PH - "After giving up one of the races you have been preparing for the longest time, how and where do you find the mental and physical stimuli to relaunch yourself in another adventure?"

Roberto - "I have been preparing my dream from winter 2019, the race is NorthCape-Tarifa non-stop event of over 7000km without support, the longest event to date. Unfortunately the COVID situation had already forced me to postpone it for a year and even in this 2021 with the borders of Norway closed I reluctantly had to postpone it for another year, hoping that the partners who support me can and still want to help me for my great adventure. After the hard decision I immediately tried to find an event over 1500km to test myself in anticipation of 2022. My dream is so great that my stimuli are its fruit, and for me this postponement is only reason to prepare myself even better and get to that departure more and more prepared. One week after the end of the Panache Rally, demonstration from Brussels to La Turbie (Montecarlo) closed in 5th absolute position covering 1800km in 5 days and 3h with 19h of compulsory stop due to curfew in France, I have already resumed the preparation program for my queen race. "

PH - "How do you prepare the bags for the race and for the after arrival?"

Roberto - "It all depends on what kind of race it is, the mileage, the weather forecast and the period.

I'll tell you about my bags from my last race:

I wear my #follettiverdi by PH bike outfit in the bags divided between rain and cold material.

For rain: SCUDO PH
Neoprene gloves
Neoprene shoe covers
Goretex trouser cover

For the cold: Leggings and sleeves in merino
Merino short-sleeved base layer
Merino hat
Merino sock
Long merino gloves
Jacket POWER PH

I always add an intimate exchange network to my bag, summer socks rainbow ph, buff  ph

Beauty soap + toothbrush + toothpaste + mini towel

Then tool kit for any type of repair, inner tube, patches, cable ties and American tape.

For energy and to recharge all my devices and make the lights work in the events where I ride for more than two days I use a wheel with a sondelux dynamo hub with sinewave light which in addition to illuminating my road has a 5v usb output to be able to recharge all my devices. "

Pre and post race if, as in this case, that you start from one place and arrive in another, I travel with the essentials because more often than not there is no transport of suitcases from start to finish so you need a good dose of adaptation .

PH - "How do you manage the stops in long and exhausting competitions, both mentally and tired?"

Roberto - "The longer the races, the more the race tactics of knowing when, how and if stopping is fundamental for the classification. Usually the first days I prefer to push and not stop for the first 44 hours of competition, the first days I have a large part of food with me, food that I try in training and my body knows. The first days are also used to "turn on the boiler" unscathed after this phase I start eating what the places and the road offer me trying to make 3 complete meals important trying to ingest as much kcal as possible In the last competition in 5 days I consumed more than 30000kcal

After the first few days I require myself 1 stop a day of 3 / 4h to sleep. I do not plan before the event when the stop will be because everything depends on the race tactics and on listening to your body to understand your state of form and above all to feel your needs moment by moment.

In this last race due to the obligation of the curfew in France I slept two whole nights in a hotel after leaving France, I took a little break in Milan and then I went straight to the finish. "