With Ernesto Garcí in Domingo it is impossible not to smile: he talks about bikes with the ' the enthusiasm of a fourteen-year-old and the awareness of someone who has cycled in places that we all dream of at least once.
In addition to recently becoming part of the SPORTLAB Milano family, Ernesto has collected his travels and most significant encounters in the book Strada Sognando , a story that is not only about cycling, but also about encounters, curiosities and small moments that are worth more than any kilometre travelled.
We asked him to tell us how his passion was born, what he discovered by pedaling from ' other part of the world and what are the SPORTLAB products that are never missing from his backpack.
When and how did your passion for cycling begin? Was there a specific moment when you realized that cycling would become more than just a sport?
At 14. I was a Boy Scout in Spain, and during a summer camp, three other kids and I decided to go on a four-day bike trip with panniers. None of us had a bike at home, so we borrowed them. We mounted a rack and off we went: about fifty kilometers a day on very old racing bikes.
There I discovered the beauty of speed and effort. Then I returned the bike and didn't ride it again until I was 38. From then on, however, not a month went by without pedaling.
In your book, Strada Sognando, you describe journeys that seem more like inner experiences than sporting feats. What inspired you to write it? And what do you hope readers will take away from it? “ do you take it home” after closing it?
I'm not an athlete or a great traveler. But perhaps I'm a good observer.
In Patagonia, I realized that each of my travel companions could have been the protagonist of a novel. The same goes for the people I meet along the way, in South America as in Puglia. Just stop, ask questions, listen.
And it was precisely in those moments that I thought that a travel diary (which later became a book) could be of interest to other people, even those who aren't interested in cycling, and perhaps not even in travel. When someone finishes the book and writes to me that they managed to... “ traveling with us” I think the work was worth it.
Patagonia and the Via Francigena del Sud: two very distant places, yet in the book they seem to communicate. What do you think unites them, and what have they taught you as a man—even more than as a cyclist?
If you have read the book and it seems to you that the two places are in dialogue, I have only one explanation: it is the spirit of the ' author to make them talk! I find that in our travels, but also in our daily lives, we lack one quality: the curiosity to know more about the people we meet. What has changed in me after the two trips and ' My experience with writing is that now I always try to keep this attitude in my daily life.
From traveler to entrepreneur: you recently joined the SPORTLAB Milano family. What convinced you to embark on this new adventure?
I have always worked in the corporate world and in recent years in the world of sport.
When I discovered SPORTLAB Milano, I was struck by their obsessive attention to quality.
I tried the products (I even took them to Patagonia!) and saw that they really worked. The COOLDOWN CREAM , for example, allowed me to wake up feeling less tired.
And then I liked the founders: people who prefer to do things well, not quickly.
SPORTLAB always talks about performance, recovery, but also balance and well-being. How important are these values in your approach to cycling and life in general?
I have never competed, I lack the discipline that is essential for those who want to do it. I'm a serious athlete. But when I'm out cycling with friends and there's a climb to be done, I'm very likely trying to beat them, for the pleasure of suffering and teasing each other, but also of improving ourselves. For me, cycling isn't about competition, it's about happiness: speed, scenery, effort, even pain, but also friendship, laughter, a coffee. And now, more and more, I travel.
And if you had to choose just one SPORTLAB product to take with you on your next trip, which one would it be?
Very difficult question for a member!
If the trip is uneventful, I need at least two: SLIDER for the over-the-seat area and ACTIVE SUN 50+ to protect me from the sun.
If it's a long, demanding trip, I'd definitely bring the COOLDOWN to help me recover. But keep that between us! 😄
Talking to Ernesto is a bit ' It's like going for a bike ride in good company... you chat, you laugh and in the end you go home with the feeling of having learned something without even realizing it.
For him, cycling is above all about this: feeling good, being together, challenging yourself just enough to enjoy the road, without overcomplicating your life.
We are happy to have him in the SPORTLAB Milano family and we look forward to welcoming him back. It 's time to find out what his next adventure will be. Maybe with a light backpack... but with SLIDER, ACTIVE SUN, and COOLDOWN CREAM firmly in place.
