We are now settling into a routine. Up early, beg the front desk for some coffee before the breakfast actually opens. Eat a huge breakfast and get rolling. Sometimes we push from the hotel, sometimes we drive to km 0.
Early mornings (7am-11am) see crews out patching the roads with asphalt, communities stringing up pink welcome banners and balloons, shop owners sweeping out front and cleaning their signs. Everyone along the route prepares to welcome the Giro’s passage. Even out in the countryside, families put pink bikes, balloons, and signs out alongside the roadway. We typically stop at the van after about 2.5 hrs ride time. Pastries, sandwiches, water, maybe coffee. Knock it down, refill bottles and pockets and off we go.
Mid day (11am-2pm), we start to see groups gathering in the various towns, every bar and restaurant along the course has people at tables outside, music playing, and a festive atmosphere. This time of the day, we also start to see police setting up the road closures. The number of people involved in this undertaking is staggering. 100+ mile courses, every intersection, every driveway, someone is there with barriers and tape. And for the police to get to their various designated locations, they go FLYING along the course, sometime with sirens blaring. It’s a rolling fiesta. After maybe 4-5 hrs, another van stop for sandwiches and/or pizza. Maybe more pastries. Probably some cookies. Possibly a few sugary drinks. Reload, remount, and off we go.
The endgame of about 2pm-finish line is crazy. Every town we pass thru is jumping with fans, school kids, police, just mobbed. By now, most of the ancillary roads are closed, so traffic is light. On the course, it’s just us and police. As we get closer to the finish, we often get stopped and told to clear the course, but because Grand Tours Project is an “official operator”, we get to pass. Sometimes this is an easy matter of just showing the badges on our bikes, sometimes it involves an argument with the police, complete with over the top hand gestures. I have a number of excellent photos with various police officials!
BTW, there are a series of Merch vans that pass along the day’s route, stopping at every little bar and town to sell t shirts and such. The vans play pre recorded music all day long, so it’s a bit like the Good Humor truck.
The race is marked with a banner signifying 55km to go, and I always look forward to the countdown beginning. You get a sign every 5km, until you’re in the final 10, then it’s a sign every km. By now (maybe 25km to go) the roads are entirely closed and we are flying. Often it feels like we are in the breakaway and trying to stay away and win the stage. Our little group rotates on the front, recovers on the back, and hammers it out. Last hour, the side of the road is packed and we are often cheered (I guess drinking alongside the road for hours, they are happy to see ANYONE race past).
The finish line area is crazy, as you’d expect. Loads of people, tents, stages, music, merch vendors all trying to keep the party in pink. We get to cross the finish line once or twice a week, the other times we use the same diversion at 300 meters that the team cars use later in the day. From there, we find the van (sometimes this requires some time…one stage required a hike-a-bike thru the woods…), have some recovery calories (usually ice cream, then a recovery shake, then a protein shake, then some more pizza or a sandwich), change, load up, and head to the next hotel. Usually, we watch the conclusion of the day’s stage on a tablet in the van. Super cool to see the guys racing on the same roads we just vacated.
Arriving at the hotel, the real work begins, unpacking basically every single item I brought to Italy, figuring out what’s needed for the next stage, re organizing, re packing….the logistics of this project are a bit of a lot. Shower, snack, dinner, another snack, and to bed as early as possible. Then it’s time to do it all over again!
