Fat Bottomed Boys & Girls ‘The Italian Job II’ Diaries

TIP’s ‘Fat Bottomed Boys & Girls’ team has completed its 11th charity cycle ride, cycling approximately 350 kms across northern Italy in 3 days. Support for this year’s effort, dubbed the ‘The Italian Job II’, has seen the fundraising target smashed once again, with more than £90,000 raised so far for the Dougie Mac hospice.

This year, the team was 52 in number but, as usual, it was a mix of cycling abilities from across the UK and Ireland transport industry.

The challenge this year was to help raise £70,000 for the Staffordshire-based hospice, which provides vital end-of-life care and support to local people.

We are delighted that this years target has been reached, and some; a massive thank you to all those involved, from official sponsors, donators, others supporting the event and, of course, the cyclists themselves.

The various FBB&G teams have raised in the region of £700,000 for various charitable causes from the 11 efforts to date.

However, we haven’t quite finished the fundraising part for this year yet and if you’d like to make a donation to support the team and this year’s nominated charity, you can still do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/page/tipfbbandg-theitalianjob-2025.

… and now for Mike Furnival’s daily summary of the 3 days challenge :-

DAY 1 - 14th May 

Treviso to Bassano del Grappa

The team of 2025 arrived safely in Treviso from the UK, Ireland, France and Italy. 52 riders in total supported by Adam and his team. The weather forecast had been pretty abysmal the previous week but to our surprise we arrived in warm sunshine.. much like Salford! 

The normal greeting party was partaken with gusto.. old friends and 10 new participants got to know one another over dinner.. with a few birras.

We woke to glorious sunshine and after a quick breakfast, quickly organised to split into four main groups. The 5 Goats had decided to finish their day with a suicide mission to attack Monte Grappa.. an 18km climb at more than 8%..! 

The main groups set off straight through the lovely old town of Treviso and headed north towards the Prosecco region and the Dolomites. For 30kms all was going well on relatively flat roads until the aforementioned Dolomites loomed ominously in front. I remembered that Arjen had told me that the Dolomites were a ‘new’ mountain range.. ‘very pointy’..!! At 35kms I understood what he meant as we hit a very naughty hill up to lunch.. not ‘goaty’ but brutal all the same for the average cyclist. 

However, a good lunch sorted everyone out and it was good to report there were few incidents.. well apart from Wheelie getting a loving glance off a van and Murph getting a puncture as usual in the first mile.. 😉

The afternoon was a rolling ride with four decent climbs in the hot sunshine before we began our descent from the hills into the ancient old town of Bassano.. an absolutely beautiful place and region. For dinner we were honoured to be hosted by Mr Basso, the famous cycle manufacturer who treated us to a wonderful bbq at his club house together with some great stories around his inspiring journey. 

There were a few tired limbs after a big day of climbing.. but the uplifting news is the fantastic support from so many. We’ve just passed £100,000 including Gift Aid and everyone on the team is so grateful for the support received .. incredible.. 🙏

Tomorrow is another day and a very early start with 140kms ahead and a 4pm deadline to make the ferry across Lake Garda.. I’ll keep you posted if I wake up..! 

DAY 2 - 15th May

An extra early start for everyone to try and make sure we reached the ferry across Lake Garda at 4.40pm.. The weather was beautiful, which was a real positive with such a long journey ahead.. 

People had generally found their team levels but there was a little bit of shuffling.. Giorgio moved into Group 4 to accommodate his business Teams calls ‘on the go’ at a slightly slower pace..!

However, once we hit the top road, everyone got a bit of rhythm back to make good progress through towards the 42km coffee stop in Vicenza. I have to say that our Italian hosts deliver coffee and cakes like no other.. simply sumptuous..! 

Fortified but stuffed, we plodded off towards our lunch stop at 95kms.. just outside Verona.. Time was clocking on and all teams were acutely aware of hitting the ferry deadline.. Not for the first time, we started to suspect that the mileages were a little ‘shy’ and we probably had a few more kms than promised by our wonderful tour leader.. 😉.. 

After lunch we slowly travelled straight through the beautiful city of Verona.. an amazing historical city, drenched in atmosphere.. if you ever get the opportunity to visit, I can absolutely recommend it.. 

The first three teams were making good progress and really flying on the flat towards Lake Garda. Dave couldn’t even catch Group 1 in the van!!  Meanwhile, back at the lunch stop, there were concerns from some quarters that Group 4 could not make it.. However, the Group 4 massive knew better and rallied to hit the 30km/hour average speed to make the ferry with minutes to spare.. a fantastic effort from the ‘supposed’ non cyclists.

The ferry across the middle of Lake Garda reveals unbelievable views and everyone was in good spirits having already completed 140kms. ‘How long to the hotel Dave?’ was the popular question.. the answer was a bit ambiguous..! 

We wearily alighted the ferry to prepare for the final leg to be greeted by a few of the injured team raising glasses in the bar opposite.. Leo, Kirsty and Big T.. to be fair, they looked like they’d had a better time!! 

One last push along the busy lake road and we finally arrived at our lovely hotel on the lake. We’d actually completed 160kms.. 100 bloody miles in old money..!!

After such a tough day, both the buffet and the bar got royally attacked.. there was a palpable sense of relief and achievement at completing 70% of the route.. the amazing support in donations only added to the pleasure.. 

Massive thanks to all.. one day to go..

DAY 3 - 16th May

Lake Garda to Bergamo

A blazing sun rose early across Lake Garda on the final day.  A wonderful buffet breakfast and the smell on the end in sight had revived the spirits after the long haul of the previous day. Being directly on the lake was a true treat.. the only issue was the mile climb back up to the main road that tested everyone regardless of ability.. Exhausted at the top, the teams assembled for the 38km run to the city of Brescia.. 

All the teams made good time on this flattish run to the food stop .. Big T was flying around the roundabouts like a giant satsuma!! However, it started to get a bit confusing in the heavy traffic of the city as we tried to find our nominated cafe. Only one team found it, while the other three found themselves out the other side.. tired and hungry.. However, thanks to google maps we found a great little cafe still on the route and all enjoyed a carb refuel.. 

From Brescia, we went back into the hills of the wine lands and enjoyed a great 90 minutes cycling before heading down to the shores of Lake Iseo.. hardly anyone was familiar with this area and it’s yet another Italian area of outstanding beauty. So much so that Teams 2 and 3 made an unscheduled stop to enjoy the sights with a snack.. 

Naturally after every lake there is a climb and Iseo was no different with 3 lumps over 5kms. Not a problem at this stage of the challenge as we were now picking up the signs for Bergamo.. The pace picked up as we headed for the city and the finishing line. 

As usual the traffic started to build in the afternoon sun and we lost Dud temporarily in a slight collision with a car.. think the car came off worse! The Garmins led us into the east of the city before we suddenly spotted the TIP truck and trailer parked in the Atalanta FC car park.. our finishing line..! 

The finish line is a curious mix of elation, relief and loss.. it’s difficult to explain after three intense days working as a team for one united goal. Throughout, the team of 2025 never shirked from the challenge.. the tough times were faced with determination, teamwork and humour.

As a collective, we’d like to thank our tour organiser Adam and his fantastic support team. Our driver, Lee always delivers.. and of course, Dave.. Without Dave, this ‘job’ would never get done.

Finally.. a huge thank you to our families, friends, colleagues and event sponsors for making this year the biggest financial success for our charity.. you have truly changed lives with your donations.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/tipfbbandg-theitalianjob-2025

Best regards

Mike