Tuscany Trail 2019 - Kevin's story
Posted By Gravel Union
On the 26th June 2019
Riding on trails and backroads through the beautiful scenery and old towns of Tuscany, enjoying Tuscan cuisine and camping under the starry sky… what’s not to like? That was exactly what I was thinking when reading about the Tuscany Trail: the world’s largest ‘self-supported’ bikepacking adventure, that takes you over a course of 540km, with over 9000m of height gain, from Massa to Capalbio.
We arrived in Massa the day before the race, and headed to the pre-race event to pick up our race numbers, riding caps and have a beer at the Gravel Union booth.
The next morning, we got together with 800 other cyclists, coming from 30 different countries for the start in Massa. After having a final cappuccino we rolled out of the town at 08:00. Starting with so many excited cyclists at once on the open road meant a bit of a logistical challenge in the first few kilometres, but apart from a broken car mirror, everything seemed to go relatively well.
On the first serious climb of the day the big bunch fell apart. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of riding too fast on the first day, so we deliberately held our own pace. After about 60km we stopped in Lucca for a nice pasta lunch. The rest of the stage was a nice mix of gravel roads and steep rocky climbs. The track also passed Leonardo da Vinci’s childhood home, where we wisely re-filled our bottles, as “water is the driving force of nature”, according to the great man himself.
After about 120 km we had set up our tent, had dinner, charged our devices and evaluated the first day with some other riders, while enjoying a beer (I was already liking this bikepacking thing!).
On the second day we planned to ride all the way to Siena (about 160 km) which sounded reasonable, but things turned out differently. Tuscany is famous for its ‘rolling hills’, but that was not exactly what the course offered us. The track was full of rocky singletrack and very steep climbs, which meant the kilometres passed by very slowly.
We adjusted our plans during the day and decided to ride about 110km to stay for the night in San Gimignano. Even then, I had a complete off-day, and my GPS struggled with sending me in the right direction to the hostel. I got lost making an already long and hard day on the bike that bit harder. Eventually, I found my way again and rolled into San Gimignano completely depleted and in the dark. I had some cold slices of pizza and a relatively short sleep. Not the best recovery, but it was all that was on offer.
At the beginning of the third day, my legs didn’t felt that great, but luckily after Siena, things started getting easier as the rocky singletrack made its way for the smooth Strade Bianche gravel roads. This was backed up by wonderful views of the hilly landscape, especially as the sun set.
Day four and the Strade Bianche gravel roads were slowly substituted for more rocky singletrack and steep climbs again. There were even some rivers to cross. With these kind of obstacles on the track it was simply impossible to keep riding the bike, so often I had no other option but to walk the bike. This is where my new Shimano RX8 gravel shoes came in handy, as they are a bit more comfortable during hike-a-bike compared to MTB-specific shoes.
Despite the fact that we’re already four days into the race I was almost continuously surrounded by other Tuscany Trail participants. There was often an opportunity to ride in small groups and also help out each other in case of any mechanicals.
My final day of the Tuscany Trail was day five. After about 40km into the stage the signs with ‘Capalbio’ appeared (where the finish is), so somehow I had the feeling we were pretty close, but instead of riding straight to Capalbio the track was going over the Peninsula of Monte Argentario. What followed was a long brutal climb with an ‘afterburner’ that kept going on endlessly, which made the final part both mentally and physically very hard. However, the view over the sea was breathtaking, so by then I immediately understood why the track took us over the peninsula instead of straight to Capalbio.
After 540km and more than 9000 altitude meters, I crossed the finish line in 39 hours of riding time.
I heard that it took the winner of the Tuscany Trail only 34 hours, so in fact I was only a couple of hours behind? Uhh no, not exactly… The winner, an experienced ultra-distance cyclist, finished in an insane time of 34 hours straight, without proper sleeping.
On our end, we took it a bit slower by enjoying by taking time to enjoy Tuscan food and having a good sleep every night – you win the Tour in bed, right ;-).
That's the great thing about the Tuscany Trail: you decide where, when and if you stop and sleep – ultimate freedom!
By: Kevin van den Besselaar