1001 Miglia 1600km randonee 2012

[Freedom]

Hi guys, are there more of your flocks doing the "1001 Miglia 1600km randonneur"?

The only language I inderstand besides my mother tongue is English.

PBP 2011 was well organised and roadmarkings was very good.

Can we expect the same in Italy?

http://www.1001migliaitalia.it/

[Hummers]

This is on wish-list along with a 1200 in Russia.

Not riding it this year as I have filled my diary up for 6 months and have to regain Brownie points at Hummers Halls.

I know Salvatore, HK and Toofypegs have done it.

H

[Salvatore]

I've registered for it, but haven't confirmed my entry yet by stumping up the entry fee. I hope the teething troubles experienced in 2008 will have been eliminated.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

2010 was pretty good, better organised than in '08 according to HK.

[teethgrinder]

It was OK when I rode it. I couldn't make head nor tail of the routesheet (I led a big bunch off of a roundabout and into a car park on the first night ), so I followed those with a GPS, which made it a more social ride than it probably would have been for me. I did eventualy get the hang of it on the last day. There were sometimes arrows painted on the road, if you could find them, but not always. I'd recommend using a GPS, working out how to read their odd routesheet or following someone with a GPS.
I wasn't keen on the first 300 miles or so of flat roads, but once it went into the mountains, it was great.
I took the view that controls wouldn't have any food, which usualy meant grouping together and eating in a local restaurant, which was one of the many things that made the ride for me. If there was food at the controls, which to be fair, I think all but a few had food and some of the controls were quite good, it was mostly rice. I'm not keen on rice, but it's better than the knock. There was other food available too, but it was mostly the same thing for the whole event.
The last 100k or whatever was also flat and uninteresting, but it was only 100k and you were finished.
One of the most enjoyable rides I've done. Lots of changing scenery from brown Tuscany to green Mediteranean mountains. Every day was different scenery. Organisation wasn't great, but it was good enough.
Most definitely a ride worth doing and all my memories of the event are happy ones. I may do it again, but I'm not fond of wearing a helmet, but I could possibly be persuaded, especially now that I have a GPS.

[Freedom]

We will be a much smaller group than in PBP. Is it posible to stay in a group or will it be a solo ride?

[Freedom]

It was OK when I rode it. I couldn't make head nor tail of the routesheet (I led a big bunch off of a roundabout and into a car park on the first night ), so I followed those with a GPS, which made it a more social ride than it probably would have been for me. I did eventualy get the hang of it on the last day. There were sometimes arrows painted on the road, if you could find them, but not always. I'd recommend using a GPS, working out how to read their odd routesheet or following someone with a GPS.
I wasn't keen on the first 300 miles or so of flat roads, but once it went into the mountains, it was great.
I took the view that controls wouldn't have any food, which usualy meant grouping together and eating in a local restaurant, which was one of the many things that made the ride for me. If there was food at the controls, which to be fair, I think all but a few had food and some of the controls were quite good, it was mostly rice. I'm not keen on rice, but it's better than the knock. There was other food available too, but it was mostly the same thing for the whole event.
The last 100k or whatever was also flat and uninteresting, but it was only 100k and you were finished.
One of the most enjoyable rides I've done. Lots of changing scenery from brown Tuscany to green Mediteranean mountains. Every day was different scenery. Organisation wasn't great, but it was good enough.
Most definitely a ride worth doing and all my memories of the event are happy ones. I may do it again, but I'm not fond of wearing a helmet, but I could possibly be persuaded, especially now that I have a GPS.

In which year did you participate?

[arvid]

You can stay in groups unless you are really fast or really slow. I usually ride on my own, even PBP was mostly a solo ride for me, but in Mille Miglia 2010 I kept seeing Avi and that young Daniel at nearly every control after the flats ended.
And what TG said, except I did expect proper food and sleeping facilities for the entry fee. That was a bit disappointing.

[Freedom]

I've registered for it, but haven't confirmed my entry yet by stumping up the entry fee. I hope the teething troubles experienced in 2008 will have been eliminated.

Entry is paid-up - still flight tickets and accommodation.

[teethgrinder]

I rode in 2010, quite a lot of it with LWAB and HK.
I got the train from Paris instead of flying. Bike in a padded bike bag, I didn't fancy handing over my best bike to airport baggage handlers. The train turned into a replacement bus service just before the Italian border though, which amused me.

[Freedom]

I rode in 2010, quite a lot of it with LWAB and HK.
I got the train from Paris instead of flying. Bike in a padded bike bag, I didn't fancy handing over my best bike to airport baggage handlers. The train turned into a replacement bus service just before the Italian border though, which amused me.

Hi, see the first bag drop will be at 732km without sleeping facilities, second one at 991km with all.

