Italia!

[Brian S]

More gloating! Here are a couple of others rides I managed in Italy
Tuscany, day 2 after arrival. Hard on the heals of the Giro, and caught in some of the same nasty wet weather. The finishing climb to one of the classic Tuscan hill towns of Montalcino followed the route that Cadel Evans slogged up coated in mud, 2 days previously. We were in an out of showers through the day.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/italy/tus ... 3704180477
The pic is the view from the top

[Brian S]

Ride on day 3 looped north of Siena into Chianti (hic), but the ride was curtailed as I was chased into the city by thunderstorms. More climbing up into an ancient city at the end of the ride--seems to be a Tuscan defense against tourists.

[Brian S]

Caught up with the Giro in the suburbs of Venice (Mestre--depart for the stage to Monte Zoncolan). Riders were being interviewed by an italian model/celeb at 100 words/sec during sign in. She would drag the big names to the front of the stage, yammer away at these guys trying to get ready to slog 200 km then do a climb with up to 20% grades, and still expected David Arroyo to let go the bag of pink balloons. Ah to be pro.

[Brian S]

The Cinque Terra is a magical place, and this ride climbed or descended endlessly. Worked my way up to around 2000 ft twice (at least started at sea level), before descending to the Italian riviera for a bit of a flat stretch. The ride paralleled the long time time trial of last year's centenary giro--still could see some evidence in terms of signs, pink road markers, and 'go Dennis' (as in Menchov) on the roads.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/italy/man ... 3844043585

[Josh.E]

WOW.

what an awesome looking trip. thanks for sharing.

Did you watch any of the giro climbs in the last week?

[Dave Spiers]

Hi Brian, looks and sounds like your having a great trip. Whats with the OBB kit? in all the photos.

[Brian S]

Only got to see the climbs on the TV, and Dave--please see below for TS kit (under Wed morning hills). I know--rather than alternating between OBB and TS kit, I should have just gone between argyle, and classic (or was that rustic).