This morning I was reading about the deeds of Zanardi and Legnante on Gazzetta so
focused … that I went three stops ahead over Oxford Ciecus where I was supposed to change the first time to reach Brands Hatch for the cycling races … the photo of Legnante with the cartoons’ super hero mask and the big light blue eyes and Zanardi lifting the bike with the arm I will not forget easily …

To reach the racing track of Brands Hatch you first have to get a train at Charing Cross and then a bus … the majority of people is sitting on the grass … there are many schools and families as usual … I arrive in time to see the victory ceremony of the category C4-C5 where the Italian Michele Pittacolo conquered a bronze … the victory ceremony is at the arrival where the judge waves the checked flag at the end of Formula One … the athletes are close … the atmosphere is familiar of a Sunday race … friends and family of Michele are wrapped in two flags the Italian one … and the one from Friuli … Continue reading →

Up until yesterday the lines on the palm of the hand still had the signs of oil and grease
which had stubbornly resisted to a week of showers!

A week has passed and I am not yet used to normal life, today I should have gone to watch the wheelchair basketball, but a morning appointment and a mind freeing run where I lost sight of the time, plus my natural ability to be late made me miss that appointment … so I came back to Excel …for fencing I managed to get a frontal seat … the finals without a Chinese athlete or one from Hong Kong are very rare … here with grief they call it Hong Kong China … I assisted to a fantastic and balanced final between the Brazilian Silva Guissoli and Tam Chik Sum … the Brazilian won 15-14 at the last strike … Matteo Betti conquered the bronze just before I arrived … Continue reading →

Up to a few days ago I did not even know that wheelchair fencing existed! I found out
when I bought the tickets … I arrived in time for the final between a Chinese, Wu Baili, e Yu Chui Yee from Hong Kong … I was expecting it to be static … I was wrong .. the chairs are tied to a platform to avoid that the repeated movements on the torso to avoid the hits of the rival would cause it to tip over … the dodging is spectacular, the lightening movements of the arms, the back goes backwards in defense and then immediately it bends forward to hit the rival until the chest touches the knees … the mutual study, the looks and the foils still in the air, for a few seconds, before the duel starts, shut the spectators up and give suspense, which melts away in joy or disappointment when the light indicates who scored the winning hit … by now it is clear to me that on a wheelchair if you want to you can do anything! Continue reading →

After a couple of days of semi active rest, today I went to the ExCel Arena, with a
very convenient ticket, 10 pounds for various sports and free access to the most expensive underground of the world.

When I read that there were the powerlifting finals, my priority, with all the time I passed on a bench at the time of AVM, my first and only gym in Legnano, could not be but the women’s final of the up to 67,5 kg category. Continue reading →

Today I came back to Zambia for a few hours!

With a beautiful surprise …

When this morning the First Secretary of the Zambian Embassy in London a Press Officer, Mr. Amos Chanda, fixed me an appointment with the High Commissioner Lt. Col Bizwayo Nkunika, I thought it was going to be a face to face meeting … instead I found myself with the all Zambian delegation … Continue reading →

Strange sensations!

Today I have legs and hands hurting more than when I was pedaling every day!

I have to get used again to normal life, I bought new shoes, the ones I had are completely finished but regardless of the holes and unglued bits they arrived here, I always buy the same ones for almost four years … a pair of shorts … because I want to blandly run on these inviting parks of London … shopping, walking among people, relaxed me … but the bike and Africa I am missing them a bit … Continue reading →

The clothes Giorgia and Serena sent me from Zambia have been stopped by custom,
luckily I borrowed a pair of jeans, jersey and jacket I last used in Ethiopia complete my spectator’s look!

Reaching the stadium is easy, with the ticket for the ceremony you do not pay for the tube, there are Games’ Makers everywhere, who direct, help invite people to smile to have fun …  Continue reading →

There it is, London!

I am on top of Shooters Hill … I see from the top the London Eye, the Big Ben, the Tower Bridge … the City is there waiting for me … like I was already for the arrival in Cairo the euphoria for the arrival cancels all the tiredness and all the small pains accumulated in these 8000 and more km … since the suburbs of London there are signs of the Olympics and Paralympics … what strikes me immediately is the number of cyclists and cycling paths … it is not by chance that the United Kingsom has won Tour de France and many medals in cycling … Wiggins, Froome, Cavendish are the top … having champions helps to create … and vice versa … at the traffic lights there are groups of urban cyclists who remind me of the start of a Sunday race … Continue reading →

It is beautiful to start on a downhill!

From Cassel you go down towards the sea which is still more than 40 kilometers far, there is no wind, there are cyclists training, I had not seen so many from Moncenisio, arrived in Bourbourg a lady on a bicycle with two lateral panniers slightly smaller than mine shows me where to get the road to Calais … the directions are only for the highway … even though Calais is only about twenty kilometers from here when I ask for directions it seems to be part of another world all together … it made me laugh that the lady, maybe aware of that, made a sprint through a shortcut and all red in the face came out from a lateral road to make sure I had taken the right direction … arrived almost to the sea with Dunkerque in the West and Calais East … I take a wrong road … a cyclist … annoyed because I overtook him … and a jogging guy later … give me completely wrong directions … so I pass by a nuclear plant … yes I am heading towards Calais, but since I cannot fly I have to stop when the road ends and I find two sort of basins formed by a canal … full of fishes and fishermen … one of these leads me back to the right path on his Renault 4 … Continue reading →

The paved uphill one kilometer long at the end I was not expecting it …

I understood almost immediately that I would have to wait another day to see the North Sea which I like very much, the adverse wind stronger than yesterday, the usual roller coaster ride and the cold slowed me down since the beginning … there was a moment when I thought I could make it but a few wrong roads took me back down to earth … Continue reading →