IVREA
A new journey, a new adventure to do by bicycle for the Ivrea traffic policeman Maurizio Pitti, ready to leave for the Trans America Bike 2024.
From Ivrea, 52 years old, resident in Donnas, married to Loretta, father of Gabriel, Simone and Mattia, he is one of the best-known faces of the city, not only for his origins, but above all for his work in the municipal police, which he carries out for over twenty years now. After other crossings on his two wheels, such as the one to Istanbul and the other to the North Cape, Pitti is preparing to accomplish yet another feat. There are less than two months to go, so the start of the new adventure, which will take Maurizio Pitti to the United States where, alone and independently aboard his bicycle, he will attempt to cross the United States from west to east.
The race will see the cyclist from Ivrea starting on June 2nd, the start is scheduled from Astoria, on the Pacific Ocean in the state of Oregon, with arrival in Yorktown, Virginia, on the Atlantic: a journey of approximately seven thousand kilometers and 55 thousand meters of positive altitude difference passing through the Rocky Mountains in Montana, with passages above three thousand meters of altitude, and the infinite plains of Kansas.
There are a total of ten states crossed by the race: Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia. About fifty cyclists from all over the world will be present on the starting line, most of them experts in long-distance races, with as many as five Italians at the starting line. The race, entirely on asphalt roads to be covered by racing bicycle, does not include stages or support points, and participants will have to travel alone, with everything they need in tow, without any type of support.
The organization of the race will simply monitor the participants in real time, which will be visible on the event website, where the position, speed, kilometers travelled, whether the athlete is moving or paused will also be indicated, whether or not there are anomalies along the route.
How did the desire to participate in such extreme undertakings arise, when was this passion born?
«I am a big sports fan. In addition to cycling and football, which I no longer practice for age reasons, another passion of mine is running. I have participated in numerous long-distance races, I also have some 100 km races under my belt, including the Turin-Saint-Vincent, then there are over ninety marathons in which I have participated all over the world and I have twice been a finalist in the prestigious Tor des Géants. I don’t neglect my passion for reading and writing, I have also published some books that have achieved some success.”
Do you have a motto that you recognize yourself in and that is linked to your passions and the businesses you accomplish?
«“The bicycle will save the world” is certainly one of these, but another one also reflects me a lot. “If you can’t fix the world, fix your bike and then the world will take care of fixing it”. I deeply believe in the good that can come from using this means of transport and entertainment.”
Can you tell us about some of your exploits?
«In my CV I have already collected numerous feats, which also derive from my great love for travel and discovering new places, especially using the bicycle. I use it mostly in mode bikepacking, i.e. autonomous ultra-distance races or trips, which led me, in 2017, to tackle the North Cape 4000, an autonomous race from Florence to the North Cape of approximately 4 thousand km; in 2018 I crossed Europe from the North Cape, in Norway, to Tarifa, in Spain, a journey of around seven thousand km from the northernmost point to the southernmost point of Europe; in 2019, however, departure from Donnas, where I live with my family, up to Istanbul, Turkey, and again departure from Aosta and return to the Aosta Valley capital after completing the Giro d’Italia, approximately 4,000 km passing through all 23 Italian regional capitals, then I also tried my hand at the non-stop Giro della Valle d’Aosta, touching all 73 Aosta Valley municipalities. Then from Palermo, in Sicily, up to Donnas, with my son who was 14 years old, passing the entire route along the Tyrrhenian coast, for about 1,800 km, and again the tour of all the most important peaks of the Giro d’Italia” .
In addition to this great passion for bicycle travel, he also brings his vision of the world to Ivrea with his work. How?
«With my work at the Municipal Police of Ivrea I also deal with some important aspects that concern young people. In fact, I hold the role of contact person for everything relating to road and civic education in the city’s schools, where I carry out courses mainly aimed at the use of bicycles. I am one of the promoters of the Bicibus service, to school by bicycle, and, in the schools that request it, I also hold courses in the various classes”.
Have you received recognition and praise for your achievements?
«I received two commendations from the Piedmont Region. The awards came following service actions during my work as a traffic policeman, one in 2007 and the other in 2017. Some of my actions were considered important, worthy behaviors during the performance of my job, once for having saved one person during a road accident and a second because, together with my colleague at the time, Nino Cappuccio, I had saved a person who was jumping into the Dora Baltea from the Ponte Vecchio in Ivrea. On these two occasions I received two bars with the logo of the Piedmont region together with a medal with the parchment.”
In addition to all these activities, do you also have any other interests?
«I also deal with politics, which I follow carefully and critically, so much so that for ten years I have been an administrator in the Municipality of Donnas, where I currently hold the position of Councilor for Sport and Culture. Furthermore, given my literary commitment and not only that, for many years I have also been a freelance journalist registered in the register of Aosta Valley journalists”.
Returning to the American adventure, what is the preparation for tackling a similar undertaking?
«I am preparing with dedication for the test that awaits me. For undertakings like the one I am about to tackle, training is not enough, it is more than that. In fact, we must prepare for a whole series of variables, which I will almost certainly encounter; from climatic difficulties to the harsh temperatures of Montana, and then moving on to the heat of the plains. Then there is nutrition, but I must not neglect even the thought of an entire month of solitude, as well as mechanical unexpected problems with the bicycle, the difficulties I may encounter on the roads. I will also have to think about managing breaks and sleep. I would like to complete the undertaking in around thirty days, which involves an average of around 250 kilometers per day.”
Will it be possible to follow the path in some way?
«The journey can be followed on my social media page as well as on the official race website: www.rideyrbike.com».
What emotions do you feel when thinking about leaving?
«Definitely a pinch of emotion when I remember all the trips I took together with my cyclist friend Franco Morgani, from Quincinetto. Unfortunately this time he won’t be there: he died last May. It was a trip that we had planned to do together, unfortunately we didn’t have the time, but I will still take Franco by bicycle by my side”.Massimo Sardo
