Woohoo, here we go...my very first blog :-) they reckon that writing down a goal brings it to life and helps crystalise the actions to achieve it. So, why am I here. To diarise my cultural journey home to Italy in 2018. My passion is road cycling and after having had the taste of attending and participating in a UCI Gran Fondo event in 2016 Western Australia, the thought of representing my "home country" in my cultural home of Italy was overwhelmingly mouth watering.
I fell in love with Varese in 2011, when I indulged in a three week cycling holiday in the region. Varese is very well-known for cycling, having organised the UCI Road World Championships in 1939, 1951 and most recently in 2008, when Alessandro Ballan took the Elite Men’s road race title. Being of Italian heritage and background is an advantage as I can speak fluently and chat with the locals which is such a liberating experience. Having dark olive skin, a "largish" nose, and hand movements that match the passionate verbal exchanges in the local languages (both in English and Italian) is a dead give away of my heritage. And it's here where the connection starts with this journey...a deep sense of pride and respect: that pride and respect being for my parents' and their extraordinary contribution to the lives of me and my brother, my children and the values that they have instilled in me....care, dignity and respect. In 2011, I had the opportunity to savour a warm, inviting and passionate people that though they have significant economic and political challenges, they maintain a passion for living that is unsurpassed (in my view) in the western world AND that their passion for cycling is "fused" in their minds and runs through their veins.
I can taste and smell Italy as I write this blog today, but to savour it completely, I need to qualify...and that's the other part of this journey...the physical pressures and stresses that I will need to put my body through to qualify and participate in what is the hardest sport in the world...road cycling....
Let the journey begin......
I fell in love with Varese in 2011, when I indulged in a three week cycling holiday in the region. Varese is very well-known for cycling, having organised the UCI Road World Championships in 1939, 1951 and most recently in 2008, when Alessandro Ballan took the Elite Men’s road race title. Being of Italian heritage and background is an advantage as I can speak fluently and chat with the locals which is such a liberating experience. Having dark olive skin, a "largish" nose, and hand movements that match the passionate verbal exchanges in the local languages (both in English and Italian) is a dead give away of my heritage. And it's here where the connection starts with this journey...a deep sense of pride and respect: that pride and respect being for my parents' and their extraordinary contribution to the lives of me and my brother, my children and the values that they have instilled in me....care, dignity and respect. In 2011, I had the opportunity to savour a warm, inviting and passionate people that though they have significant economic and political challenges, they maintain a passion for living that is unsurpassed (in my view) in the western world AND that their passion for cycling is "fused" in their minds and runs through their veins.
I can taste and smell Italy as I write this blog today, but to savour it completely, I need to qualify...and that's the other part of this journey...the physical pressures and stresses that I will need to put my body through to qualify and participate in what is the hardest sport in the world...road cycling....
Let the journey begin......
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