Fausto Coppi’s blind massaggiatore (physio) Biagio Cavanna
Many people know Fausto Coppi story, the greatest Italian champion in many people point of view the greatest ever together with Merckx and Armstrong.
But not many people knows that is blind physio was probably also one of the greatest in his field.
Not a great rider himself during the period of Girardengo, he then develop his massage skills techniques and become a great masseur, but he become blind at 40. He never gave up and he actually started a cycling school were young rider would live with him and with his very hard trainings, diets and massages develop and giving a chance at young riders to turn pro and start a cycling carrier.
Story of old pro are saying that he could with the feel of his hands and by listening to the noise of their heart whether they could become great rider or not.
Once become Fausto’s massaggiatore the two were inseparable and Biagio would follow the “Airone” (heron) every were in the world give him also advice on trainings and race tactics, to then develop Fausto even further in his carrier.
MK Criterium
Was very nice last night see my friends at MK Bowl for the usual Thursday summer series criterium.
I decide to go to the race on my bike, lovely afternoon to ride and I wanted to treat it as a good training so 2.5 hours ride easy steady then 1.15 high tempo with lots of intervals and 2.15 back at tt pace, sharing the work with two other OUCC riders (Seb and Nils) on the way back made the return journey quicker.
I like to do crits as training in the summer because is a good way to pick up speed without the stress of do it on training, but is very important to remember that for road racing just the crit is not enough and need to be combined with a daily training, some people that are searching to get a results they go out in the morning for 2 hours, is just another way, I prefer to train just before the race to get properly warmed up, and after to improve my aerobic threshold.
All together 6 hours, at the end I was pretty tired so I think my two companion from Oxford University Cycling Club.
I felt stronger then last year and I attack solo at 8 laps to go, but nobody came across, and after 3 laps the peloton got me, I was not too tired at the endof the race and the anaerobic workout will for sure be very beneficial together with the rest of the training.
Maybe a little old school my training but I was told at the race that in the past was common to get to the race and back by…………bike.
Eddy Merckx
THE CANNIBAL!
He could win anything and wanted to. If you got time to spend to see his palmares, you will see he won almost anything possible, from 1 day racing to stage racing, crits, and 6 days.
But one thing I was told, he was so competitive that even when he was playing cards in the evening he had to win, and he was very very upset when he was loosing.
This is maybe a little fantastic, but I like to believe that is true maybe to add even more to his competitive personality.
Motor pacing
There is a very interesting way to add “zapp” to your legs, and that is motor pacing behind a car or a motorbike.
If you are doing in a track that’s OK, but you can do it on the road as well, you need to find somebody with a vehicle that knows how important is pacing regularly taking in consideration variation of the course, i.e. small climbing and cornering,.
Safety is a very big issue , therefore you must find very quiet roads, and an expert driver.
Short and fast, this is the key, the first time I did it was when I was “dilettante ” at 19 and after a very hard 4 hours team training with climbs, I was called by my coach in the afternoon to get ready for 5okm motor pacing. Did the job to me, I won for the next two week ends.
Keep this training only for climbing your form don’t over do it or you also loose your form as quickly!
Claudio Chiappucci
You can divide climber in 2 categories, the “scattista” means the one who climb by relaunch himself after every corner and using lighter gear, (normally small and light up to 55/60kg like Pantani, Fuentes, Lecarreta, Van Impe, Virenque etc),
and the “progressista” which is the one who climbs without following lighter rider accelerations but using bigger gears and pacing them self on a very steady but effective speed (Ullrich, Indurain, Hinault, Le Mond, Armstrong etc)
Maillot au pois (King of the mountain) at the Tour the France and second overall twice Chiappucci is considered to be one of the greatest climber.
Troughout is early junior career he was a very good climber but only later as pro he came out great climber. That mainly to do with the great distances which was more ideal for his biological capacity.
Chiappucci does not enter in above two categories but he has a very unique qualitie when is to do with climbing, he needs two very important situations to excel, hot weather, and very long hard races. Then he will attack and like a diesel engine never stop.
