Some biographical information

He practiced karate on national and international competitive levels from the age of 13 until 1993. Currently he is a DAN 3° Black Belt and FILPJK-CONI federal technical instructor.

1983-1991: 15-time Karate Regional Champion in “fighting specialty”.

1983-1990: Athlete holder of the Italian Representative “fighting specialty”.

1989: Italian vice-Champion, Non-Stop fighting.

His “performances” on two wheels 1984 Venice – Corsica round trip by bicycle

1985: Venice – Denmark round trip by bicycle

1986: Venice – Finland – Sweden round trip by bicycle

1987: Venice – North Cape (Norway), round trip by bicycle 9,000 km in 49 days

1988: Venice – France – Ireland – Spain round trip by bicycle

1989: MTB Italian championship

1990: MTB Italian Championship

1991: 61st MTB World Championship – Ciocco (LU). Vasaloppet, the longest cross-country ski race in the world, 90 km

1991/1993: Triathlon

1993: Tunisian Sahara and Canary Islands in MTB

1994: Crossed the United States alone by bicycle, from west to east, south to north, north to centre, centre to south, 9,300 km in 45 days

1995: 3rd absolute and 1st among the Italians in the 1st Giro d’Italia in one leg, 1,663 km by bicycle Non-Stop in 75 hours

1996: Forced to withdraw due to a tenacious virus, at the 2nd Giro d’Italia in one leg and at his first RAAM for a serious accident involving the technical coordinator of his team, after only 160 km 1997: RAAM ’97, forced to withdraw at less than a day from arrival (probable winner in the Rookie class and 7th-6th absolute), due to problems with the team

1998: RAAM ’98, 5th absolute with a time of 9 days 6 hours and 59 minutes, first Italian in the history of cycling to have finished the RAAM and to have done it by reaching the “Top Five”

1999: RAAM ’99, still 5th absolute with a time of 8 days 23 hours and 7 minutes, one of only ten athletes in the world who have finished the RAAM in less than 9 days.

2000: RAAM 2000, finally on the podium 3rd absolute with a time of 9 days 10 hours and 43 minutes.

2000: Furnace Creek, forced to withdraw.

2001: Winner of the Denver to Aspen Classic.

2002: RAAM 2002, forced to withdraw due to sores. 2002 again the winner of the Denver to Aspen Classic.

2003: RAAM 2003, forced to withdraw.

2005: the greatest victory of the year and of all times: the birth of Rocco Giovanni Biasiolo. RAAM 2005, third place absolute, from San Diego to Atlantic City in 10 days 8 hours and 14 minutes.

2006: RAAM 2006 (Traditional category), after having been in the lead for 7 days, due to a fall in which he incurred a fracture, he fell out of first place but still made it to the podium, third with a time of 9 days 19 hours and 49 minutes; 1001 Miles (Italian Ultracycling Championship, Italy), he came in second.

2007: Head of the UMCA (Ultracycling Marathon Association) for Southern Europe; RAS 2007 (Race Across Slovenia, Slovenia); RAAM 2007 forced to withdraw due to problems with his team; L'Autre Tour de France 2007, a scientific-medical experiment in collaboration with the University of Toulouse (France), on the same route of the Tour de France 2007.

2008: On the occasion of the last World Cup Trial, the Desafio 24h in Brazil (3rd absolute), he celebrated the millionth kilometre of his career; RAS 2008 (Slovenia).

2009: Winner of the Italian Ultracycling Championship, Winner of the European Ultracycling Cup, Winner of the Ultracycling World Cup, Winner of the Ultracycling UltraCup; Sebring 24h (Sebring, Florida), Montello 24h (Italy), RAS 2009 (Slovenia), Melfar 24h (Denmark), Radmarathon (Switzerland), Race Around Ireland (Ireland).

2010: winner of the European-24h Ultracycling Championship 2010 and of the Italian Ultracycling Championship, second in the World Cup Race (April 17-18, Montello 24h “Memorial Mauro Marcato”, Treviso, Italy).

