The ponzian islands... Just trying this phone thingy!

JOGLE 2010 The Map

I read on a friend's blog last week, the mortified confession that she had bought a digital camera... A good fun of a girl, a passionate photographer and cool blogger herself (you can check her blog at http://heyyousaycheese.blogspot.com/ ) she wrote about it to all her followers, making it clear that it was to save some money so she can travel more next year and then taking more polaroids...
I was thinking about the trip I'll be doing next month accross the UK (www.jogle2010.org and www.justgiving.com/fonziesjogle2010 ) and thought I have a confession to make to some, maybe a couple...
You know, to those who doesn't know me that well... I'm English! I know, sounds weird (specially with my venezuelan/kiwi-wannabe accent) but I am, at least technically. I was born in London, an so I'm an English Citizen. But that's no worries. I feel lucky and thankful about it, except every 4 years with the football world cup.
But the second confession might worry some. In particular some italian readers. I've been working as a cook on a boat in Italy in the last year or so. And when you say it everybody goes "ohh aaahh yadda yadda yadda" while confidently moving their hands somehow, which gestures mean all the words they aren't saying... They are quite passionate about their culinary culture, and with a reason I have to admit. But unfurtunately, some can be a bit arrogant about it and will tend to think than nowhere else in the world there's a culinary culture. They even think there's no such thing as english food...
Confession, here it goes... I do like english food! I genuinely believe there's nothing better for a hang over than an english breakfast. I do like toasts with butter and Marmite. Yes Marmite. I like sundays' roasts and think fish and chips on a sunny day in the beach rocks! (I might get fired after all that if the boss reads it)
Unfortunately I've never lived in England so I have never really digged deeper into its food. So when reading about JOGLE 2010 and finding out they had orginized all of our meals with local producers I can say I was very much pleased and looking forward to it.
I'm very curious and motivated about this whole experience. The people and their cycling experience. But specially I'm very curious about the landscape and the food. Although I've been regularly to England lately to visit my sister, I feel this is the first time I'll be seeing the country itself. I wonder about the riding, the hills and the weather we'll meet along the way.
It feels good to actually go and live the place I was born at, and it feels awesome to give something back to a country which has given me and my family so much.

John O'Groats to Land's End 2010

Alright, so here I go again...
This time I won’t be riding by myself, and basically I will be supporting one man’s idea, initiative and determination by joining him and 25 or more cyclists in a group ride from John O’Groats to Lands End (hence the name JOGLE 2010), or in other words from the most northern point to the most southern piece of land in the United Kingdom.
The idea was created from James Bowthorpe who last year broke the world record for cycling around the world in 174 days. James has raised 120 thousand pounds so far for a project run by the Institute of Psychiatry in London called What’s Driving Parkinson, for what he has worked and volunteered for over 3 years now. The project is trying to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease and it’s extremely underfunded, so James has set himself a target of 1,8 million pounds... not an easy task indeed!
I’ll be joining him for this ride, and as the other 25 riders, my aim is to raise 1000 pounds for this project. So together, we can put together over 25 grand in just one week.
As James is doing (getting people together so that each of one us can raise a little money to achieve the big target) I would like that apart from donating (that you can do easily t at www.justgiving.com/fonziesjogle2010 ) and contributing to my participation in this event, you help me (or the cause) passing this information to as many people as you can and as actively as you can, help us getting more people together so I can reach my target of 1000 pounds and we can help James achieving his goal. You can help not only donating, but also getting more people to donate, finding any sponsors, creating more awareness about this project, and making more people find other supporters.
The event will run from September the 5th to the 12th, 1600 km in 8 days, so I’m hoping we can put together at least the 1000 pounds by the time we finish the ride.
Get yourself involved. Support this good cause as you can, and think of it not as something I am doing, think of it as we together doing something good for others.
I’ll be updating our progress through my blog www.fonziesride.blogspot.com and you can follow me on twitter @fonziesride. There’s also a website of the event that you can check out on www.jogle2010.org.
Cheers,
Fonzie and the Jogle 2010 crew.

Riding the Med

Summer was spent sailing and riding around Sardegna, Malt and Sicily... more to come soon!

