Friday, 7/24/09 at 5:37 PM
by Mari Holden
by Mari Holden
Blockhaus-- The Giro by Air
I was at dinner on the rest day in my hotel in Chieti and decided that after seeing a couple friends that I was going to head to Rome and take in a day of sightseeing and shopping before my flight back to the States. I knew that Blockhaus was going to be a cool stage, but, it is always difficult to get the logistics down to see a hilltop finish, and I was thinking that a day in Rome might be a better way to spend my last day.
So, I was having a romantic dinner for one by the poolside…. Next thing you know, all the TV helicopter crew comes out by the pool for dinner. I guess I must have looked bored or lonely because they invited me to come and sit with them. I wasn’t ready to go back to my room, so I figured what the heck. I could practice my Italian a bit more So, I go over and sit down with them. What a crew. We started talking about the Giro, they wanted to know what I was doing in Italy and I told them that I was there to ride my bike with friends and that I wanted to see some of the Giro. The next thing you know, they are inviting me to come in the helicopter for the stage the next day. I told them I didn’t know because I was heading to Rome, but then I decided that Rome would always be there, but a chance to see an epic stage in the Giro from a helicopter was not an everyday occurrence!
Then I realized that my pilot was going to be Gianni Bugno, one of the most famous Italian cyclists ever. I found out that he now just flies helicopters and the Giro is the only thing he does with cycling now. For those of you who don’t know, he won two world championships, the Giro, and was a regular on the podium at the Tour. It sealed my decision to stay and go in the helicopter.
I was supposed to meet up with the crew in a town called Pretola at 11am. It wasn’t far from my hotel, so I was wasting time in the morning on the internet trying to find a hotel in Rome (which is another story in itself). I left 45 minutes early, and as I started driving I realized that I was not going to make it by 11am. I kept running into closed roads, and I’m not sure if it was due to the earthquake or just bad maintenance, but whatever it was, it was not looking good for me to make it to the meting point by 11am. I was completely stressing out, and let’s just say I have a lead foot and was passing the slow cars on small roads like I was on fire. My poor rental car was earning its money, and was definitely an example of why I would never purchase a rental…. I texted Gianni to say that I was going to be 10-15 minutes late. I was mortified. They were doing me a favor and now I’m late…. Oh well, I figured better to let them know and then they can decide if they want to wait for me or not. Gianni wrote back "Stai tranquila…" So I relaxed a bit, and I finally got to Pretola which is a tiny town built into a hillside. Let’s just say that the streets are steep and narrow. I got into town and realized that I really needed to pay attention so that I didn’t stall out in any switchbacks. It sounds easy until you realize that there are people going both directions and you inevitably meet in the turns. Mama Mia…. By then I was sweating, and was already 15 minutes late and I couldn’t find them. I asked the police where the Campo Sportivo was and they pointed me in the right direction, but I had to ask two more people before I actually got to the destination. I finally pulled into the soccer field which was a makeshift helicopter landing pad…
I got there and it was so relaxed. The crew was so cool. Besides Gianni, there were a couple people who really made an impression on me. One was Erika; she was a pilot of one of the helicopters and awesome. She does firefighting in Southern Italy for the most part, but she has done the Giro for the past few years. She was the lone woman in the crew and I asked her about it, and she said its better than being with a bunch of women and that the guys were all simpatico…. Nice… I had to laugh, because I do think that a lot of times women get so competitive with each other that it sometimes takes the fun out of work. The other person was an American guy from Santa Monica named Eric. He worked on maintaining the cameras. He only found out a week before the race that he was coming, and spoke no Italian. He was on an adventure similar to me! I have never given much thought to how we get all those pictures from the air, and so it was really interesting to see all the behind the scenes work that goes into devloping the TV coverage. There were five helicopters on the ground, and everyone was waiting around. I could tell this was going to be a “hurry up and wait” kind of deal.
Then a flurry of activity… Suddenly I’m being called from across the field. Its time to go! I get in the helicopter and we take off. What a feeling. Just lifting up into the sky, it was so cool. We were going to head out and check out the course from the sky. We were looking for anything interesting to add to the TV coverage. First we went and circled Chieti. We looked at all the angles of the start and nice views of the hilltop town. Then we moved on to Pescara. We checked out the ocean, all the pools, and the beach; anything that would be of interest to viewers. Then we started moving toward the climb at Blockhaus.
The town of Pretola ,where the landing field was, is at the base of the climb. We passed right over it and started to follow the road to the top. It was hard viewing because a lot of the climb was in the trees. But, it was obvious that the climb was long and was going high. There is nothing stranger than seeing the ocean and its 90 degrees out and then seeing snow on the mountains. It’s definitely hard to imagine.
On top of Blockhaus we circled and went down the backside where there were some steep drop-offs. It was an amazing view that I would have never seen except in a helicopter. We landed in a field on top of the mountain so the camera guy could wipe the lenses and there were fans waiting for the race to come. Sure enough, as was the case at the Tour of California too, there were guys in their underwear sitting on the mountain! I guess they thought they weren’t going to be seen, but didn’t figure on a helicopter landing 200 meters away.
We got back in the sky and finally landed back in the soccer field that was homebase. We went for a coffee in the little café across the street. It was hilarious, everyone wanted their picture with Bugno, and then up comes Fondriest on his bike and so we have a little reunion of sorts. It was awesome, and one of those experiences that I couldn’t have even planned better. It was so lucky, and so Italian. I decided that in my Eat, Pray, Love adventure, it was just being open to going with the flow that I somehow ended up getting more than I ever anticipated.
