How to survive a bike trip?
Spain, 4 days, 388 km including 279 km of gravel, 6650D+, 22:26:32 time in motion
Some time ago, Nicola Rossi – photographer, storyteller, and historic collaborator of Basso – told us about his new project.
The adventure he had in mind was to leave for four days of bike-packing in Granada, Spain, on the Badlands track, a territory with which Basso has a special bond. How could we not take part in it? A MTB and enduro enthusiast decided to take Francesco Bonato, a gravel neophyte, with him for a sort of baptism of fire on a Basso Tera Silver. We decided to take part in his adventure, putting him in a position to face it in the best possible way: riding a Palta Candy Red.
Photo, Video and Text Credits: Nicola Rossi & Francesco Bonato
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“Granada at night is quiet, empty. We built our Palta and Tera on a sidewalk, in the very central passeo de la Bomba, eat a kebab and set off. It is just before 4 in the morning, a long day ahead, yet we feel the excitement of the departure, energy is released when a long-awaited moment finally arrives. The climb begins a stone’s throw from the Alhambra, in a scented forest that leads onto the paths of Dehesa del Generalife Park. …”
Nicola had been thinking this for a long time...
“The idea of trying the bikepacking experience was in the back of his head. It was a hazy idea, born out of a desire to take a bike trip and document it, film it, photograph it. In the last two years we have been fortunate to work on a lot projects related to cycling, but we needed this idea to turn things around and, as is often the case, do something new.
And so one day we decided. We marked a date on the calendar and promised ourselves that we would be leaving on that day. No more words, but actions: putting ourselves in a new situation, learning how to handle it, and enjoying the unexpected, building new habits.
Habit in thinking outside the comfort zone. Habit in finding a solution. Habit in forcing oneself not to stop, to keep going, not to enjoy suffering but to prove to oneself that it can be done. …”
"The desert makes you feel small...
a tiny witness to unchanged and immanent greatness. And at the same time, the desert makes you feel big, fills you with new, primordial energy…In this swirling stillness unexplored sensations and instincts surface; ideas and insights that should not belong to us, or perhaps have always belonged to us…”
- Silver
- Candy Red
"We get off our bikes to take photos and enjoy such a beauty...
“I find a spot to photograph Nicola. He comes, brakes, and in an explosion of dust, falls. I know immediately that something is wrong. He stands silently in the center of the roadway, then stands up holding his left knee.
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
The impact with a rock hidden under the dust has opened a deep wound in his leg. We try to keep calm and disinfect Nicola’s battered knee, but it is clear that our rudimentary solutions are not sufficient. We make it downhill to the village of Purullena, and from there to the hospital in Guadix. 7 stitches and a recommendation to rest do not stop Nicola from continuing to our destination.”
"I think back to every single meter, ...
… every curve, and every hairpin bend, so clearly imprinted on my mind, probably because they have been experienced more intensely, they have been earned. The unusual situations we voluntarily decide to put ourselves in, like pedaling at night, remain imprinted on our minds. And those pure moments of total harmony with the road, when we feel free because we focus on the simplest, most elementary things. …”
