October is almost always a great month for cycling in Sicily and this year it’s been better than ever! I guess I can’t complain with temperatures ranging from 27 to 31°C… Here are some pics I took during bike rides this month: Still lots of sunny days to...
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A few weeks ago I was contacted by an English tourist called Dominic, who wanted to rent a road bike for him and his 13 year old son, Eddie. They also wanted to do a ride with a guide, so I arranged the bike rental and we made an appointment for the bike ride. Dominic wanted to do around 50 km and maximum 500 meters ascent and he told me his son had no problems climbing 7% grades. Last Sunday I met up with Aronne, the 14 year old son of Giuseppe from the bike shop and we rode to the train station in Castellammare del Golfo where Dominic and Eddie were waiting for us. I had planned a ride towards the temple of Segesta, which would be almost exactly what Dominic wanted: a 50 km ride with just a little over 500 m ascent and one steeper climb with maximum 7% grades. It was sunny and around 37°C when we left for Segesta. We followed the hilly road...
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I have used several types of chain cleaners and most of them broke easily, weren’t easy to use and/or weren’t really doing a good job cleaning the chain properly. When I was ordering some Skins on the Chainreaction website I came across the Muc-off X-1 chain cleaner, which got a few good reviews. I checked it out on the Muc-off website and it looked quite sturdy to me, so I decided to give it a try and ordered it. A few weeks ago I used the X-1 for the first time and I was so impressed I thought it would be nice to share my experience with you guys. The X-1 is wider than the other types I’ve used before, because it has several lateral cogs that drive both a cog with brush that’s mounted on the lid of the cleaner and one cog with brush on the bottom. The plastic is also much thicker than that of the other cleaners and it has a nifty handle. It’s very...
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After all the rides I already blogged about, there are still some areas in sunny Sicily I haven’t shown you guys. Yesterday I went for a 95 km bike ride starting in the town of Balestrate. I rode to Partinico and climbed to (Ponte di) Sagana. From there I followed the mountain road to Montelepre and Piana dell’occhio, from which “frazione” I descended to the town of Torretta. From this town I cycled back home passing the towns of Carini, Villagrazia di Carini, Cinisi, Terrasini and Trappeto. This is the view I had when I arrived at the top of the climb in Sagana: A few hundred meters away there’s a spot where years ago the locals went to pray. You can still see some crosses and a statue of Jesus: There’s a nice climb in this area, which starts here (lots of 8% stretches and some 12-14% gradients near the end of the climb). I took the following picture at the end of that climb: On the other...
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The RLV Sicily – Don Bici is now available! Buy it here. I’ve been tweeting about Jaap Wagenvoort gfe (GoPro filmmaker extraordinaire 🙂 ) and myself filming in Sicily for the upcoming (Tacx compatible) Real Life Videos. We are working on the following titles: Bike ride to the medieval town of Erice (*) The Bosco di Alcamo climb Riding with Don Bici (*) Shorter versions, to the temple of Segesta or the Garibaldi monument at Pianto Romano, will also be available. In the RLV “Riding with Don Bici” we’ll be taking you on a ride through the towns of Balestrate and Trappeto to the climb of Carini and the descent at Montelepre. After this warming up ride with me, I’ll leave you to finish the ride on your own. Expect a lovely climb to the Santuario di Romitello and the antenna on the top of the mountain (highest gradient 15%). The first part including the climb at Carini and the descent at Montelepre is a route I take most of...
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Ciao! I'm Don Bici and I'm a cycling guide on the sunny island of Sicily and ambassador for Polar bottle and Pursu nutrition. I blog about cycling in Sicily, training and beautiful bike routes and post lots of pictures of this beautiful part of the island (the area between Palermo and Trapani).
Click here to read more about me.