What was your guys' strategy for sleeping? Did you utilize the drop at 732km(half-way) and was it well organised?
Would it be similar to the stopover provided at Loudec in PBP?(which I did not make use of sadly..........slept somewhere
in a dining-hall/toilet....)But it was not easy staying awake from there onwards.

I suppose this time round(considering the distance) I will need to plan better around 'sleeping'!
Is there some gameplan followed by the front riders? I noticed, on PBP, some riders had full back-up.

This will be my second randonneur, so I would appreciate any tips!



 

[teethgrinder]

The ride started at night, so no sleep then. All I remember was brief naps now and then when needed. I did have a night in a bunk bed. That was before we did about 100km or so to the first lake. We would have probably got more sleep if it wasn't for a few troubles (I think we spent about 8 or 9 hours doing 100k. the minimum speed falls very low after the control with the bunk beds, so you can relax a lot more after that point, but 100k in 8 or 9 hours after a good sleep is silly, though we still have about 2 hours in hand at the next control). One night, before going through Cianti country, we slept in a hall with just a mat to sleep on. I did have a ride around town in search of a hotel, but never found one.
Sleep facilities tended to get better towards the end of the ride as far as I remember. When we dropped down the mountain to the Mediterranean Sea, we slept on long benches at the beach before climbing back up again. But I reckon if it wasn't for the trouble we had, we'd have got a better night of sleep. I never got as much as I thought I would so I'm probably not the best one to ask about sleep facilities. Italian espresso is very good.
The way I'd ride, and did ride this event, is to treat it as a DIY permanent and take anything the event organisers put on as a bonus.
I never bothered with the bag drop. I was wearing my clothes and I prefer to keep extra clothes and waterproofs with me all the time so that I can use them as soon as I need them.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

If you remember, we did finish with about a day to spare.

[zigzag]

first flat 400k(430?) are very good to "buy" some time, scenery is dull so it's good to get over it during the night and end up with a lot of time in hand. from then we just chose to tour, no rush, slept when we felt like. facilities were ok-ish, and food (where provided) was suited to cyclists (pasta/rice salad/ham/cheese etc). scenery was amazing and this must be my favourite ride so far. i have loads of dslr photos from there, just need to sort them out and upload.

[teethgrinder]

If you remember, we did finish with about a day to spare.

Something like that. The last 200k or so was just finishing off really. Nothing worth hanging around for and the best of the ride was all over.
We had to keep going early in the ride and never seemed to have that much time in hand, but after a point, as long as we wasn't tired, it became a nice tour and we could relax a lot more. (assuming we didn't have a plane to catch, like some of us did. )

[Pete Mas]

I also finished in the same group (Shikara, HK LWAB, Mel, with Pete Turnbull, Teethgrinder just behind on the road, (but ahead of me in time) in 5 days (with 15 hours in hand).Earlier on I found it easy to ride with various groups of cyclists of all nationalities
Freedom, I have a very long article I wrote about the ride, which gives much information about 2010 ride. pm me for a copy if you like. I never got around to editing it or correcting it for publication. Like Zigzag, it was my favourite ever ride. I thought the organisation was not bad, and food was better than expected. In controls where I found the food boring or limited, there always seemed to be restaurants nearby. Got a good sleep in a monks bunk bed in Chiusi, and at Lake Bolsena, 4 of us (Abi, Arvid, Hiroshi and myself) checked into a hotel for a nice shower and sleep - that really saved me, as I felt fresh and rested again for the next day. I used both bag drops to change clothes after a shower, but I arrived at both during the day and not needing sleep. At Todi a superb cold buffet was available for not much money. Luckily, in 2010 the weather was not as hot as expected.
The key to the ride is to ride hard til Chiusi (560k), especially in the first 400k of easier flat or downhill riding. Then as you get further, you get more time in hand to use for eating and sleeping. Magical scenery. Good lights eg dynohub  very useful as there are many fast descents at night.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I ride quite fast - so got to Chiusi (560km) after 24 hours (the first 400km are pan flat and if you are good at riding in groups will be the fastest you ever did - I did it a couple of hours quicker than my fastest ever UK 400 and that was being towed around the first half by the guy that's won 24 hour TTs).  Then had a pattern of getting to controls at 8 - 9pm and starting the next morning at 3am - didn't always sleep that well but the 6 hour break each night worked OK.

If the time limits are the same as in 2010 then once you've got past 600km you have oodles of time in hand and can get some sleep.  From the statistics all 248 riders who left the 1000km point finished.  That's pretty amazing as you'd not get that happening from 248 starters in a 600km ride!!!!

