Passione Celeste

Mark Pritchard

Description

Shares long-distance cycling adventures in this highly entertaining and personal story.Blends the love of cycling with engaging accounts of people and places encountered.Explains the history and growth of the iconic Bianchi bicycle brand.On his third birthday, Mark was given a tricycle. Thus began a lifelong journey pedalling everywhere he could. In his teens Mark discovered the joys of long-distance cycling and the freedom a Bianchi bicycle could provide. Nowadays he rides around 15,000 miles each year with his Bianchi family.Passione Celeste is the story of some of Mark's recent rides, including a 1,000 mile tour from Land's End to John O'Groats as well as tours in Italy and the Pyrenees.At the heart of Mark's story is his love affair with his family of Bianchi bikes. Passione Celeste takes a look at the history and growth of Bianchi and explains why the bikes have acquired a unique place in cycling around the world. It is about the places he visited, the stories he discovered there and the interesting characters he met along the way.Mark's story gets inside Bianchi's DNA giving it a new and unique perspective. That is the Passione Celeste of this engaging and entertaining love story.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Reino Unido
• Memoir
• United Kingdom
• Italy
• Cycling
• My Last Duchess
• Great Britain
• Royaume-Uni

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781788030854
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

PASSIONE CELESTE
Captain Century’s
Bianchi Bicycle
Diaries




Mark Pritchard
Copyright © 2017 Mark Pritchard


The moral right of the author has been asserted.


Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.


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ISBN 9781788030854

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.


Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
For the memory of David and Elizabeth Pritchard. If you hadn’t given me that tricycle in December 1959 none of this might have happened!


And for my own personal peloton: Katherine, Megan and Huw. You may not be cyclists but you are the greatest team I could wish for.
‘Mark Pritchard grew up riding in an era before the mass explosion of cycling in Britain. He was inspired by the achievements of many of the great European professional riders that I raced against during the 1960’s and 70’s. Mark has ridden the length and breadth of Britain and in Europe on long one-day rides and multi-stage tours. His enthusiasm for riding is infectious – whether you are a novice or a seasoned rider. Vas-y-Mark!’
Barry Hoban, winner of 8 Stages of the Tour de France and author of Vas-y-Barry
(available from www.thepedalpress.uk)


‘For many cyclists completing their first one hundred-mile ride, or century, is a major achievement and for some, almost a rite of passage. Mark Pritchard rode his first century over 40 years ago and hasn’t stopped since. For him, riding a century is almost an everyday event! In Passione Celeste he shares some of his rides, and his passion for century riding. You can ride with Mark, and his alter-ego Captain Century, on their tours around Britain and in Europe and learn about the places he has visited, the people he has met and the fun he has had along the way.’
Chris Sidwells, author of Best 100 Mile Bike Routes


