Jim Crumley once wrote “There is no such such thing as a boring hill, only boring people”, as a retort to a comment made by a fellow Scottish mountaineer who should have known better, who described Ben Chonzie as the “most boring munro”.
It is certainly true that the outcome of an experience is directly linked with one’s own expectations. If what you expect is limited in scope then it is likely you will be disappointed.
Recently, while guiding a group of cyclists in Corsica, I had a similar experience. Corsica, if you have never been there, is a stunning granite landscape of great geographical diversity. The land rises from beaches lapped by the shores of the Mediterranean through dense forest and villages clinging to granite escarpments to the soaring, snow-capped summits peaking with Monte Cinto at 2,706m (8,878 ft).
It is not somewhere you could call boring, but as one of the group I was guiding arrived at the top of the gruelling 30km road ascent to the Col de Vergio, she turned to me and said: “Well, that got quite tedious”. I was left lost for words. When I asked her at dinner what she meant she replied that it “just went on and on with nothing really to it.”
The Col de Vergio rises up from Propriano on the south-west coast of the island and initially winds its way up through a stunning, crumpled landscape of gorges and forest. Boar lie at the side of the road in dusty, dry mud patches and red kites soar above the primordial landscape.
At an altitude of 1478 metres it is the highest pass of Corsica and from the west passes through the village of Evisa before entering the fragrant and shady forest that leads up to the summit.
There is so much to see and I can only assume that my client had spent the entire climb staring at the tarmac in front of her nose. Indeed later in the week she confided to me that the only photograph she had taken was a “screen-capture” of her Garmin GPS device to show her mileage and average speed for that day’s riding. I suspect she may have been better served by staying at home and spending her money on static-bike spin classes instead.
Thankfully that kind of comment is the exception to the rule. A client who arrived at the top shortly after crossed the summit with a grin from ear to ear. He came across to me, shook my hand and said: “Man! That was incredible. I’ve never cycled anything like that in my life before.”
Cycling is a very personal thing. We each get something different from our experiences on two wheels and those experiences are informed by the terrain, the weather and the company we may have with us.
Our rides are benign and it is up to us to make the effort to make of our cycle what we want.
Keep your head up and enjoy the freedom that being on two wheels gives you, no matter where in the world you are cycling.
I guarantee that there will be something of interest somewhere on the horizon, as sure as I am that the most boring views will be downwards, at your GPS, your front wheel and the tarmac.
| Where to ride: | Corsica |
| Getting there: | There are weekly flights from Gatwick to Bastia or the island is accessible by ferry from ports such as Toulon in the south of France. |
| Description: | Corsica is becoming a very popular place to cycle both on and off-road. It’s easy to see why. The climate is good, the scenery is stunning and although it is not set up for cyclists, such as some other Mediterranean islands like Mallorca, there is plenty of facilities available to make your stay enjoyable. For on-road cycling there is a multitude of routes that hug the rugged and spectacular coast line and big climbs inland that wind up through forests and gorges.
In places the roads can be rough and narrow, but since the Tour de France visited a few years ago many roads have been resurfaced. One climb worth doing is from the coast to Piana which winds its way up through the stunning roack formations of the Callanches of Piana, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
