NEWS FOR FEBRUARY

KARL STRUGNELL JOINS PROS FOR ITALIAN TRAINING CAMP

 

Karl with the curator of the Alfredo Binda museum at Citiglio Italy.During his training camp with team Endura.

After a chance conversation with John Ibbotson from the UK's newest pro team, Team Endura, one of the countries brightest young prospects, Karl Strugnell (Jim Walker RT) was invited to join the team at their base near Varese in Lombardia, Italy for two weeks of training where he hoped to pick up a few tips along the way. Both Karl and his father Graham (Mr Tekno Fuel himself), were staying in a little village called Citiglio, which has a special place in Italian cycling hearts as the place where Alfredo Binda was born, one of Italy�s greatest cycling heroes.

Which meant that both Karl and Graham had to pay the museum dedicated to him in Citiglio, a vist. Talking about the visit, Karl says "although Binda was a hero well before my time, the museum is well worth a visit. I can just imagine the up and coming stars of their day wishing they had all the latest equipment that is on display in the museum."

It wasn't just the musuem that oozed atmosphere. Far removed from your modern, bland hotels that line many roads nowadays, the hotel where Karl was based was ideal for the biker, hardly surprising in Italy. "The food, the owner and staff were superb" says Karl, "providing a place to store the bikes, and light a fire every day to keep them and our kit damp free -- marvellous."

But the reason Karl went to Italy was for the riding and it hasn't dissapointed him as he explains "one of the things I was looking forward to riding was some long climbs which wasn�t very difficult to find. Around a kilometre away was a 7km test that was around 1120 metres high, well, I may add, above the snow line! This was ridden on the shorter days rides after about 1� hours or some days, just after a short warm up just for the hell of it. But the view was well worth the ride."

Describing the other rides, Karl says "the longer steadier days were spent mainly around Lake Maggiore where we could do any distance we wanted by simply varying the route such as going different ways around the lake or taking a ferry across and coming back via Switzerland. The longer day�s 4-5 hours were with a following car with Harry Lodge, and Richard Parsons and depending on the team�s plans, some times included a caf� stop."

And finally, like any holiday it wasn�t all bike riding as they still managed to find time to fit in a trip to Milan and Varese for a shopping trip, a little bit of site, making the first week a very enjoyable experience.

Spectacular scenary and even an open fire to dry the kit ready for another days riding in the mountains!