for three weeks.

I feel fortunate to have had these passions but also to continue practicing them.

Dino Lanzaretti cyclist out alone for the world

The blog of Dino Lanzaretti cyclist out alone for the world.

Dino Lanzaretti

“I started many years ago by chance, and without too many ambitions, this long journey through the world.

At the time I was naive and without any experience but today I can confidently say that two or three things on this way of life I well understood.

I state that my debut was marked by great difficulty due to the total lack of information exchange between fellow travelers. Internet was in its infancy and there was no way to get answers to the immense doubts before a trip.

The fact is that only thanks to the blisters on my ass and many other unnecessary injuries I knew what to do and what not to do while riding a bike.

The beliefs that I have about the materials are a normal consequence of a series of unfortunate breaks happened in worse places at the worst moment.

I then developed simple technical solutions to prevent possible accidents and can do a  more peaceful trip, without too many problems.

So why do not try to make the bike trip more fun for those who want to try?

I often get emails from other bikers who ask me which is the right bike for traveling or tent to use …

To me this seems a direct consequence to give information and make available my experience to share this beautiful way of cycling.

I decided to create this blog on my new website and try to infuse and spread cycling as much as possible .

I will attempt to specify every technical detail and every mechanical choice, giveing explanations about the materials and tools really needed, comparing especially routes and areas of the world really suitable for an unforgettable adventure.

Sexism in cycling

“In 1973 Billie Jean King forced the tennis overlords to award women the same prize money as male players. Forty years later, and female cyclists are still trying (and failing) to win a minimum wage in the professional peloton.

A 2013 survey by the Women’s Cycling Association showed 50% of female pro cyclists earn $3,000 (£1969) or less per year. This is just one enraging statistic from Half The Road, the superb documentary by Kathryn Bertine, who herself battled with the UCI, cycling’s chauvinistic governing body, to qualify for the Olympics.

Brian Cookson, the Lancastrian now at the helm of the UCI, is also interviewed. He told me last year that introducing a minimum wage “could backfire”. On camera he explains why women aren’t strong enough to ride the Tour de France – a claim powerfully rebutted by one woman who rode the Tour in the 1980s when it used to run on the same day as the boys’ race. At least he isn’t going down the same route as Hein Verbruggen, one of his predecessors. According to Inga Thompson, ten-time national US champion, Verbruggen once tried to introduce a rule to stop women racing when they were on their periods.”

(Text by The Guardian)

Dope on wheels: Lance Amstrong story

If we thought we knew all about the Lance Armstrong’s story, the new book “Dope on wheels” by Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O’Connell tells in detail of a life dedicated to the fraud.

The women – Armstrong never hid his doping from the (many) women in his life. His first wife, Kristin Richard, distributed cortisone tablets to the USPS Cycling team and stored Lance’s EPO in their refrigerator. When she and Armstrong divorced, she signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of a $15 million settlement.

The sex – Lance Armstrong was a notorious lothario; his teammates dubbed him FedEx, because the company’s slogan “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight,” described his outsized appetite for podium girls, female fans, and cycling groupies—even during his marriage. His teammate Floyd Landis remembers one night out during training camp where Armstrong ended the night in a private room of a strip club with two naked dancers and a pile of “what looked like cocaine.” 

Greg LeMond –  He has always had a contentious relationship with Armstrong, whom he believed was doping from the very beginning. Armstrong, in turn, would always resist comparisons to the three-time champion, and once called him a “fat ass.” Jeff Garvey, a longtime friend of both men, resigned as president of the Lance Armstrong Foundation because attacks on the character of the retired cyclist were such routine part of the corporate culture.

UCI and a Culture of Cheating -Kathy Lemond testified that in 1999, Armstrong’s sponsor Nike paid off UCI president Hein Verbruggen to cover up a positive test. Armstrong then tested positive for the banned substance EPO two years later, but again bribed UCI into silence. During the 2006 Tour, he offered a $20,000 bounty to any rider who could ensure that Floyd Landis—now racing for a rival team—would not win.

