Buttock divots: During the night, just as my mum plumps cushions, the buttock divots from over eleven hours of riding plumped back out. But this morning, I was not the only one wincing and ‘oohing’ with their saddle reacquaintance. Today is a planned gentle recovery day, but it’s still 30 miles; tomorrow the longest day yet. We head out sedately, lead by the border collie enthusiasm and energy of John who spent yesterday as support driving the van. He is mercifully up the ~50m climb. But them puts the hammer down.
Taking the skin off the rice pudding: This phrase means to exercise to loosen the muscles up on the day before a race. Not damage them to impair performance, just ‘pique their interest’. Seems John, and Ju and Brandon, are all up for rice pudding, and we storm towards Milan. The traffic builds, and the driving is atrocious. It is everyone for themselves: vans (most definitely), cars, cyclists and pedestrians. Bumpers are for bumping round here. We stop start at countless traffic lights, and as we near the centre, we rumble over red stone paving. Probably installed by the Romans, and in pre-tarmac days considered luxuriously smooth, the surface is like riding over turtles. My divots are firmly reinstated.
Paris, New York, London, Milan. Fashion capitals. But Milan is not very pretty close-up (and after the Roman’s made such a good start with the paving…). Mostly concrete mid-rise, it’s chunky and sprawling.
Dodging the tram lines down the middle of the paved red slabs, we break out into Piazza del Duomo (“Cathedral Square”), the main piazza of Milan. The cathedral is breathtaking, making York Minster look like a shed. We gather for a group photo (photographer John to be photoshopped on later):
After yesterday’s sugary overload, there is a near group-wide and rapacious desire for pizza. Savoury, salty, cheesy; olive and anchovy piquant; and we are quickly seated at a pizzeria and our order speedily taken. In the midday heat, accompanying beers are drained like therapeutic Ambrosia:
…once opened using shoe cleats- who knew?!
We race the last few miles to the hotel, in a leafier part of Milan. Everyone is enjoying the downtime, fettling with bikes, washing out cycling clothing and leaving it to dry in just minutes of the Milanese sunshine.
I’ve said this already, but tomorrow I’ll be riding the furthest I’ve every ridden on a bicycle. We’re riding Milan to San Remo, 292km. Will I make it? Will I press on to round it to 300?!
As I’ve said…(sorry) we’re raising money for Bolton Lads & Girls Club (BLGC) a provider of targeted Youth Support services. As always, we pay for everything ourselves so you know that every penny you donate goes directly to BLGC. Our Just giving page is here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/blgcitalianclassics
Your support will plump my divots. Thank You 🙂