Il Lombardia 2026

 Il Lombardia 2026

The final post from our northern Italy visit is from what used to be called Giro di Lombardia back in the day. Same race with a varying route each year, usually starting in Bergamo and ending in Como or vice-versa. We've seen versions going both ways, but nothing beats the iconic climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo from Bellagio in our book! So that's where we went, despite the route going twice over one of the less famous climbs. As usual, we set up our "W MAGRO" banner and settled-in to wait for the race, this time having the Museo Ghisallo to occupy some of the time before the live TV race coverage began.

The famous chapel was open as well, this year they were selling souvenirs and taking donations to repair the bell tower, to which we happily contributed. CycleItalia donated funds to the museum project as soon as we heard about it and we've contributed small amounts each time we visit. The museum has had its ups and downs financially over its 20 years but the director assured us things are now in good shape. We hope the chapel restoration project goes as well!

Fiorenzo Magni was the founder. Italy's famous "Third Man" next to Coppi and Bartali had a dream that's been open now for 20 years. This statue is similar to those of the other two near the chapel.

There is always new stuff to admire inside but we won't fill this up with too many photos. Zio had to laugh at this early attempt at "aero" streamlining. How many modern bicycles look like this now? We tried to get some panini at the nearby bar but they were mobbed, so some peanuts and sparkling water had to tide us over until after the race. But it came soon enough.

It turned out to be a nice day for race-watching and after the race went past we went back into the museum where they had the race playing on TV screens inside. By now you know who won and how, but it was exciting all the way with a worthy winner. We returned to our base, Hotel Ariotto that evening for a nice meal of risotto and other Piedmont specialties.

We're thinking of making this trip an every year affair, the weather is nice (not too hot) there are races to watch not too far away and if we're lucky (we were) white truffles can be found to be shaved over your fresh pasta, fried eggs or....

Moto Guzzi Museum

 Moto Guzzi Museum

 

On the way to see Il Lombardia we stopped in Mandello for lunch and to visit the newly re-opened Moto Guzzi museum, just the other side of the lake from Ghisallo where we'd spend the night to see the bike race the next day. Zio had one just like the two in the photo above and raced another one in the Battle of the Twins races in the USA.

They even had one in the ristorante!

After pranzo we headed along the lake to the museum.

The setting here can't be beat! Only in Italy would someone set up a motorcycle factory (and later museum) in a place like this!

And include a WIND TUNNEL! The first photo is the screened part where the air is sucked in by the huge fan in the back. They say the lights dimmed in houses nearby when this thing was running!

These guys were inventors! An internal-combustion powered, self-contained rear wheel for your bicycle maybe? These days we ride bicycles with a similar rear wheel powered by a battery.

Or maybe a "sidewinder" 4 cylinder motorcycle?

They used that wind tunnel!

The museum has plenty of examples of Moto Guzzi motos from the beginning right up to the modern models produced next door. You can see the assembly line for both engines and the motos through windows if you like. For Zio, the crown jewel was the V8, something he'd seen only in photos and videos.

This thing is truly amazing! And that's BEFORE you think about when it was designed, built and raced! Here's a video link to one in action. No CAD/CAM, no CNC...these guys were engineers, draftsmen and craftsmen!

Overall, the museum rivals Ducati's but wins out with the amazing location. The only omission Zio could think of was one of the famous Reno Leoni 850 LeMans motos raced in the USA's AMA Superbike series by Mike Baldwin. The did have some motos raced in the USA by the Dr. John people but in Zio's opinion it was Leoni and Baldwin who put Guzzi on the map in the USA and inspired him to buy one for himself. For Zio this leave a huge gap in the story, but perhaps it's only him who cares?

Gran Piemonte 2026

 Gran Piemonte 2026

We wanted to visit Piedmont during the summer, but ETNA had other ideas. We had flights, rental car, lodging, etc. all arranged but the Catania airport kept closing as ETNA erupted. Finally we just said "the heck with it!" and missed seeing our friends. We tried again recently, taking the opportunity to see some local bike races and (maybe) enjoy some white truffles if the season started early enough?

