A Father's Tribute

In celebration of his 60th birthday and to raise money for the UIC Lisa Corsini Memorial Scholarship, Claudio “Fab” Corsini will cycle from San Diego to New Jersey, in a 20-day cross-country ride, July 23–August 11, 2008. The bike ride is a tribute to the memory of his daughter, Lisa, his 'companion' biker and once a student in the UIC College of Nursing.

Fab and a group of Italian cyclists, will follow the Race Across America route, one of the legendary biking ultra-marathon events in the world. Fab will ride 3,000 miles, in 20 stages, 12 to 16 hours each day, over mountain passes and across deserts, prairies and hills.

The shortest stage will be across the desert (111 miles); several will top 170 miles; the highest elevation will be around 8,500 feet. The stage from St. Louis to Indianapolis will take them across Illinois, not far from the Urbana–Champaign campus.

During the ride, Fab will be wearing a pink jersey (the color traditionally worn by the leader of the Giro d'Italia, Italy's equivalent of the Tour de France) with Lisa's name on the front. His Colnago bike has “Lisa” written on the bar, as a constant reminder of their earlier bike rides together.