On 22nd September 2020 our Italian member Luigi Spina (member since 2005) climbed his 1000th BIG of the Super list on the Acores islands, BIG 525 - Caldeira do Faial.
Our congratulations to Luigi, he is the 6th Super list finisher.
Luigi is the first Italian finisher, a country with a rich cycling history.
Luigi shows once again that he is a strong, talented and perseverant climber!
Despite all the restrictions and problems related to the pandemic this year, Luigi managed to finish his last BIGs in Zone 6 (Spain and Portugal) and Zone 1 (Norway and Sweden).
If his plans for 2020 would not have been messed up (he wanted to go to Acores and Madeira in the spring) Luigi would have climbed his 1000th BIG in Norway.
Instead he went first to Scandinavia of which Norway, immediately after the borders opened again mid July, giving the opportunity for a mini cross road with members Heiko Linnert and Ard Oostra on the impressive BIG Tron.
After this accomplishment, having to accept multiple tests for Covid 19, he could finally go in September to the Portuguese islands, Madeira and the Acores.
Over all the years Luigi has been a steady and regular climber, visiting many regions and countries with his camping car, often accompanied by his partner Cecilia Torelli, one of the strongest female climbers in our challenge.
Also he joined in some of the BIG meetings, of which the journey in Georgia is a memorable event: hot conditions with up to 42 Celsius, closed borders, aggressive dogs, bad roads. Luigi didn’t hesitate to take his road bike on rocky roads like Betania monastery, while most of the others used a MTB, and on the last day he broke his frame in the downhill of the steep Gergedi monastery track. But he still managed to bike back to the hotel!
Another memorable anecdote about Luigi is the new yearly record that he set together with Wim van Els in 2009: they both managed in seperate ways to climb a very high number of BIGs in one year. Luigi and Wim decided to finish the year ex aequo with 172 BIGs! At these times it was rare to see members climbing so many BIGs in one year. This record stood for a long time.
Once more, bravo to and respect for Laureate Luigi Spina.