As you can see above we made it to Piedmont and the Gran Piemonte race, held on the Thursday before the big one, the last Monument of the season - Il Lombardia. We've seen both before and enjoyed 'em every time so why not? The race course was different this time, last time we set up our spot on the steeper slopes of the La Morra climb but this route used a much easier way up but here we were, waiting for the race while enjoying our panini.

Only for these folks to show up. At first we thought they were working the race, as in handing-up bottles but it turned out it was a VIP group watching the race. We offered to move our car but they had no problems parking their vans and setting up a picnic for their VIPS.

One guy looked sort of familiar but only after talking with Marcus Burghardt did we realize who he was. We'd been at a few races he was in back-in-the-day. A nice guy who answered some of Zio's questions about what the racers eat these days during the race, but we'll save those for another post. These folks were eating and drinking far better than the racers!

Then this guy showed up, asking about our "W MAGRO" banner. Turns out Franco Peruzzo was another ex-racer, a guy who competed as part of the Italian team time trial squad at the World's in Montreal back in 1976! After talking with us awhile he started sending text messages to "MAGRO" (Eurosport commentator Riccardo Magrini) describing us and the scene on the race route. Heather had the race playing on her phone and soon enough heard "Magro" describing us and the scene on live TV as the helicopter showed us along the route. Only in Italy!

Finally the race came along, passing by twice before the finish. We saw the new World Champ Brandon McNulty working for his teammate (and previous winner) Isaac Del Toro.

This version of Gran Piemonte wasn't hard enough to let a rider like Del Toro shine though he did try anyway, getting caught close to the finish where a sprinter took the win, but we had a great time, the weather was OK and we later dined at an old favorite from the days we ran cycling tours in this region. We got back late but the next day was more relaxed with an easy drive out to the Moto Guzzi museum, something Zio has long wanted to see but really wanted to finally do it since it has been totally renovated and recently reopened. More on that soon.

A Silly Centimeter

 It's just a silly centimeter!

Looks dorky, right? 8 cm RedShift ShockStop stem on Zio's gravel bike, the one he rides on..gravel vs paved roads. But it makes the bike fit so Zio's shoulders no longer hurt, so he doesn't care how dorky it looks!

This video reminded him of the saga. Modern bikes in t-shirt sizes are a PITA, especially as in the video you are trying to make two the same when it comes to your position on them. In my case both were marked M as in medium, but they were far from the same size!

After a LOT of fooling around with his first e-gravel bike Zio thought he had it dialed-in. But despite it and the Bianchi in the photos both being M, it wasn't as simple as putting the same length stem on and calling it good. The other bike came with an 8 cm stem right outta the box but it was way too short! A 10 cm stem was fitted but it was impossible to get the handlebars low enough thanks to the "relaxed/gravel" frame geometry. So Zio had to live with the higher handlebars, even swapping to a different saddle to handle the extra weight now back there.

But with that (and other) changes the bike finally felt good and was comfortable to ride. One might think another bike in size M could be set up similarly? Zio already had a ShockStop stem in 10 cm so that went on, but proved way too long. He'd tried a cheap used 9 cm stem so he thought this would be just right but wasted his money on the 9 cm ShockStop. GRRRrr!

In desperation he slapped on the 8 cm stem the other bike came with. Amazingly a tape measure showed the distance from the tip of the saddle to the center of the stem was now the same as the other bike. But the handlebars were not too high, they were too low! Easy enough to fix, just flip the stem over to + 6 degrees, who cares what it looks like? Finally, another ShockStop (he found he really liked the extra cushion after trying the 8 cm fixed stem) was ordered and installed.

Now, almost 2 years later, both bikes fit and feel the same. No more sore shoulders! Some say a pro bike-fit would have saved a lot of grief but the real problem is no two bike makers think a size M is the same and none of 'em give you real specifications to determine which size is right for you. But the industry doesn't much care, they leave that to the bike fitters to deal with!

So if your bike isn't comfortable, don't give up! If you're not confident on your ability to make it fit better, find some expert help. You'll be glad you did.

 

 

New Crash-hat

 New Crash-hat

They say you should replace your helmet every 3-5 years even if you haven't crashed while wearing it. We haven't but our previous ones came with a gimmicky magnetic closure - something ya gotta wonder about when it's a thing under your chin and you sweat a bit while riding?