Genova

Genova
I vividly remember the first time I read Horacio Quiroga’s short stories. I was in second year of high school and the emotions and thrills of this tales from the Uruguayan writer were teaching me how emotive reading can be. From then on, everything I read from him was holly word.
That has changed in many ways, but I still remember his Decalogo del perfecto cuentista. A list of ten commandments on how to write a short story. One of them said “No escribas bajo el imperio de la emoción. Déjala morir, y evócala luego...” (“Do not write under the empire of emotion. Let it die, and evoke it later...”)
Contradictory, I find myself writing about emotions here, so not writing emotively seems a bit absurd. But I thought about his words this weekend and today. If I would’ve written this post, either straight after my arrival in Genova, or this last weekend; or as it happened, today, they would’ve been three completely different stories. Three completly different emotions.
As I said after coming into Italy, I did go to Venice. From Lugano rode to Brescia, then San Bonifacio close to Verona and then Venice. I don’t know if it was the welcoming feeling of the already known, or the kind reception of the italian cyclists I found along the way, but with every stroke of the pedal this feeling of self aknowledgement slowly grew on me. Maybe the satisfaction of the soon to be achieved goal of Le Tour. Or just feeling phisically and mentally in a great space. But I felt I could kept riding forever. I didn’t want to go back. I didn’t want this to finish. It just felt right.
A friend wrote to me some beautiful words in which he described the sensations he got from reading some of my posts in a way that really shook me. “Donde nació esta idea, murió un desencanto personal... y cada km recorrido debe ser aire nuevo” (where this idea was born, a personal unease died... And every km ridden must be a new breath). And partly, those days riding to Venice, not only I felt I had shaken a big heavy ballast off, but also that I had found a new road. Not by changing places but by changing myself, by believing in this ideas that just pop in and out of my head everyday, and by having the courage to put dreams and passion together in pursuit of self realization.
I found myself in the train back into Genova not wanting to go back, wondering how come I wanted to keep going so badly. But it wasn’t about Genova, neither about continue riding my bike. Genova meant routine, meant going back to a meaningless job which have given me very little satisfaction or motivation lately, and specially meant keep sleep walking through all the way until my next time off. Riding my bike meant freedom and wellbeing, but it also symbolized this parallel life away from work where I put all my faith and heart in accomplishing dreams and goals, and trying to help or inspire others with it.
The unease remained with me for a few days, but on the weekend, Genova showed her best smile. The same misterious and intriguing smile which have captivated me for the last year. Slowly revealing her secrets and treasures with her cheeky winks you discover around her corners. And when wandering around her narrow vicoli I was glad I was here. In Genova, in the heart of Liguria. I was at peace with what I’ve achieved with Le Tour cycling wise and personally. Some of the amazing responses I got from friends or family, or the little smiles and complitmments I got along the way from random people, kept reminding me of the emotions this project has awaken on people. And all this things together with my will to keep riding (figuratively speaking) give me the motivation and inspirations to stay in this road and hope this fire I feel burning inside, keeps heating things up.
Funny that I always thought of this trip as the beginning of something. Somehow I knew this was not the purpose of all the training I was doing during the winter, but that it was actually a part of it. A learning process. Training was great to find out how my body behaved in different rides, weather, clothes and to get the fitness I needed for the trip of course. All the research I done tought me many things for the preparations stages of such projects. And the trip itself was just a part of it. At every minute of this april month of 2010 I was learning and trying to get everything in form this experience. I wanted to hear myself for the whole ride and listen to what my body and mind had to say. So now that I’ve finished this trip I have shared with whoever I have met or contacted along the way, it feels like I’m just ready for the next project. And that’s very exciting and motivating.
I’m so curious...

A different place!