The team - Armstrong was the de facto leader of the USPS cycling team, and he was often tyrannical and abusive. He would not allow his other teammates access to the best equipment, but was insistent that every cyclist dope. Armstrong was also paranoid about his teammates revealing his use of banned substances; he once said to his roommate Jonathan Vaughters, “now that you are doing EPO too, you can’t go write a book about it.”

(Read more on Thedailybeast)

Nibali’s courage to have afraid

What is clicked in the head of Nibali after the fall in the rain cycling world, because he pulled the brakes once climbed a bicycle?

“This is a problem that only the strongest, not the one who is in the middle of the group. Nibali is a champion, not an amateur cyclist: he found himself in a moment of extraordinary difficulty, one of those cases where one plus one does not makes two but three. Stress becomes excessive and leads you to doubt about your ability. At top level just a nothing not to believe more in yourself. ”

How do you overcome the fear of falling?

“I do not know the person but Nibali should consult a psychologist, not a motivator. He have to determine which is the measure of risk, because again it will rain, only you do not know when.  The athletes must do everything possible to reduce the emotional stress, these top athletes have to work on specific mental aspects. Nibali is not like us, he’s a world-class athlete: he’s like the first violin of  Scala Teather that he/she cannot take a cue.”

(I have been interviewed by Nando Aruffo, Corriere dello Sport)

Fiorenzo Magni is died, he was the last cyclist of the Italian golden age

“Another story I remember with joy and which teaches that nothing in life is impossible regards the Tour of Italy in 1956. It was the last tour of  my career and I fell down from Volterra and I broke my collarbone. The next day I fell again on the fracture and the ambulance wanted to take me to the hospital. I faced the ascent of Mount Bondone with broken collarbone and ended the Tour in second place. We must always look forward and never rest. I now point to one hundred years and it is not a joke. ”

Fiorenzo Magni, 92 years old is died. He is the last cyclist of the golden age with Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali

Loose is very easy also for champions

Il vincitore della maratona di Londra dello scorso anno, Emmanuel Mutai quest’anno ha impiegato ben 4 minuti di più del suo tempo precedente (2:08:01) e dalle immagini viste in TV si percepiva che gli ultimi km sono stati di una sofferenza totale. Diokovic ha perso in finale contro Nadal 6-3 6-1 e non è mai stato in partita. Nibali è giunto seconso alla Liegi-Bastogne-Liegi; dopo avere dominatto con una fuga solitaria l’ultima parte della corsa, all’ultimo km è crollato ed stato superato da un avversario; dopo una gara di più di 6 ore è giunto a circa 30secondi dal primo. Lo sport è anche questo, dolori fisici e mentali che possono colpire chiunque anche gli atleti più forti. Credo che questi tre casi possano essere di grande aiuto a tutti i giovani che aspirano a realizzare i loro sogni: bisogna sapere perdere con dignità.

Le strade diverse dello sport

Strade diverse per lo sport. Il basket si ribella al razzismo contro la cestita Abiola e domenica tutti in campo con la faccia nera, perchè come scrive Emanuela Audisio siamo tutte scimmie negre e aggiungerei con la stragrande maggioranza dei geni in comune. Il ciclismo, nonostante le critiche di Petrucci, continua la sua corsa verso il baratro. Ora anche esperti come UmbertoVeronesi e l’avvocato Alessi sono a favore di un ripensamento della legge sul doping. Il primo ha affermato di essere a favore della liberalizzazione dell’uso dell’epo, mentre il secondo ha detto che la salute è un diritto e non un dovere e che “non è possibile che drogarsi non sia considerato reato mentre doparsi sì”. In molti hanno già risposto a queste affermazioni, resta sconcertante che se anche illustri medici e avvocati iniziano a accettare queste pratiche la cultura dello sport e la salute degli atleti diventano sempre più degli optional.