Riding the iconic gravel roads around Siena, Italy
How would I summarize the experience of the Gran Fondo Strade Bianche? A Stunning, gruelling and ultimately exhilarating ride that concludes by entering the Piazza del Campo and passing through the same finish gate the professional riders passed less than 24 hours earlier. As you grind up that last cobbled lane, the Via Santa Caterina, wondering if you can keep wheels turning on the 20% ramp, fans line the alley and scream support urging you to keep going. At last, the grade eases and then drops down opening out in the magnificent brick-paved Piazza. You can’t help but raise one arm in the air as you freewheel under the finish gantry.
This is cycling in the Italian cycling heartland and the organizers have made the Gran Fondo a natural extension of the professional race which has to become the sixth Monuments of Cycling sometime, such is the respect and reverence the racers attribute it. Amateurs come from all over the world though the majority of entrants were Italian including retired professional riders. Even Lidl Trek’s Quin Simmons rode it for fun the day after his race. It may only be a Gran Fondo but the top riders are here to race and win.
Luckily, most entrants never get to mingle with the really serious riders as starters are corralled into pens of around a thousand – our coral was Number 3. Once the start was sounded, we shuffled forward slowly at first, scooting with a foot unclipped. However, many of the starters in higher number corrals thrust through us at ferocious speed as the throngs began to roll down from the castle and out of town. At this point, I lost my ride partners and never saw them until meeting them back at the hotel. Essentially you need to go with the flow.
On the initial, paved hills, I remembered climbing slowly and being passed by fitter people on lighter bikes but once on the gravel sectors our Trek Checkpoint gravel bikes came into their own and I found I could pass fitter riders who were being more cautious with their more fragile machines. A washboard stretch on the first gravel sector caused numerous bidons to be lost and it wasn’t long before we were passing riders fixing punctures on the roadside. I can’t imagine how anyone could ride 23mm tires on those ruts. At times, my calf muscles were subjected to a violent burst of massage as I held my line and speed over the bumps.
The first stop couldn’t have come soon enough as I needed to shed layers. While the air remained cool, around 10⁰C, the sun appeared intermittently and my under-clothing was soaking in sweat. Trek had organized a support vehicle a kilometre or so past the official aid station where dozens of inconsiderate riders were barring the through route by stopping stopped in the middle of the main road. I had to dismount and fight my way through to our stop, looking forward to recharging my bottle in a calmer atmosphere.
A decision point arrived a few kilometres after the first stop. The options were left for the short route or right for the full Gran Fondo. I turned right with about half of the field as I was way ahead of my predicted time and feeling good as I entered extensive sections of gravel. Here we savoured those long twisty white roads you see in travel brochures of Tuscany but the scenic, dusty villages always seemed to be at the summit of a brutal climb!
You’d have thought the earlier sections would have shaken out the loose bidons that were going to be lost, but no. At every harsh transition in the road surface another few bottles would be strewn over the course presenting additional hazards. In addition to this, there were descents into sharp corners that forced some rides to skid on the drying gravel, or in a couple of cases to overshoot and crash. The piercing wail of a siren from an ambulance wending its way to an incident sent shivers up my spine but I pressed on, reminding myself to remain cautious and not just blindly following the wheel in front.
Eventually the gravel gave way to asphalt and more populated towns as we worked our way anticlockwise to the east of Siena. Fortunately, the weather held fine but clouds were building. Somewhere out there we rode past a flock of white sheep that was being guarded by an equally white Maremma sheepdog. Not that the dog was doing much guarding as it was far more interested in watching us riders. I too was keen to watch for groups of riders that I could hitch onto the back of to hide from the worst of the headwind. If they dropped me on a climb, there was always another group coming through.
After many kilometres of asphalt, the last the gravel sectors came within sight of the city but the worst of the climbs was saved for these final Strade Bianche. Strategically, Trek had placed our final aid station at the top of the steepest ascent so my knees were screaming at the strain by the time I reached it. Perversely, the official aid station was located at the foot of the hill, before the climb so anyone stopping there would have to hit that wall from a standstill.
I thanked our guide Nick for his positional foresight, as I munched down chocolate peanuts and a banana and then swung my leg over the saddle for a short gravel descent and another climb. Within minutes, the Siena skyline of cathedral and bell tower could be seen through the trees but they were at about the same level as us so that meant there had to be a big drop down to the Florence Highway followed by a tough ascent afterwards. While I was contemplating those final few kilometres, a cool rain shower peppered the road. Luckily, the shower never developed into serious rain so that by the time I started my final climb the road surface was dry again.
Was it worth it and would I recommend the experience? Absolutely. I paid for Trek Travel’s Strade Bianche experience that gave us three days of preparation on local roads in Siena before the Gran Fondo and the opportunity to watch the men and women professional races that day before our event. You do need to have trained hard beforehand as this event is very early in the year for Canadians – it was the first time I had cycled outside with bare knees for three months. I would have tackled more 20% climbs in training if I had been given the opportunity. Fortunately, the Trek equipment and preparation was second to none and I found the electronic shifting on my Checkpoint 7 was a boon with so many gear changes being necessary over the course of this Gran Fondo. I loved the event and the organization and would ride it again if there weren’t so many other places in the world to go!
Having watched the last moments of both men’s and women’s races the day before, I knew that the Via Santa Caterina was famed for its sting in the tail and after 140km my legs only just managed to turn the cranks. A couple of people had given up and were pushing their bikes up the 20% slope. I prided myself in not having succumbed to walking any of the climbs but I would pay the price with sore knees the next day.
