Monte Muris and the stages of the Giro d’Italia 2018

Yesterday’s wind has swept away the grey from the sky. Today the bora has given us a respite and an excellent opportunity for my unusual lunch break: “bike, today we’re off together!” We try to make do some timed hill climbs: the legs are up to the job and the lungs begin to fill with oxygen. Ready, steady and off we go: destination Monte di Muris, the first ascent in stage 14 of the 2018 Giro d’Italia, the one that arrives on the Zoncolan. After a few kilometres I understand that today is not a day for time trials. My eyes are forever drawn to the blue of the sky, to the white mountains that I seem to touch with my fingers, to the blue water that flows through the many streams and the morainic hills I’m crossing.

I arrive in San Daniele through the “Portonat” and enter the historical centre. I stop every five minutes to take pictures of the places where I was born and grew up. I should be used to these places but habit is the antechamber of boredom and for me it's as though it were my first time in these places. Muris is not far. I stop at the lake of Ragogna. It’s been so long since I last felt its breath: what a spectacle! Winter elevates it to an ethereal beauty, the silence broken by its light waves. Now time is passing but today is not a day for peering down at the handlebars: to tell the truth it almost never is: Friuli is too beautiful not to admire it always! I start the climb, which is hard right from the start, of a “Zoncolanian” steepness but fortunately the effort required is short-lived: 3 km. Just before the summit, I leave the main road and head towards the little church of San Giovanni. Here every year we commemorate the sinking of the ship “Galilea” during the Second World War, in which a thousand alpini—mountain troops—of the Gemona battalion returning from Greece were killed. From the plain below the church the view opens to the north. The Tagliamento stands out: its course in intertwined channels is a wonder for the eyes. My mind is seized and my heart starts to beat faster, so great is the emotion.

I take the main road again, pedal a further 500 metres and reach the top. Here, instead, I am surrounded by evidence of the First World War and of the Italian resistance that, after Caporetto, defended the retreat allowing the bulk of the army to cross the Tagliamento safely. Many restored paths lead to the old military outposts.

I go down to San Pietro, making a photographic stop at the hairpin bend with a viewpoint, of course, this time looking south. From here we can see our great river advancing over the plain; it has just passed the Pinzano narrows and now there are no more obstacles between it and the sea. But between me and my workplace there is still a bit of road, so it would be better if I were to accelerate the pace. There is still time for some wonders: to mention just one, the famous Arcano climb, close to the bare mulberry trees with the perfectly preserved castle in the background.

At the end I arrive in time for the first business appointment. I transform myself and I start working. My client stares at me, observes my smiling face, but does not understand why I look so happy. Should I try to explain it to him? Of course, it doesn’t take much: “look at the blue sky, perfect for a little bike ride!”.