Better known as “El Diablo”, Chiappucci is one of the most famous and highly-regarded cyclists of the Nineties. He was loved for his dogged determination and competitive aggression. The climber from Uboldo, born in ’63, hit the headlines during the Tour de France in 1990 when he managed to get an advantage of 10 minutes on the favourites thanks to a lightening breakaway in the first days of the competition. He wore the yellow jersey until the penultimate stage, a time trial. Lemond, the hot favourite, won the race but Chiappucci still managed to hang on to second place. This wasn’t Chiappucci’s only silver in the Tour as he also came second in ’92, to Miguel Indurain. Chiappucci placed second twice in the Giro d’Italia as well, in ’91 and in ’92. He won the silver medal in the World Championships in Sicily two years later. “El Diablo” has certainly earned our respect.
Even now at 46 he still ride his bike almost every day. Every time I go back to Italy I ride with him and believe me you don’t want to challenge him on a climb. VAI EL DIABLO!
Cavendish or Cipollini?
There are 2 categories of sprinters:
The one who needs a team to pilot them to the end of the race in the last 20\30km and the one who prefer to follow organized team and “swim” between team to team to stay or follow the “right wheel”.
Cipollini needed a team to pilot all the way to 300\400mt at incredible speed, then he could increase the speed with the sprint and win.
Cavendish started his career by following other team “train” and win by his explosive sprint and great courage to stay on the right wheel at incredible speed and challenge other rider who wanted same position in the peloton.
Then his team decide that it will be even more effective for him to have a “train” to pilot his sprint, then he became what we know, almost impossible to beat him and became one of the greatest sprinter of all times.
At the begin of my career, fresh from amateur and prolific sprinter in that category, I’ve try to get involved in sprints but very soon I realized the difference above, without a team train I only had the choice of get in the main part of the peloton at the right time and challenge the right wheel. Sometimes I did it and get top five places, but to win was for me almost impossible, my qualities were not good enough to jump and stay in the front at 70km\h. The risk was also great and decide later to avoid main bunch sprints and concetrate on team work and harder racing.
Rest day at “Giro d’Italia”
Do you train or do you relax at the rest day?
Well Most of the “girini” (riders) are training between3 to 4 hours at steady pace, this is to do with keeping the routine of exercise, massage and sleeping. Many people feel that if do not your body the next day feels very bloated and therefore very hard at the start of the stage.
One of the myth is that very often riders that are up to the rest day doing very well they get worse after the rest day, (this are the one who need to train more), and the one which are not been doing great are improving considerably, body or mind?
Pantani
No many people know, but the great Italian climber was also a great descend rider.
Particularly for positioning with his tummy on the saddle and his crutch at few milliliter from the back wheel.
I would not suggest you trying, because need a lot of practising, and Marco(Pantani) had a lot of empty roads to do it in is native Italian region.
Also need a lot of courage to ride at 70/80 km/h (40miles/h circa) with the back wheel so near your precious part of the body.
Next interesting position
Maybe this one will be the next one?
I prefer the classic position with your hands on the drop and tuck in aero position. What about you?
Giuseppe Saronni
Do you know that Giuseppe Saronni used to train in the summer most of the time with a woollen top, he use to say : Hey ragazzi (guys) I need to sweat. But most of the time before he would sweat he made us sweat so much
Astana “pay crisis”, Lance and co. protest
Astana riders protest at the start of stage 7 is not completely a surprise, they went on the start of the stage with there sponsors name covered as a protest for not receiving the last 2 month salary, ds Bruyneel agreed on the protest.
Looks like if the situation does not get resolved by the end of the giro, the team could be officially end.
There are rumors for Lance’s “Livestrong” cancer charity company to take over the team until the end of the season.
About
Hi!
My name is Flavio Zappi, an ex-professional cyclist from Italy, currently living and racing in the U.K with the Zappi’s Cycling club.
Why this blog? Well, different reasons..
I suppose the main purpose is to share with other sports lovers such as myself, my experiences (both past and present), my attempts at improving training approaches, and valuable conversations with professionals or just cycling lovers from the cycling world.
I hope you can find something of value in my blog, and any feedback will be really appreciated!
Thanks!
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