Almost there yet. But where!
Since I started sailing, I've always felt very attracted to solo-sailing. And so I've read a lot of books about it.
The first one I read was about the '96 Vendee Globe, and there I read about Bernard Moitessier. A french-vietnamese sailor who became very famous in 1968 when sailing alone around the world and competing for the Golden Globe Trophy for the first ever and faster circumnavigation alone and non-stop.
He had sailed pass Cape Horn and only needed to go North through the Atlantic to reach England and he would have won the prize for the fastest circumnavgation, and maybe the trophy for the first ever as he might have beaten Sir Robin Knox Johnston, the eventual winner. Instead, he turned east, and continued half way around the world again and finally set anchor at Tahiti, French Polynesia, where he lived most of his life.
He wrote, that in keep going north and winning the award, his trip would be bruised or stained by the pursuit of money. But also, that leaving Europe, to finish back in Europe, seemed no sense for him then that he had achieved such harmony with his boat and the ocean. The Long Way is the name of this book.
I won't compare by any means what those guys achieved in 1968 or what the guys in the Vendee Globe go through, to what I've been doing for the last month. But they all are a great inspiration for me. People who passionately live their dreams in search for stretching their personal limits, and with it, broadening humans limits as well. I think is pioneers like them, who have pushed human development as far as it is today. Dreams, curiosity and passion working together.
Having passed the Alps, and back in Italy, I could have been writing this back in Genoa. I had a couple of days worth of riding left to complete the initial plan of the trip. But thinking about it, I would like as well that this month, this trip I will be finishing tomorrow by midday if it all goes according to plan, has taken me to a different place. The same Fonzie, but I would like to think, that this has changed things, at least a little bit. That for example I'll think of my time off differently. That next year, when I set off for the next adventure, I'll be a little wiser and stronger, that this ride have been all learning. Or even that any of this that I've been wiriting, telling and showing you for the last few weeks, have inspired at least a little bit some of you, or make you think twice, or given you another point of view on different things. Perhaps.
So I kept riding. Another 400 km. Instead of south, I turned east as well, asking locals and other cyclist how to get to the next town. Yes, let's go to Venice, let's check it out, let's go and have lunch with la Nana and hopefully a couple of wines. Rendez vous for lunch at midday. GREAAATT!!!

Oberalppass....Geschlossen!!!!

From Basel I rode towards Luzern, the lake district in Switzerland I guess. It was a 96 km ride but decided to keep going to approach the Alps a little more, and try to pass the mountains and into Lugano in one day.
Arrived to Schwyz, after 127 km and found a cool backpakers to stay where I chilled out, foun out where I needed to go the next morning and watch the Bayern Munich game with a couple of very excited german dudes.
Next day was a monster day of a ride. 200 km, up the Oberalppass which wasn't ferme ferme like the passes in France, it was one solid Geschlossen!!!. So this time I didn't even ask, or try to convice myself it was doable. I just looked at the webcam and saw the road was clear, early wake up next day and at 7 am I was up and riding south along Lake Luzern into Altdorf where the easy climb started and then into the proper climbing. 34 km up the Oberalp, which as internet shown was no problem to ride through. Down to Disentis and up again to Lockmanier pass, another 900 m above, and then down into italian Switzerland to finish the 9 hours 30 minutes ride passing Monte Ceneri and into Lugano. Around 2700 m climbed, a really tough day of cycling, specially with the head winds I got starting to climb Lockmanier all the way to the end.
At Lugano, found this youth hostel, great staff, a few people wandering to go for an aperitivo and dinner, and even a pool.
Breakfast was epic, and chatting with this couple of swiss girls, also cyclists, and told of my ride. Of the 4000 km I have done so far, of the Pyrenees, of the killer ride from previous day, and of the guy I found up at the Oberalp. As I got to the top of the pass, I stopped for a few photos, a look around, and preparing to start my way down (shoe covers, beanie, neck cover, snowboarding gloves).
There I met this swiss man who asked me where I was going to and other things, in german, so comunication was sort of difficult.
Then he asked "you where from?"
"Venezuela mate!"
"Venezuelaaaa!! ohh!! donde vienes?"
"de Schwyz"
"y ahora Disentis?"
"Si, Disentis, y luego Lockmanier, y Lugano!"
"Luganoooo!!! hahahaha...y luego?"
"manana, Italia, Genova, Venezia, no lo se todavia"
Then he finished, with a cheeky grim in his face and his funny german gringo accent: "hahahahaa....TU GRANDEI TIGREEE!!! haaaahaaaahahaa! Auf wiedersehen!"
And right there, at 2048 meters above sea level, definitly by far one of the highest moments of Le Tour...
And we laughed at breakfast with the "Grandei Tigre" story, and laughed at how they understood why I was traveling alone, and at my cutted-in-half toothbrush to save weight. And off I went, into Italy, on thursday. Where to? I didn't know, just head south and maybe east. I'll just ride, it's all easy now.