Manifesto

About us

GGGG.bici was born out of the idleness from the 2021 Covid lockdown, a historical moment when we found ourselves locked away from public and natural spaces; we were tied by the desire to experience nature anew, and by the means we used to do so, the bicycle. All of us are constant users of this incredible instrument, we all have it as the preferred means of transportation — some of us work as messengers, and some are passionate cyclist.

Once linked together by the bicycle, we discovered we all had some instinctive values in common, and we find that the mainstream cycling scene (both national and international) doesn’t seem to care for the many social movements that are filling our news and attention: we want to be apart from this scene, and to be part of the change that’s surely coming ✊.

Small curiosity: the 4 Gs in our name stand for Gucci (style is indeed 80% of cycling), Gravel (where we were born, and where we often go back to 🦎), Ganja (third most populous city in Azerbaijan) and Gang (‘cause alone we’re nothing ✨).

Our values

Seems comical to be listing our values, now that any corporation dye itself green, pink or rainbow based on their market research, but we still think it’s important to clearly states that some people and behavior are welcome between us, but others are invited to stay away as they’re our enemy: mistakes are welcome (we’re the first one doing them!), nastiness not so much.

We’re antifascists: too often in sports people ask for a break from politics, in the name of a social peace that’s complicit in letting evil grow. Not between us: fascists can stay away (we’re based in Milan, so we suggest piazzale Loreto as a place for them).

We’re feminists: we can clearly see the differences between a female-oriented upbringing and a male-oriented one, in our own friendship groups, in our places of work and in the cycling world; we aspire for a different world, and we try to help bring it around faster.

We’re against racism: another enormous problem in the cycling scene is the skin-based discrimination, that determines the possibility of approaching the bicycle; we see the enormous rift that separates us, white and western, and people of color, both in Italy and around the globe, thanks to the action of the european colonial empires.

We’re against any kind of homo and transphobia: a theme tha’s almost completely ignored in cycling is the homophobic machism that guides people relationship with other people and nature, and we want to be part of a new paradigm, for our own personal realisation and everybody’s comfort. We are also aware of the many steps taken right now to distance trans people from the sport world, and we actively fight against the binary mentality that create this problem.

We’re ecologically conscious: we’re aware that our impact on the world comes from the western way of living, we try to reduce our own where possible, both in our everyday lives and in our rides: it sometimes looks like we can do very little again global warming, but we can thread lighty where we step, lightly enough that who follows knows where we went and finds it as clean and beautiful as we found it (or better).

We believe in intersectionality: every theme we presented till now is tied and linked with the others and creates a social web; this is why our fight is so hard in the day to day life, and we constantly err on the way; but we’re not too worried about being perfect, we’re content with having fun while being part of the change.

Our rides

We gave ourselves no limits in the kind of ride we can propose: there’s a bunch of us, and we have ideas and desires to fill hundreds of calendars! We did some very challenging rides, requiring physical strength and specific bikes, but also rides open to all preparations and bicycles.

Every time we organise a ride we explain what to expect and what is needed in the instagram post and on our telegram chat (dm for the link!), but you can get an idea looking at how many G we’ll use in the description:

• One G shows a ride open to everyone with most bikes, expect short rides and almost zero hight gain. Some one-G rides we organized: COMFY PUP SUMMER in July 2022, MI-MO ride for the POWERPLANT concert in Foa Boccaccio in September 2022, and our Adda ride in February.
• Two GG means it’s gonna be a ride that asks a little bit more preparation or more physical strenght, still without being too hard for most people: might be a campout (similar to a one G ride, but with the need to bring everything you’ll need for camping on your bike), or a slightly longer day ride. Some examples are the Talamons ride in September 2022 and our annual campout River Monster.
• Three GGG and things start to be harder: you can expect more kilometers and hight gain, or the need for specific gear and the need for a good control of the bike. In this category you’ll find Alba Esperienziale vol 1 and 2, Crazynelli, and the races/alleycat we sometimes organize.
• Four GGGG is where you’ll need experience, will, legs and technical knowledge: the ride will test you, will probably be longer and you’re better run to catch the last train home! In short, type 2 fun at its best. Some wonderful examples: Goodnight 2022 campout, Sfacelo Orobico and Esperienza Lariana.

Do you wanna come ride with us, but you’re missing a bike? Not a problem, we built a supercute loaner bicycle capable of tackling easily one and two GGs, and three GGGs if you’re already capable or brave ;)
Unsure if you can take on the ride we organized? Get in our dms and we’ll help you decide!

Calendar

GPX

Here you can find our past and future rides' GPX files

Contacts

To get in touch with us, you can drop a message on Instagram, or you can email us at [email protected]

If you're a brand or a company and you want to talk about a sponsorship or collaboration, please contact us at [email protected]