76 | Cycling World
not visited before and at a pace where they can make the most of some of the world ’ s most spectacular scenery . Riccardo said :
“ The most spectacular scenery so far has been in Armenia ( Caucasus ), with its 2500m passes and green , florid mountains surrounding us on 360 degrees . In the province of Sisian we decided to take a secondary road through the mountains to reach Tatev and finally got stuck because of mud , but we enjoyed the best views ever , with an astonishing lake reflecting the mountains around and the clouds above it . The border between Armenia and Iran is also incredibly beautiful , but very different from the previous : sharp , arid and uninhabited mountains with the only exception of a few little , green and dreamy oases along the valley of a small river .”
The two didn ’ t train a lot before starting their global cycling challenge in June and confess they do not consider themselves serious sport cyclists .
Chiara said : “ We prefer considering the bike as a way to explore places , not a sport , but we are both athletic and have always played some sports . After a few weeks on the road our muscles got used to the daily effort and our performance is still improving day by day .” Riccardo agreed : “ I think that the training for such a long trip on a bike is more mental than physical .”
Spending so much time in the saddle can lead to physical problems but the pair avoid any injury issues by ensuring they take necessary precautions . Riccardo said : “ We are not suffering from any physical pain . We try to ensure we do stretching exercises after every pedaling day and take at least one day off per week . We realised that , at the end of the day , the most stressing factor for our body is the long exposure to the sun . We always use sunscreen and try to keep our heads covered and wet and ensure we try to avoid cycling in the hottest hours of the day .”
Riccardo concluded : “ As a photographer , I ’ ve always been fascinated by the relationship between the human activity and the landscape : this is a great opportunity to go deeper into this vision in such a long , slow journey .”
There are plans for a future exhibition and publication of a book capturing the unique challenge once the pedalling pair finally finishes their journey in Singapore next year .