FABIO, WHY EXTREME SPORT? It’s not about a challenge with myself or testing my physical and mental limits, like many people might think. My “actions” are born inside of me, they’re an internal need that feeds off itself: They’ve always been there, like in hibernation, and when someone from the outside proposes it to you, your innermost “ego” recognizes them and makes them his from the start. COULD YOU BE ACCUSED OF BEING A BIT EXCESSIVE? It’s true, I’m outside the stereotypes of a normal person: but at times I ask myself if I’m crazy (and many people think I am) or if everyone else is who doesn’t have the courage to meet their inner needs. DO YOU EVER FEEL LONELY DURING YOUR TRIPS? No, never. It’s only a physical question; inside I have a rich interior world that is my constant companion. And then looking around I’m constantly learning: more than two months of travelling taught me more than 15 years of school. AND THE PAINFUL DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 1996 AND 1997, ESPECIALLY AT THE RAAM, WHAT DID THEY TEACH YOU? I learned a lot more from these painful experiences than from the most gratifying satisfactions. If you’re determined and you know what you want, nothing can stop or destroy you, it can only scratch you but not stop you. SO YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN BAD LUCK? As far as luck is concerned, I believe what I learned from John Howard – luck is a combination of determination and hard work. You build your luck. The harder you work and the more determined you are, the luckier you will be and vice-versa. WHAT DOES HAVING A TEAM BEHIND YOU CHANGE COMPARED TO BEING ALONE? Nothing, you’re alone in any case. WHAT’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BIKES LIKE? Marvellous! What you have with your hands and feet. You couldn’t do anything during the day if you didn’t have them. More simply, they are a means, a tool that you feel fit to meet your needs. HOW MUCH DOES A LOVE FOR ADVENTURE WEIGH IN? It plays a part in the limits in which positive human curiosity is important; the same thing that pushed man to discover fire, to go to the moon, to study the atom, etc. It’s the sense of the frontier, of limits, of beyond the predictable and what you know. AREN’T YOU EVER AFRAID? If I were never afraid I would really be crazy! A moment before starting, when everything is ready and seems inevitable, then I ask myself, why are you doing it Fabio, who’s making you do it? But maybe the strongest motivation is exactly the desire to face my internal fears; so you can say that the basis and spirit of everything, the spring that makes the mechanism work is precisely fear.

I met Fabio in 1995 when I followed him in the first edition of the “Giro d’Italia in one leg”, a good 1,600 km non-stop where he ranked 3rd place absolute as the first Italian. At the time I realized that, with an adequate mental and athletic preparation, the human organism is able to go beyond limits that were unthinkable up to a few decades ago. Then, after getting to know Fabio better under a psychological and human profile, apart from the physiological one, I understood that he was a serious athlete, motivated, aware of his abilities, but above all of his limits and I accepted following him during the entire preparation for the RAAM. With the premise that the ability to be motivated and to have the energy to keep going, always, in situations without sleeping, is the most important talent in order to finish a race like the RAAM, there is no doubt that the physical characteristics of the athlete are just as important. In order to permit the trainers to dose the intensity and the volume of the training both on and off the bike, Fabio was checked with functional assessment tests to monitor his physiological adaptation. Periodically the VO2 max were determined (at the last check the value was peak VO2 = 78.5 ml/kg/min), as well as the ventilation threshold, the variation of VO2 in the various pedalling frequencies in order to identify an rpm range equal to the energy developed, optimal from the point of view of energy cost. With the Mader test a lactate-energy and lactate frequency curve was determined in order to identify cardiac frequency and the watts developed in the various haematic concentrations of the lactate. During the majority of the RAAM, the energy produced was such to enable the lactate to stabilize around 2mM. Muscular strength was monitored on the horizontal leg press, connected to a device measuring the weight movement speed (Real Power, Globus Italia). Knowing the weight moved, you are able to go back to the strength and energy produced during the entire movement and strength-speed and strength-energy diagrams were traced. Periodically, also haematic-chemical exams were performed to monitor the biochemical-metabolic state and to prematurely identify situations of over-training. In order to try to optimise muscular recovery or integrate training sessions, local massages were used as well as electrostimulation with specifically calibrated equipment by Medical House. Body fat and muscular mass were evaluated every two weeks using a plicometry test and based on the values detected a diet and integration regime was devised. For the competition, a diet regime was established that favoured easy to digest foods, even if Fabio often requested foods that are not optimal in terms of calories and easy assimilation, but experience in these cases counts much more than any other rule. Daily energy spent was around 10,200 calories. Hydration was monitored using an instrument that measures urine density in order to permit the athlete to take in liquids before feeling thirsty. This aspect could seem banal, but staying in the desert for 15 minutes without drinking means irremediably going against dehydration and heat stroke, with consequent collapse. Branched chain amino acids were used to reduce catabolism and favour muscular repair, antioxidants to contrast damage from free radicals, maltodextrins, polyvitamins and mineral salts to reintegrate loss. (Dr. Lucio Bigon, Sport Medicine Center, Noale Hospital – VE -)