Team Training camp in delightful Sicily, Italy
by Alex Sabin, Bike Expert Team, Romania
(edited by Larisa Chinces)
Us cyclists like to travel and specially to explore new routes and trails by bike. However, it can be difficult to transport the bike. It’s precious and important, our bike, and we don’t want it damaged . It’s often very difficult and inconvenient to disassemble the entire bike into pieces, and then to put it in a cardboard bike box. It’s not very well protected, and complicated to transport and takes up a lot of unnecessary space.
Easy Fit Box & MTB
With the opportunity to use a BikeBoxAlan recently, everything became much easier. I’d simply been talking with Larisa, an ambassador for them, having seen her bike box, and I was intrigued.; especially since you can also fit a Mtb into their Easy Fit box. For a road bike it’s even simpler. You just remove the pedals, wheels and lower the saddle and viola!
Yes, when Larisa offered her BBA Easy Fit for me to try, I found it much easier to transport, much simpler to pack the bike, and it’s very safe – especially in case of an accident. They’re the strongest boxes in the world, and they look indestructible.
Travel to Train – Sicily
When it’s cold in your home country and you are fed up with the low temperatures, you can – and you ought to – pack your bags and your bike, and “fly to warmer lands”. Just like that. As Nike say:,”Just do it!” It can be quite accessible and very easy, and with the warm sun to look forward, or a competitive race, it’ll also warm your cycling heart! Fly from Bucharest to Palermo, then with the bus Trapani and then with the car to San Vito Lo Capo – done.
San Vito Lo Capo is a small seaside town in northwestern Sicily, Italy. It’s known for its beach, which is on a sheltered bay overlooked by Mount Monaco. The small town is located in a valley between mountains; and, the mountain itself is home to numerous caves, most of which are inaccessible without professional climbing gear. A cave, accessible by foot at the southern base of the mountain, was named “Caverna della Capra Guasto,” or “Cave of the Dead Goat” by explorers Christian D’Angelo and William Spears. San Vito Lo Capo is a well-known rock climbing destination. Along the coast on the west side of San Vito lo Capo is a coastal cliff nearly 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long featuring as many as 1600 bolted climbing routes. Anyway, you get the picture – it’s a great destination.
Palermo-Trapani proves to be a real paradise for mountain biking, but also for the road. Single-trail paths without number, along with descents to Enduro, all in a tropical background, and with cycling climbs of all categories. Untraveled paved roads, where you sometimes forget you’re pedaling. I don’t know if it’s the excitement of the training, the place, the fact that I can train in the heat while it’s cold in the country… The fact is that everything goes according to the book and I think that can help a lot on the mental side as well.
Winter Warm Training
For the second part of the team training course in Sicily, we chose to change accommodation; thus to benefit from a new area of training and exploration. I think this can also be a good way to prepare for the upcoming season. Always have something new and always be able to make decisions. Train on as many types of surfaces and conditions as possible. For the Mtb marathon, at least, it’s very important to always be prepared. So, Cefalu is our new choice.
The landscape is changing quite a bit there, these days. We leave the somewhat tropical image of San Vito and find a more Mediterranean air, with a more clayey soil on the coast, but stony and technical in the high area. Also, the altitude is definitely increasing. With peaks of 1900, where there is installed snow from 1500m. We only have the climbs from 0m to 1200m. Gentle, drastic, brutal climbs… All kinds. Mostly paved. But also many forest roads and paths just waiting to be explored. And a very good recovery flat on the coast.
All in all, Sicily… you are delightful! 🙂
This destination of the training camp came out of the blue. I was looking for a good mtb place, a less popular area, but also warm enough. In the end it turned out to be the coolest camp I’ve ever been to. Maybe because of the landscape, the people, the ridge, the extraordinary Cannoli or… Who knows, I’ll leave it to you to discover 🙂 However, there is a big difference between the Catania area and Palermo. The first is much more cramped and arid. While in the western part everything is already more tropical, more Hawaiian 🙂
The Best Bike Box in the World
And, best of all, I had no concerns or worries about transporting my bike – thanks to BikeBoxAlan. It’s a great relief being able to simply concentrate on having fun, and preparing for the season ahead. I’m a big fan of the BBA Easy Fit now, and I’ll be telling everyone about it – and, hopefully using it again on my competitive travels this year
