1001 Miglia Italia finished (en)

On Monday, August 16, 2021, at about 17:00 I will start the one last big cycling adventure for this year: the 1001 Miglia Italia – 1,001 miles or 1,600 kilometers through the most beautiful parts of Italy.

The start and finish of the inaugural „Green Reverse“ edition – the city of Parabiago, famous as the city of shoes and home to three world cycling champions (Ferrario, Gaiardoni, Saronni) – is 25 km from downtown Milan. This brevet (French: „diploma“ for long distance rides) is organized every 2 years since 2006. I had registered for the 2020 edition, which was postponed to this year due to Corona.

The „Green-Reverse“ route in 2021 will be in the opposite direction of the „classic“ route of the past editions. We will ride on the „Fausto Coppi routes“ to CASTELLANIA and then towards the Ligurian Sea, overlooking the breathtaking panoramas of CINQUE TERRE. Crossing the ALPI APUANE („Michelangelo’s marble“) we will go through Tuscany and on our route we will see the towers of SAN GIMIGNANO, the fortress of MONTERIGGIONI, the town of SIENA and the CRETE SENESI. We reach Lazio at the headland of the BOLSENA lake.

Then we start the return journey through Umbria and Tuscany, where we reach the TRASIMENO lake, the Etruscan city of CORTONA, the VALLOMBROSA forest and the MUGELLO race track. On the roads of Emilia Romagna we go to LUGO, then we cycle along the river Po and the PIANURA PADANA back to PARABIAGO.

Thanks to the new routing, the stages with the many meters of climbs are located in the first 1000 kilometers, which makes the return to Parabiago easier and more pleasant for the cyclists. The last 400 kilometers are completely flat and are accompanied by the fresh waters of the longest river in Italy.

I want to complete the 1600 kilometers in about 5 days, giving me a buffer of about 16 hours on the 136 hours within which you have to reach the finish to get the „certificate“.

I have a rough plan laid out. However, it certainly means a lot of improvision and adjustment of the plan, because of many partly unknown factors – for example, great heat is just on the first days …
However, with the help of Vespa & OFM and the great advice from Peter, there are no question marks in the area of nutrition and energy provision for my body. Also I am convinced that I will have for a very long time „good legs“ and during the short sleep breaks a fast recovery by Vespa. This will work just as well as with the past Brevets.

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Update 21th Aug. 2021: I was able to keep to my plan very well and completed the 1,600km and 15,000 meters of altitude in the total time of 116 hours (planned 120 hours). Thanks to everyone who was cheering for me and keeping their fingers crossed!