Twentyfour12 regulars, Roy and Judy McNeill of team Beyond Growing Old Disgracefully, decided to celebrate their 20^th wedding anniversary with a trip to Rome. Not just any old romantic trip to Rome as they were competing in the 24 ora Roma MTB race. This is the story of their trip…

It was a long drive from Dorking in the Surrey Hills to Rome. 1215 miles to be precise, but we did have 2 stopovers. We stayed in Luzern, Switerland for one night so that we could visit the Ratthaus Brewpub. We then had 4 nights at the Hotel Sarti, Riccione, which we had chosen from the excellent website www.bikehotelsitaly.it.

Riccione is well known for its road biking so we were the only mountain bikers around, but with a little help, found some local trails. We even put together an out and back of 50 km, which included about 15 km of single-track, as good as anything on Leith hill and an ideal warm-up for Rome.

 We finally arrived at the park of the Aqueducts (Aquadotti) in Rome on the Thursday before the race and checked in with the ever helpful race director, Emperor Claudio. From our emails to each other, I was not sure how good his English was – answer, not great. (note to self: learn more Italian). After selecting a campsite next to the course, more by luck, we headed into the suburbs of Rome in search of food (and beer!!).

Once the course was finally laid out on the Friday, Judy and I did our 1 and only practice lap and were feeling really good about it. We had to save our energy for later on!!? We signed on and were immediately accosted by the local TV station and interviewed as we were the only UK based team competing. It was shown later on Rome TV (Note to self: comb what little hair you have left and learn more Italian).

With competitors travelling from all over Italy, a sightseeing trip into the centre of the city is essential so Claudio had organised his usual pre-event ‘pedalata’. Around 400 riders took up the offer and we all exited the park and headed into Rome at about 4.30pm Friday (note the time!!). The 1^st indication as to the enormity of this event came at the 1^st set of traffic lights with one of the main roads leaving Rome. As the lights turned green, we started across, but as they turned red, only a small fraction had made it across – but we continued en-mass, much to the amusement of the waiting motorists.

The route took us via back streets and old Roman cobbled streets, to provide a more scenic entry into Rome. As we closed in on the centre we realised what a spectacle we were with tour buses stopping to allow the tourists to take photos – many thought that we were some kind of protest. Busy roads were no problem as Claudio’s groups of riding marshals along with the Politzi would hold back the traffic and allow us to pass.

The route took us via Circus Maximus, the Trevvi Fountain, St Peters Square and the Coliseum, to name but a few – all connected via narrow backstreets. At one point we circulated one of the main roundabouts in the city, bringing Rome to a standstill before returning to the Park for a pasta and Toga party. Surely the maddest thing we have ever done on our bicycles in our lives. The tourists who took photos will also have something fairly unique to talk about. (Note to Martin: how about a Plymouth pedalata for 2010?)

The morning of the race dawned sunny and as the temperature rose, so did our expectations. The rider briefing started at 10am, in Italian only and, along with the questions and answers, lasted over an hour. (Note to Martin: don’t even think about it…). The race was started at midday by a group of Roman Legion and involved a run to the bike before mounting and setting off (Note to self: leave bike nearer to start of run). The course started on stubble but quickly moved onto field edge which, had it rained, would have made Mayhem look like a walk in the park.

The 7.5 km course had 2 fast descents which tricky corners at the bottom where we saw numerous Italians part company with their bikes. 4 narrow bridges, 1 wooden which fell to pieces during the race and 1 cobbled with at least 20% of the cobbles missing (Note to self: slippery when wet). There was a Gorrick-type bomb-hole, which many walked (but not us) and a fantastic short section of technical single-track, which we were the king and queen of – I’m happy to say. All of this and with the spectacular back-drop of the 2000 year old aqueducts of Ancient Rome – awesome.

The class structure was similar to the UK, solo, pairs, teams of 4, 8 and 12, and with over 1350 competitors, it did lead to a crowded, but fun, lap. Oh and I forgot, a Tandem class!! (Note to Martin: I dare you). There was also a single speed championship race during the 1^st 6 hours.

Our race strategy was simple: double lap in the daylight and triple lap in the dark. This was thrown slightly when, due to Judy cramping, I had to quadruple lap to give her time to recover. This happened twice until she found a cure – banana and Marmite (love it or hate it). (Note to caterers: try it, it might just sell). Once we had settled into the race, the language was not a problem: ‘left’ (sinistra) and ‘not on the left’ (destra). During the briefing, competitors were told to pass on the left, where possible, but as this was sometimes the natural racing line, they had to pass on the right. I was told, by one female competitor that “in Italy, we drive on the right!” You did have to watch the locals on occasions as they doubted the ability of the 2 crazy Brits. One tried to steal Judy’s line into the bomb-hole. There was much cursing and hand waving but, despite the language barrier, they kissed and made up at the end of the lap. I twice had my line onto a bridge stolen, the 1^st I swore at, the 2^nd I was rewarded with him breaking his chain as he came off the bridge.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of gel wrappers on the course – the most I counted on a lap was 3. One thing that was a problem was the dust, especially at night. In the end we both ran with our Ay Up head lamps off and relied on the handlebar mounted ones. Amazingly the event ran with just 12 portaloos, but they were cleaned and restocked every couple of hours – there was even a Janitor. They also had 3 individual showers, along with a group shower (segregated of course before you get any ideas) – too much like being back at school for me. (Note to Martin: bet you wish you could run with just 12). Food was limited but pasta was available, free to all competitors, during the race. We survived mainly on gels and our usual diet of Maximuscle Viper, which works well for us.

The non-Italian competitor count was just 9. There were 2 other Brits (both of whom lived and worked in Italy), 1 Swiss, 1 Austrian, 1 Fin, 1 Dutch and an extremely likable Australian, Morgan Pilley, who lives in Holland. Morgo makes a living with his cycling and finished a creditable 2^nd in the Solo class. In the middle of the night, he caught me on a lap and I heard “Hey POM. On yer left mate”. It was great to hear an English? voice.

For Beyond Growing Old Disgracefully, the race went really well and we clocked up 57 laps of the 7.5km course (that’s around 430km, 266 miles in old money). Out of 349 teams, we finished 166^th overall, 7^th in the pairs category and 2^nd in the mixed pairs. To say we were over the moon would be an understatement.

During the race the computer results updated as you crossed the line and were never more than 10 minutes behind. The spreadsheet they produced and published after the event was so comprehensive. It showed the lap times for every competitor and even had sort functions built in so that you could look at your own times. (Note to Timelaps: check out http://nuke.24hroma.it/Portals/0/classifica%20roma%202009.xls

The official photographers did the most amazing job as well, taking and putting over 49,000 photos onto their website within 2 days of the event. Their prices were also good value: €4.99 per photo or €19.99 for every photo they had with your number on it. For me that meant 82 photos and 57 for Judy. (Note to Joolze: check out www.sportograf.de and see what they are up to)

Would we do it again? You bet we would, every year if possible: the history, the atmosphere, the friendly Italians, the food, the weather, the food and the delightful Emperor Claudio. It may not be the most technical or taxing of courses, but boy, what fun. What more could you ask for.

To complete out Italian adventure, we stayed at another www.bikehotelsitaly.it property, the San Guiseppe, a beautiful ex-convent in Finale. Great mountain biking, just a shame it took a couple of days before our climbing legs returned. Roll on next year (Note to self: learn more Italian).