So when Zio's magnet got so rusty the closure opened up a few times while just-riding-along, something needed to be changed! We'd stashed our previous helmets away when we got these so maybe it was time to get that old one out?

OK, but wait a minute! Those helmets were now 10 years old! 

Probably NOT the best choice, so we ordered some new ones as shown. These have the standard plastic closure, fit fine, have (for us) the must-have bug netting and look cool, right? There's also a blinky light in the back, inserted into the sizing-thing you twist to get that just-right snugness.

Now we hope we DON'T have to try out the safety aspects! No pricey MIPS or whatever they call the anti-rotation stuff, just the standard EN certification on these but we should be good for another 3-5 years of fun!!!

April 1st...again?

 Speed Holes?

What else can you think when you read this about a new bicycle tire?

"Changing wind angles and rough surfaces constantly challenge performance and comfort. The Aero 111 32mm addresses this with a patented tread pattern embedded with 48 precision cavities that act as vortex generators. By manipulating airflow around the front wheel to delay separation, this design achieves optimal efficiency at all yaw angles, significantly reducing drag while amplifying the sailing effect to propel riders forward with less effort."

REALLY? Seem like speed holes to ol' Zio!

Pro Cycling Deaths

 Cyclists Get Killed

The recent tragic death of Finlay Tarling made ol' Zio wonder if someone proposed professional bicycle roadracing today, as if it was a new sport, what would happen? 

"OK boys, here's what I am proposing: We dress athletes up in spandex dancing costumes with styrofoam (like in your beer cooler) hats on their heads in-case they crash. We put 'em on super-light, super rigid plastic bicycles with rigid plastic slab-sided wheels. We get 200 of 'em to race in a huge pack over public roads. It will be an awesome spectacle! On public roads you ask? Sure, think of the scenery, the crowds at the roadside, the challenge of going up and down, across flat fields into the wind. It'll be great!"

Would someone then point out that years ago this was done using racing cars and motorcycles, but the danger to participants and spectators proved too great, so they moved racing to closed circuits? Would they ask how do you propose to keep private vehicles off these public roads during the racing?

My guess is that in 2026 nobody would grant approval for such a thing, yet it's widely popular despite the risks. Now and then a spectator gets hit and killed by a vehicle officially on the course, but you don't read much about that. Now and then a competitor gets killed, most often when he or she crashes, either from their own mistake or one made by another competitor.

But now and then a competitor gets killed because the control of the race course failed in some way. In the Tarling case they say a driver thought the race had passed-by, but failed to consider the dropped riders along with the "broom wagon" that usually has a big sign indicating that's the end of the race caravan - so the road can then be re-opened. They say he even asked spectators, but they seemed not to know any more about bike racing than the driver so nobody said "Wait for the broom wagon!" and the driver entered the course, going the wrong way.

This happened to Marco Pantani in 1995. A 4X4 vehicle came out of the woods and onto the course, eventually with a head-on collision that put Pantani and others into the hospital. Amazingly nobody was killed. Cycling resolved to do better with course control though in that case one wonders what could have prevented it?

And what does the head of the pro riders union have to say? Sadly, THIS but don't forget this guy seems only to get wound-up about "safety" when it's the Giro d'Italia and cold/wet weather so Zio won't hold his breath waiting for concrete actions from this clown. There are a few pros retiring after this season, can we hope one of them wants this job?

But we continue to see motorists somehow getting onto the course despite the efforts of the organizers, police, volunteers, etc. And now this.

A lot of hand-wringing and condolences. That'll fix it! At least the author did point-out that the UCI is trying to do something with SAFER and noted the opposition to it from a certain cycling components company.

Are they the only ones who seem to put profits/sales before safety? When so little seems to be getting done trying to make cycling safer Zio has to wonder. Perhaps it's time for a kind-of "put up or shut up" question to see how much the bicycle industry actually cares about the safety of those they employ to promote their products by racing with them?

Perhaps it's time for some boycotts of bicycle industry companies who stand in the way of efforts to make cycling safer? Would that get their attention? Would it result in improvements? Zio thinks it's worth a try!