An adventure that bears the name of Pietro Franzese, a young man conquering Europe with his homemade single-speed
From Milan to the North Cape
in fixed gear
Love at first sight
Pietro's love for cycling was born almost by accident, fishing out a fixed-gear bike in one of Dublin's river canals, those that once served to connect the cities of Northern Ireland. Back in Milan, he writes in his Blog, he decided to build one himself, perhaps still unaware that that same bike would accompany him for more than 20,000 km across Europe.
The journey
Pietro's adventure began on June 14 and his first stop was the Lombardy Food Bank, with which he organized to raise the necessary funds to finance thousands of meals for those who cannot afford them. The goal is to raise 5,000 euros, 1 euro for every Kilometer that separated him from the North Cape.
The journey crosses as many as 8 European countries, and runs mainly in the EuroVelo network, the cycle route that crosses the entire European Union passing through some of northern Europe's most beautiful cities and quaint villages.
The last part of the journey takes place almost entirely on EuroVelo 7, also known as the Sun Route and which divides the Scandinavian countries in half.
Pietro sets off like this, without designing a route or setting stages; he pedaled by feeling, enjoying the journey without having to meet deadlines. He is not a conventional cyclist, the kind dressed up with shaved legs, just as his way of traveling is unconventional-a punch to the status quo of road cycling, but that is precisely why we are proud to have been a part of his project.
It took two months, 5000Km, many impromptu lunches in the most remote supermarkets in Europe, and no small amount of willpower, but in the end Peter made it: on August 5 he reached the Nordkapp Globe in a fixed gear!
The stages of Pietro's journey can be found on WHIP by searching Pietro Franzese inside the app.