In April 2006, we had the pleasure of joining Nigel Gray and Fiona Gray for their Italy training camp. This trip got better and better every day, making the hardest part of the trip (despite some 18% grade climbs) leaving it all behind and coming back home. Even now, a few weeks later, the mind frequently drifts from reality to the switchbacks, countryside, laughter and new friendships enjoyed during the trip.
The Italy Camp was a truly fully-catered affair. Everything was taken care of; transfers, three great buffet meals a day, paninis for the rides, any mechanical issues, extracurricular excursions, and if your quads were hurting bad enough and you flashed a sad enough look even your climbs became assisted by a guide’s hand on your back.
The riding was the best we’ve ever experienced. Every route featured roads that wound through valleys and over hills, through lilac stands and protected forest areas crowded with songbirds, and most had unparalleled views of the patchwork of tended fields and vineyards. Of course, when you start at sea level (literally, as the Adriatic Sea was less than 100 m from the hotel) views don’t just happen; you have to earn them. Climbs with lengths varying from 13 km at 3% or 6 km at 6% were conquered on a daily basis; with the ultimate test coming in the form of Cippo which starts after 750m vertical of climbing to Carpegna with a ridiculous 20% grade that leads you into a further 700m vertical in the span of only 7km.
It is hard to describe some of the scenery, but if you close your eyes and imagine a peleton of 12 riders riding two by two in the late spring Italian sunshine along forgotten narrow country lanes, around countless sweeping bends, across ridges with views of valleys on both sides, and up and down switchbacks that only Italy would dare provide in sufficient quantity, then you would be just scratching the surface. Imagine too, stopping to refill your water bottles or sipping a cappuccino at the base of a castle wall in a piazza in a hilltop town built hundreds of years ago. This really was biking at its best.
The social scene was also top notch. There is something about combining twenty triathletes into a training camp that just leads to endless laughter, healthy competition, and some of the most creative trash talking I’ve ever heard (there was talk of a double-Cippo next year, which attracted the interest of some!).
Finally, hats off to Nigel and Fiona, who, although they were there to ride, showed from the moment we landed in Bologna, that their first thoughts were making sure the rest of us could ride. Whether it was sorting out a small glitch with two bikes with Air France (which was resolved smoothly) to making sure all bikes were in good working order and facilitating repairs where needed, it was comforting to know that Nigel and Fiona put us first. Will we go back? Count on it!
Dave and Ana Dennier