‘Mark Pritchard (aka Captain Century) has a very special relationship with his Bianchi bicycle family. Now you can join him on a journey that travels to the heart and soul of this iconic bicycle brand. This is a story that celebrates the DNA that is unique to Bianchi – its Passione Celeste.’
Andrew Griffin, Country Manager, Cycleurope UK Ltd
Contents
1. PROLOGUE
2. WHERE IS THIS ALL HEADING?
3. LAND’S END TO JOHN O’GROATS
4. BIANCHI: MORE THAN JUST A BICYCLE
5. THE SIXTY CENTURIES SERIES
6. TOUR OF TUSCANY
7. THE SUPER SIX GO TO THE LAKE DISTRICT
8. DOUGHNUTS AND DENVER
9. MEMORIES AND MILESTONES
10. MORE MEMORIES AND SOME MEDALS
11. A DAY OUT WITH THE COUSINS
12. MILES, LOTS OF MILES
13. TOUR OF THE PYRENEES
14. THAT’S SO LAST CENTURY
15. SIXTY CENTURIES – SOME REFLECTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1. PROLOGUE
I was between appointments and slightly ahead of schedule so for once I had the time to stop at a passing café for a cup of coffee. The café was virtually empty and I took my cappuccino to a table by the window. Sitting down and looking around I could see one other customer. A person in their mid-forties, I reckoned, and wearing Lycra, so probably a cyclist. Glancing out of the window I could see another cyclist approaching, also clad in Lycra. Slightly older, mid to late fifties possibly, and judging by their tanned and wind-weathered skin, someone who spent a lot of time outdoors.
After propping up their bike, which looked to be an expensive modern carbon-framed machine, the newly arrived cyclist entered the café. Looking around the second cyclist saw the first and nodded in acknowledgement before going to the counter to order a latte and a sticky piece of flapjack.
Cyclist number two walked towards cyclist number one and asked if it would be okay to sit down. Cyclist number one seemed to welcome the company and so a union was formed. I wasn’t close enough to hear all that they were saying, but with very little hesitation they appeared to be chatting quite happily together. I wondered. Were they passing acquaintances, or if not were they close friends?
The older cyclist seemed to be doing more of the talking and I sensed that the younger one was seeking information by asking a succession of questions. Their mood was a relaxed and happy one. Two people linked by a shared interest. As the conversation developed, I detected a subtle change. What initially seemed to be communication at a sort of friendly yet slightly reserved level was evolving into something very different and far more sophisticated. Comments were exchanged, eye contact was being made and held. Body language shifted. Almost imperceptibly the atmosphere changed. It moved beyond casual conversation to something on a totally different level. A level that mere words were incapable of describing. Now it seemed that their communication involved feelings of the heart as much as the words they were speaking.
I was fascinated. The two cyclists were so engrossed in their conversation and with each other that they were oblivious to my observations and eavesdropping. As a casual observer this seemed almost like a romantic encounter; maybe a first date, a tryst in the making? At the very least some interesting intrigue to recount to my friends later.
Although I was too far away to hear clearly what was being said, I did work out that there was talk of carbon, and words in a strange language, like Campag, which sounded vaguely Italian, yet were spoken with English accents. One phrase stood out and was used several times by the older cyclist. That phrase was ‘Passione Celeste’.
Suddenly, and without any warning, the older cyclist said, ‘It’s been great to chat to you but I must be going as I’ve still got another 50 miles to do.’ So the conversation ended abruptly. Standing up, the older cyclist said ‘If you want to learn more about Passione Celeste I’ve just published a book. Look it up on the Interweb.’
As the second cyclist headed to the loo I thought I would sneak a quick peak at his bike. Slipping out through the door I could see that both bikes were resting against the café’s wall. Surprisingly, they were both the same colour – a sort of bluish green. And I noticed that they were made by the same company. An outfit called Bianchi.
2. WHERE IS THIS ALL HEADING?
Tuesday 22 July 2012, 101 Miles
How It All Started
I was feeling great. No, I was feeling better than great – I was almost euphoric. I was about 60 miles into one of my favourite rides on a lovely warm sunny day. Behind me lay the raw and desolate Suffolk coast with sweeping views across low-lying marshlands. With few trees and hedges, you can see for miles on a clear day. It is a lightly populated area and with not many cars on the roads there is a great sense of freedom. Although it can feel like a lonely place it is also a place where I usually feel completely comfortable. And especially so on days like today with perfect riding conditions and a ride that just seems to get better with every turn of the pedals and roll of the wheels. The feeling of an escape from the pace and pressures of daily life is one that I cherish.
The soft hiss of rubber on tarmac and the light whoosh of wind passing by can be quite soporific. At a sort of subconscious level I’m taking in what’s going on around me and am alive to potential road hazards. It’s as if I’m in a sort of low-power mode. When I feel like this my mind tends to wander off on its own ride and I do some of my best thinking and quite a lot of daydreaming. Today I’ve been reflecting on my life on a bike; how I originally got into cycling, and why I’ve stayed on the bike for most of my life.
I was born in 1956 in Trinidad, in the West Indies. I got my first set of wheels, a tricycle, when I was three and I used to race around our house and garden, much to the consternation of my parents. My mum used to say that I would pedal furiously and showed no fear of crashing, which apparently happened quite often. Around the age of seven my dad took me to an athletics meeting. I don’t remember much about it. Apparently, I was bored rigid by the track and field events. But at the end of the meeting there were some track cycling races and, according to Dad, they totally captivated me.
I have a very vague recollection of that afternoon. Two things stick in my memory. First, there was a team from Italy taking part and they were riding some pretty stylish bikes. (Years later, Dad told me they were riding track bikes made by Bianchi.) My other memory was of Roger Gibbon. Roger was a Trinidadian track cyclist who was well known locally and had won several medals at numerous regional international events. I like to think he beat the field on the day I saw him.
The upshot of all this was that I was soon the owner of a fixed-wheel kiddies’ bike. Although it came with stabilisers I removed them within a couple of days and by the end of the first week I was tearing around our garden quite happily. I was the ‘new’ Roger Gibbon and winning everything. Not long afterwards word got back home that I had been spotted riding on