Just now, Nana was watching over my shoulder as I watched Stage 1 of the Tour de France.
Today is Stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia, and that means it’s Zancolan time: “10 km at an average 12% gradient, with peaks topping out at 22%,” according to the official site.
“It’s brutal. It’s relentless,” Mitchelton-Scott sports director Matt White told Cycling Weekly.
? Stage 14 | Tappa 14
? May 19th, 2018
⛅ San Vito al Tagliamento – Monte Zoncolan, 186 km
⏰ Start: 11.55 PM CEST
? Finish: 5.15 PM ca CEST
? https://t.co/KATplApccs #Giro101 #Giro pic.twitter.com/9uqWUnoDWT— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2018
For me, it’s the hardest climb in cycling. Bola del Mundo in the Vuelta a España is hard, but this goes on for nine kilometres. It’s 40 minutes for the first riders, but for us mortals, it’s one hour. One hour of going all out.
Sky sports director Matteo Tosatto
Except where noted, all quotes are from Cycling Weekly. Tip o’ the hat to Joe Lejog for the link.
Someone says it is the hardest climb in Europe. The Zoncolan’s Name gives you goosebumps. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Zoncolan Mountain! | Dicono sia la salita più dura d'Europa. Solo il nome fa tremare le gambe al gruppo. Signore e signori, lo Zoncolan! #Giro101 pic.twitter.com/nxSgZGWnnH
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2018
I let Joe know that we were woefully unprepared for road rash incidents. This advice did not come out of nowhere, incidentally …
Some idiots apparently don’t know their limits, and attempt to bunny-hop curbs to avoid traffic. At speed. And it behooves us to be prepared for such idiocy in future. So I told Joe that I’d volunteer to bring the goods for the next ride (or at least the next ride I attempt).
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I’d been carrying the omamori from Ai-chan.
Onigiri, or rice balls, have got to be about the ultimate biking food. Compact, cheap and readily available with a variety of fillings, onigiri provide upwards of 170 calories in a prepared meal that you can eat one-handed in a couple of minutes.
The first thing to note about rice balls is they’re … um … triangular.
One variety lets the white rice stick above the nori seaweed paper: a Fujisan rice ball.
Rice balls typically come wrapped in a special cellophane envelope which keeps the nori crisp until it’s time to eat. Unwrap by following the numbers: 1, 2, 3.
It’s true that when I’ve been riding frequently, I can get onigiri’d out. But considering I burn a rice ball’s worth of calories per hour (or thereabouts) when riding, onigiri are hard to beat.
When I took up riding again more than six years ago after a hiatus of a couple of decades, I would ride five or six hours without eating anything. When I finished I’d eat like a pig, but it was obvious I was abusing myself. I’d get throbbing migraine headaches. Once I took up the habit of tanking up on the go, the problem went away.
And so now I wonder: what will we eat on the road from London to Paris?