This marked the end of the Giro portion of my trip. It was such an adventure. I really left there believing that sometimes you have to just open your heart and great things happen. If you are so busy trying to make things happen, sometimes you miss the little things that turn out to be great adventures.
Best,
Mari
So, I was having a romantic dinner for one by the poolside…. Next thing you know, all the TV helicopter crew comes out by the pool for dinner. I guess I must have looked bored or lonely because they invited me to come and sit with them. I wasn’t ready to go back to my room, so I figured what the heck. I could practice my Italian a bit more So, I go over and sit down with them. What a crew. We started talking about the Giro, they wanted to know what I was doing in Italy and I told them that I was there to ride my bike with friends and that I wanted to see some of the Giro. The next thing you know, they are inviting me to come in the helicopter for the stage the next day. I told them I didn’t know because I was heading to Rome, but then I decided that Rome would always be there, but a chance to see an epic stage in the Giro from a helicopter was not an everyday occurrence!
Then I realized that my pilot was going to be Gianni Bugno, one of the most famous Italian cyclists ever. I found out that he now just flies helicopters and the Giro is the only thing he does with cycling now. For those of you who don’t know, he won two world championships, the Giro, and was a regular on the podium at the Tour. It sealed my decision to stay and go in the helicopter.
I was supposed to meet up with the crew in a town called Pretola at 11am. It wasn’t far from my hotel, so I was wasting time in the morning on the internet trying to find a hotel in Rome (which is another story in itself). I left 45 minutes early, and as I started driving I realized that I was not going to make it by 11am. I kept running into closed roads, and I’m not sure if it was due to the earthquake or just bad maintenance, but whatever it was, it was not looking good for me to make it to the meting point by 11am. I was completely stressing out, and let’s just say I have a lead foot and was passing the slow cars on small roads like I was on fire. My poor rental car was earning its money, and was definitely an example of why I would never purchase a rental…. I texted Gianni to say that I was going to be 10-15 minutes late. I was mortified. They were doing me a favor and now I’m late…. Oh well, I figured better to let them know and then they can decide if they want to wait for me or not. Gianni wrote back "Stai tranquila…" So I relaxed a bit, and I finally got to Pretola which is a tiny town built into a hillside. Let’s just say that the streets are steep and narrow. I got into town and realized that I really needed to pay attention so that I didn’t stall out in any switchbacks. It sounds easy until you realize that there are people going both directions and you inevitably meet in the turns. Mama Mia…. By then I was sweating, and was already 15 minutes late and I couldn’t find them. I asked the police where the Campo Sportivo was and they pointed me in the right direction, but I had to ask two more people before I actually got to the destination. I finally pulled into the soccer field which was a makeshift helicopter landing pad…
I got there and it was so relaxed. The crew was so cool. Besides Gianni, there were a couple people who really made an impression on me. One was Erika; she was a pilot of one of the helicopters and awesome. She does firefighting in Southern Italy for the most part, but she has done the Giro for the past few years. She was the lone woman in the crew and I asked her about it, and she said its better than being with a bunch of women and that the guys were all simpatico…. Nice… I had to laugh, because I do think that a lot of times women get so competitive with each other that it sometimes takes the fun out of work. The other person was an American guy from Santa Monica named Eric. He worked on maintaining the cameras. He only found out a week before the race that he was coming, and spoke no Italian. He was on an adventure similar to me! I have never given much thought to how we get all those pictures from the air, and so it was really interesting to see all the behind the scenes work that goes into devloping the TV coverage. There were five helicopters on the ground, and everyone was waiting around. I could tell this was going to be a “hurry up and wait” kind of deal.
Then a flurry of activity… Suddenly I’m being called from across the field. Its time to go! I get in the helicopter and we take off. What a feeling. Just lifting up into the sky, it was so cool. We were going to head out and check out the course from the sky. We were looking for anything interesting to add to the TV coverage. First we went and circled Chieti. We looked at all the angles of the start and nice views of the hilltop town. Then we moved on to Pescara. We checked out the ocean, all the pools, and the beach; anything that would be of interest to viewers. Then we started moving toward the climb at Blockhaus.
The town of Pretola ,where the landing field was, is at the base of the climb. We passed right over it and started to follow the road to the top. It was hard viewing because a lot of the climb was in the trees. But, it was obvious that the climb was long and was going high. There is nothing stranger than seeing the ocean and its 90 degrees out and then seeing snow on the mountains. It’s definitely hard to imagine.
On top of Blockhaus we circled and went down the backside where there were some steep drop-offs. It was an amazing view that I would have never seen except in a helicopter. We landed in a field on top of the mountain so the camera guy could wipe the lenses and there were fans waiting for the race to come. Sure enough, as was the case at the Tour of California too, there were guys in their underwear sitting on the mountain! I guess they thought they weren’t going to be seen, but didn’t figure on a helicopter landing 200 meters away.
We got back in the sky and finally landed back in the soccer field that was homebase. We went for a coffee in the little café across the street. It was hilarious, everyone wanted their picture with Bugno, and then up comes Fondriest on his bike and so we have a little reunion of sorts. It was awesome, and one of those experiences that I couldn’t have even planned better. It was so lucky, and so Italian. I decided that in my Eat, Pray, Love adventure, it was just being open to going with the flow that I somehow ended up getting more than I ever anticipated.
This marked the end of the Giro portion of my trip. It was such an adventure. I really left there believing that sometimes you have to just open your heart and great things happen. If you are so busy trying to make things happen, sometimes you miss the little things that turn out to be great adventures.
Best,
Mari
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