Espresso?

Cycling & coffee - never have there been better suited bedfellows. Its just something about a lovely silky brew during the hallowed cafe stop that tradition has not changed in all its years passed. For many a year, cyclists have rewarded and fuelled the hours of arduous training (or even those relaxed recovery rides) a coffee, be it espresso, machiato, americano etc etc, and often  accompanied by a sweet treat (rumour has it Dean Downing of Rapha Condor Sharp fame loves a caramel slice). To celebrate this relationship between rider and bean, Rocket Espresso have launched a very limited edition (only 200) Rapha marque of their famous 'Giotto' machine.

A plate on the front features the words of Fausto Coppi and the machine’s limited edition number, the quote translating to "We'll give ourselves a kick up the backside today"....
The infamous rapha pink coloured pressure gauge adds a a splash of colour and style to the machine. Bellissimo! Perhaps even think about adding a Chris King tamper or a Rapha livery Keepcup to your caffeine arsenal....

1 comment:

Andrea said...

nice post -as all the others- :)
However, the thing about Coppi's words on the front plate should be corrected (as I will say to Rapha, on their website).
It doesn't really give the right idea of what those words mean in Italian.
And of course, every nation has its own "ways to say" which often can't be translated ;)

Translating
"oggi ci daremo una botta"
in
"We'll give ourselves a kick up the backside today"
is quite litteral, and wrong.
"botta" is commonly used meaning as "kick","impact","clash" (i.e.: crash between two cars "hanno fatto il botto"); but also something that makes a "Boom!" (i.e.: strong red wine in large quantity will give you a "gran botta!").
Funny enough, in the old days there was large use of home-made doping mixtures between the Pro's, of various substances (from Caffeine to amphetamines to Egg) which were commonly named "bombe" o "botte".

So, what do we want to think about those words?
Certainly not a kick in the backside (of yourself? are you running that fast? LOL); nor a public admission of using illegal subastances... but a much better:

"today we are going to hammer on!"

don't you think so? :)

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