We met everyone and then they went through housekeeping and were given the full briefing on the dos and don’ts and the procedures to follow on rides.
I was taken to one side by Rachael Flintoff and told that I was responsible for Freddie for the rest of the trip as she was returning home after completing Stage One.
Being made responsible for Freddie Flintoff for the next 20 days is like being put in charge of Air Traffic Control at Heathrow it is that complicated and burdensome. She gave me a list of instructions, like when to tell him it was time to go to bed and to monitor what he was eating. I sent him a text message at the dinner table saying ‘Isn’t it time you were in bed?’ Needless to say there was a prolonged exchange of messages and I had failed at the first hurdle.
Freddie is such a fun guy who just enjoys other people’s company. Rachael, for some reason, had me down as somebody sensible who may be a good role model.
He has been so busy recently with media and charity work that I don’t think he has had time to put in much practice on the bike but he has the right attitude. He is just getting through each day and getting from A to B at a pace that suits him. And that is what the event is all about. It is not a race.
One night he commented that this is a great event, spoilt only by the cycling. After Rachael did so well on the bike on the first stage, Freddie said that as the event was called the Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam and didn’t specify which Flintoff, couldn’t Rachael stay on while he went home to look after the kids?
Stage 2 started okay, but it wasn’t the most pleasant of rides because the roads were busy leaving Bari and getting out of the place was quite complicated. On at least two occasions I felt like we were going back the way we had come and I had painful flashbacks to day one of Stage One when we did miss a turning and almost did just that.
Over the first 60 km up until lunchtime we couldn’t get a smooth run going as we kept going through little towns. Then I learnt a painful lesson about full bladders and big cobble stones.
Probably seven of the riders in our group of ten all needed a toilet break before we hit those cobbles so we all shared the pain. In future I will be demanding a cobble check when we are planning the toilet breaks.
After lunch we were in a really fast group. Maybe some of the new boys were a bit over-excited on their first day but we were really pushing it. I hope they don’t live to regret it tomorrow on the longest ride of the event at 183 kilometres.
We were hitting 40 kph but you would have thought it was a stroll for Claudio Chiapucci who joined us for the 80 km. El Diablo is an Italian professional cyclist with three podium finishes on the Tour de France and I swear for the first hour he was chatting on the phone. I said to some of the other guys that he would have a real shock when I received and answered a fax.
So tomorrow we have over 180 km with 1,000 metres of climbing, but Tuesday is still the focus of everyone’s attention with 176 km and 3,000 metres of climbing.
Towards the end of the stage Lee Dixon and I eased off and actually stopped to wait for a couple of the guys who had been dropped to make sure they were okay.
I thought that one of them may have had to take the team coach that follows at the back, but was really pleased to see they had all made it.
We are having fun and a lot of laughs, but the cycling is tough and the warm weather, road conditions and some of the Italian drivers means this really is an epic challenge. And it will only get worse as the week goes on.
