Riding With One Wheel in Gusts of 90 Km/h

Simone Temperato, from Bassano del Grappa (VI), writes in with his most recent challenge which took place at the Giro di Sardegna (Sardinia) on February, 24th.

On the second stage of the race, Marcomer to Nuoro with the finish at Monte Ortobene, he was undertaking riding the last 7 km, at 5.7%, just on his rear wheel. Very strong wind gusts peaking 90 km/h were causing the front wheel to act as a sail so he decided to do the climb without one. This increased the danger in case of a fall.

"I never thought I would do it. I made one last effort to counter the sudden gusts of wind coming from all directions. It was a real ordeal. More than once I managed to do acrobatic maneuvers that saved my balance but eventually I made it. A great deal of credit belongs to my Sardinian friends that followed and accompanied me on the climb. They saw with their own eyes what has long become my motto 'The impossible does not exist yet!' "

Last we heard from Simone he was riding up Madonna del Ghisallo.

Simone's website is http://www.magicotempe.com/

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal about rides, granfondo, having a good time cycling in Italy, Italian cycling history, etc. are very welcome. Contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,200 stories in this blog. The search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog and there is also a translate button at the bottom so you can translate each page.

The One-Wheeled Exploits of Simone Temperato

Simone Temperato, from Bassano del Grappa (VI), was rather famously seen riding on his rear wheel during the Giro di Lombardia to the delight of the fans that were waiting for the professionals to arrive. Climbing on one wheel from Bellagio to the Madonna del Ghisallo he arrived in Magreglio in just 42 minutes. I'm thinking it must be due to the lower rolling resistance....

Temperato is no slouch. Two times the biketrials Italian national champion, he has a very, very long list of one-wheeled exploits including Passo dello Stelvio (48 switchbacks in 2 hours 10 minutes) and Alpe d'Huez (1 hour 10 minutes), just to give you an idea. Of course, he doesn't mind riding on guard rails.

Photos: Temperato at the Giro di Lombardia, riding the guardrail at Passo del Rombo, climbing Tre Cime di Lavaredo

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact me at veronaman@gmail.com. There are more than 1,100 stories in this blog; the search feature to the right works best for finding subjects in the blog.