Photo: The view from Castello Di Canossa

With half an hour before the start of my first audax of 2024 these messages from Jan made me head straight to the bathroom. A good job I did. Let’s just say I lost a bit of weight in a few minutes. We’d both been at Curry Club the night before. Maybe not the best idea before a three hour drive to Parma, 10 hours on the bike and three hours drive home.

This was my third attempt at starting the season. In January I got up at 5 am only to go back to bed with a migraine that lasted two days. In February I got up at 02:30 and headed straight to the bathroom with food poisoning. I spent most of the day there.

So you see why I was feeling a little nervous as I started the 200km Randonnée delle Valli Parmensi e dei Castelli del Ducato 17th March in and around the hills near Parma. At least the start was a flat run to Parma, so if I had to bail there were plenty of places to stop if I needed to before we headed for the countryside.

The good news was that most of the controls were in stunning castles. The bad news is that defensive castles were built on the top of steep hills. It would be a decent test of the climbing legs.

This ride was all about assessing my state of fitness ready for a big challenge over Easter. I was delighted by my climbing speed. I recognised a few climbs from previous audaxes. When I got home and checked my times they were all significantly faster than previous. Happy.

About half way round a rider came alongside and asked “Tu sei Colin?”. He said we had ridden together for a while on an audax in Spilemberto. I’ve only done one audax there and that was in 2018. I was impressed with Franco’s memory. Don’t be fooled by me quoting his name, I had to ask him as my memory was nowhere near as good as his. Bravo Franco.

Not only was it a great ride in stunning countryside but it was brilliantly organised by ASD Filippelli Vecchia Parma. The food at the controls was excellent. As you might expect, unlimited supplies of Parmasan cheese and Parma ham.

I’m indebted to four younger riders who helped me finish the last 28km at a very decent speed. I partly repaid the debt by taking a their team photo. Thanks guys, the lift home was very welcome.

At the finish I was really impressed. Less than a minute after the volunteers had scanned my control card I was presented with a medal and a certificate with my name, club and finishing time., 9 hours 34 minutes.

My thanks to various riders I rode with from time to time but especially to all the volunteers from ASD Filippelli Vecchia Parma for organising such a great ride.

I think I’ll be fine for my Easter challenge…