The thing that I would recommend is preparing for the heat.  Every day the temperature would get up to 30C and I understand that it was hotter in 2008.  I'm lucky enough to have spent some of my youth in a hot climate and so can deal with heat.  Even so in 2010 I used every opportunity to ride in the midday sun in the UK (and fortunately it was a hot summer).  I particularly recall hammering up some of the Surrey Hills at full tilt during the England v Germany world cup football match.  This hot weather training stood me in good stead on the actual event.  I also used the hot weather training to experiment with various brands of hydration tablets (NuuN worked best for me) to see which ones worked and which ones made my stomach gripe. 

The route sheet would not be enough to get around.  I was lucky to ride most of the event with Gernot, who had checked the route out very thoroughly and re-programmed the track on his GPS.  Between this and my watching the painted arrows we got round OK.  (Even the motorbikemarshals had it wrong at one point).

Overall, no ride has ever come close to this one - in my view it knocks LEL and PBP into a cocked had.  The route is spectacular.  Generally food was good.  The bars open at 6am and serve espressos that keep you going.  Would do it again if I had a sufficient store of brownie points from Mrs CET

[Jonah]

I've registered on-line and paid - If anyone is thinking of registering please note that I have heard that you are not properly registered untill you have paid up in full.  Thus leaving you on a waiting list untill the ride has reached capacity.

J

[Salvatore]

According to the website this morning

• The first 350 riders who have pre-registered and paid will be accepted
• 404 have pre-registered
• 106 have paid

[ian_oli]

I did it in 2010 and would highly recommend it, but it's not easy and it's not that well organised- some random warnings/tips.

A lot of the roads are very rough - not potholes like the UK, but surfaces broken up by too much traffic and too few repairs. Tough on the tender bits and I had big problems with an old shoulder injury after I got back - so set up your bike accordingly.

I'd assumed the drop bags went from drop to drop so I could keep some spares in reserve. Each bag drop is independent, so really just suited for a change of clothing or something to help sleep. Fortunately I had nothing significant go wrong - IIRC not even a puncture, but as far as I know there was nothing, not even a track pump, at any of the stops.

Some of the controls packed up before the time window expired.

There is a pontoon bridge with a surface of iron plates about 100km from the end which we had no warning of in the dark and I and the two other guys I was with were all over the place and I fell off.

Groups of Italian riders hare all over the place getting lost constantly.

It's worth planning a mid-afternoon break when it gets hot. 2.30 to 4.30 seemed to be the hottest time.

If you can get as far as the stop where the time limit relaxes you should finish fairly comfortably. After that point you should have a good few hours in hand.

The start and (I presume) the end in the Po valley make the Fens look scenic - and can be very hot - do as much of them as possible in the dark when you get a sense of mystery - and cycle past the hookers.

[zigzag]

<...>
If you can get as far as the stop where the time limit relaxes you should finish fairly comfortably. After that point you should have a good few hours in hand.
<...>

iirc, there was a bonus of eight(!) hours at castelnuovo (~1000km)

[Angstbremser]

Hi, there!

I did the ride the last time around in 2010. It was, after all, a fantastic experience, but with a significant learning curve. At first I raced through the night with John, Martin and Ray until I finally lost them at Faenza, had some problems with the dozies on the way to Dicomano and felt extremely cold and miserable in the climb up to Chiusi della Verna. Fortunately, the next morning I teamed up with CET for the rest of the ride, we made our first early morning coffee stop and then ultimately learned to treat the ride the way I think it is supposed to be - an intense cycling holiday. We ate and drank a lot and generally enjoyed ourselves. We had only very little night riding, somehow we always managed to arrive at some sleep control in the late evening and set out again a bit before dawn. BTW, the availability of food and sleep facilities will dictate your ride stages to some degree anyhow.

In 2010 the bag drops were at Passignano and Berardenga, splitting the ride in two long sections at the start and end and a much smaller one in between. I see this is even more the case for 2012 so I would recommend you to skip the first bag drop and only use the second one. After all, bag drops can slow you down, you lose a lot of time faffing.

More can be found (along with lots of pictures) in my ride report: http://www.misc-pictures.de/?p=82

Ciao, Gernot

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I recommend Gernot's ride report 

[Freedom]

Hi Guys

I read Gernot's report,  felt like I'm already in Italy.
I liked the idea that you were not in a rush.
Normally when I reach the control point there's something challenging me to get to the next one.
I must also say I enjoy riding in the dark, especially when it's full moon.

Where can I find previous results?

Another question is insurance: what type of insurance would be sufficient?

[zigzag]

the results of 2010 edition are here: www.1001migliaitalia.it/docs/1001_2010omologazione.xls

regarding insurance - you need the one that covers cycle-touring/non competitive cycling (most of them do anyway)