Catching up with the Giro after a few days. First photo is Vincenzo Nibali (guy's so fast he's just a blur!) heading to the start in Caravaggio, followed by one of the jersey award at the finish in Vicenza, where he's moving a bit slower.
Below is a shot of the finish setup in Vicenza from our hotel window. Our clients had the enviable choice of watching the whole thing from up here or wading down into the throngs at the finish, while Campagnolo later held an 80th anniversary celebration over at their factory on the edge of town. Sadly, we couldn't score invites but we enjoyed the Giro finish festivities as well as walking around the historic city center along with our friend Charlie Hancock who lives there and runs a bike company, CHARLIE SRL. Grazie Charlie!
The following day we went to the cronoscalata start - a great place to see the riders close up (once they come out of their bus that is!) and begin to warm up for their individual test. Needless to say the crowds around Astana's setup when the Shark of the Straits was warming up was the largest, but not so big I couldn't get a photo. Nibali went on to slay them all, seemingly pretty much sewing up the Maglia Rosa for 2013?
We blasted off to Cortina at the end of the crono so we could (plan A anyway) enjoy riding a big loop today (Cibiana, Staulanza and Giau) before settling in to watch the big stage over the Giau and Stelvio. BUT, as you can see in this last photo, taken this morning from our hotel in Cortina, the weather is not exactly optimal for that! This is one reason we planned to be in Cortina, where at least there are things to do as we await today's TV coverage and to see what the big stage to Tre Cime will be like tomorrow. If they're going even part way up Tre Cime, we plan to be there...we didn't come all this way just to watch it on TV!
And now comes word today's stage has been cancelled entirely. We're very happy that we're in Cortina instead of at the finish of today's stage near Val Martello. Our fingers are crossed the Giro organizers can come up with something (and the weather cooperates just a bit?) for tomorrow so we can at least see the race one final time before we head back to Hotel Ariotto.
We're just about ready to hit the road. Here's a photo of our support van. MILLE GRAZIE to our official suppliers, including new folks DUAL EYEWEAR. We (like most of you) are getting older and these sunglasses make reading our RideGuide cue-sheets much easier. Thanks also to CAMPAGNOLO and SANTINI. You can't see them because their stickers are on the back of the van but thanks to VITTORIA Shoes and TORELLI as well. Finally, no stickers because they didn't show up in time but many thanks to SMP, HIBROS, BICISUPPORT and SCI-CON, all imported/distributed by our good friends at Albabici. Next stop is Vicenza where the Giro finishes on Wednesday.
After enjoying a view of the sea since January, we're now in Piemonte enjoying this view from our apartment window each morning. Tough job, but someone has to do it! And JOB it is, in a way as we prepare for our bicycle tour season which starts very soon with La Corsa Rosa, viewing the final week of the Giro d'Italia. While Bradley Wiggins' and Ryder Hesjedal's dreams of pink have ended for 2013, there's plenty of racing and (we hope) excitement left as Cadel Evans and Rigoberto Uran challenge Vicenzo Nibali's hold on the pink jersey.
We noticed a few yachts moored here in the Porto Grande at the end of 2011 when we arrived for the winter, but they were the kind with masts and sails, rather than helicopters. The folks who parked these here for all of us to admire are probably the .1%, but in any case it's a good signal for us to pack up and head north as our bike tour season starts soon. We'll see the final week of what is shaping up to be an action packed Giro d'Italia (with Italian Vincenzo Nibali taking the Maglia Rosa today) and have a couple of places left on the tour so act fast or miss out!
Next post will be from Northern Italy as we prepare for the upcoming season.
Arrivederci Sicilia!
The blog posts have been rare lately, due to other commitments, the largest one being the in-laws arrival for a visit. Heather's folks are getting up in years so this might be their final transatlantic adventure and we wanted to take as much time as they wanted to see Sicily.
After a few days sightseeing Ortigia and Siracusa, they were ready for some touring around the island. We started from Siracusa, heading to Caltagirone for lunch, the on to Agrigento to see the famous temples. The next day it was along the coast to Trapani and up to Erice for the night, followed the next day by a tour inland, where we discovered the tiny Museo Targa Florio.
None of this probably interests the cycling fan, but for Larry it was a break from looking at various archaeological sites in between some great meals! To complete the image of sports cars racing through these tiny towns and along the twisty roads of the Targa Florio, a guy cruised past in a late-model Ferrari was we walked up to the museum.
We continued through the mountainous inland of Sicily to Randazzo, where we spent the night amid vineyards used to make Etna Rosso wine before returning through Taormina (yes, the famous tourist trap) and Catania where the folks wanted to see the museum dedicated to the Allied landing of 1943. From there it was a quick jaunt back "home" to Ortigia to relax before heading off tomorrow to Palermo to see an opera performance on Friday night.
Perhaps someone in cyberspace can enlighten us. WHY would you create a "Mr. Kanny" brand for your cornflakes in Italy? The letter K and Y don't even really exist in the Italian alphabet and what do you think of when you see "Mr. Kanny"? I might have to do some internet searches on this one.
Heather's back in the USA doing some academic stuff so Larry's unsupervised here in Sicily.
Which sometimes means he decides to do some odd things on a whim, which today included a ride to Avola, about 30 kms down the coast from Siracusa. THOSE 30 kms are flat, but turn inland and the road goes up, up, up, though the grade was relatively kind and it was a gorgeous day.
I posed for this photo about halfway up the climb, where this nice lookout was waiting for me. Think people have been living here for many years? Check out the terraces on this hillside!
Some of you may be familiar with Nero d'Avola, the Sicilian red wine. A lot of it finds its way to the USA via Trader Joe's and the like. Still a great value in a red wine though once Tasca d'Almerita dreamed up Rosso del Conte, the first truly great bottling of what had been used mostly as a blending wine and sold in bulk, others have joined them, making excellent wines. In the USA look for Cusumano, Donnafugata and Firriato as well as Tasca.
I saw more than one route marking sign for this event, held just this past weekend. It was nice to discover a route I dreamed up on the spur-of-the-moment (including bringing nothing to eat for an 80+ km ride!) was one chosen by the ride organizers, at least as far as Pallazolo Acriede, where I turned for "home". .Luckily it was mostly downhill and I'm carrying enough onboard calories in the form of fat (as long as I go at a fat-burning pace only) to probably ride up to the Dolomites - and back! A plate of pasta alla Norma was enjoyed while watching the Giro del Trentino on TV. And people wonder WHY I want to move here?
