In the days before a big adventure, there’s a moment when everything goes quiet. The bags are almost packed, the bike leans against the wall with its tyres already pumped up, and your mind races ahead: to the first light on the Arno, to the hills around Volterra, to the sea at Follonica appearing suddenly after miles of woodland. This is it. Just over 24 hours to go.
Before we set off, though, there’s a door to walk through.
On Friday evening we meet at 6:00 pm outside the green door of the Società Canottieri Firenze. It’s a small door, almost hidden among the stones of the Lungarno, but in Florence it has a reputation all of its own. People call it a “magic portal”: step over the threshold and the noise of the city centre falls away, leaving one of the most exclusive and quiet corners of Florence. For more than a century it has let in Olympic athletes and figures from Florentine history. Legend has it that from there you can go down to the old Medici storerooms, along a canoe corridor carved beneath the foundations of the Uffizi.
The Club is opening its doors to us, and we’ll go in properly: all together and on foot. No bikes, because they won’t fit through that little door. Every registered rider is on the guest list. If you’d like to bring companions or family, email their full names to info@fiorinomud.it and we’ll add them. Rider pack collection also starts at 6:00 pm, then the briefing begins at 6:30 pm. That’s where we’ll also reveal the three Strava segments on Stage 1.
Then a short night, because the alarm will go off early. We’ve decided to move the start earlier to get a bit ahead of the weather: on Saturday we set off at 6:30 am, and you can arrive from 6:00 am. This time you come in through the gate on the Lungarno, bike in hand, and from there we’ll ride out together and head south. The same gate will welcome us back on Sunday, when we finish inside the Club.
One last thing, the most important: our safety net. The TrailCore Radar app is mandatory on both stages. It tells us where you are, gives you an SOS button that alerts us in three seconds, and shows you on the map the car following the group. Download it, enter the race code 1936 and switch it on before the start. Then forget it’s in your pocket and just ride.
On Saturday evening at PuntAla Camp & Resort there’ll be dinner, a shower, and a prize-giving around 9:30 pm, symbolic and light-hearted, just the way we like it. Upload your ride to Strava if you want to be part of it.
The Fiorino Mud is not a race. It’s a journey to share, where time only counts for those who want to count it. You’ll find all the practical details, from the GPX track to the water points, on the briefing page.
We’re ready. See you tomorrow evening, outside the green door.
