Eat, ride, eat some more, stretch, recover and sleep. They are basically the only things you have to worry about over here. Forget work, forget all the dramas back home and concentrate purely on what you are here to do, ride your bike.
Over the past few days, we’ve embarked on more challenging training rides such as double sessions and more recently a 6hr ride with SEs and a 10km climb followed by some pacelining in the 35 degree heat!! We also rode over part of the 2009 World Road Race course, it’s definitely one for the climbers! Although it may have seemed like an epic day in the saddle, after a recovery day yesterday we are ready to get stuck in and do it all over again today! Motor pacing this morning then in the arvo we are pulling out the big guns with some power climbs!
Off the bike, we have started having our Italian Lessons. Ariane has been given the duty of teaching us some basic Italian so that we can survive whilst we are over here. We’ve had a couple of lessons so far and I’m really enjoying learning another language and make an effort at every opportunity I get to try and practice it with the locals. I even managed to order myself a piece of steak (I made sure I learnt how to say the word ‘beef’ so I wouldn’t end up eating horse or anything :p) from the butcher who then proceeded to have a conversation in Italian with me to which I had to reply ‘Mi scusi, non capsico!’ I’m still working on it but my goal is to be able to have something that sort of resembles a proper conversation with someone by the time I get home!!
Not surprisingly, the girls and I have also ventured across the road for numerous gelati trips. The man who owns the shop makes the gelati fresh every morning fee from preservatives and with all natural ingredients (yes, so that gives me the right to have it everyday and not feel guilty :) ) and since he uses whatever ingredients he has on hand, you never know which flavours he is going to have!! So far I have had: banana, coconut, strachiatella, hazelnut, strawberry, some rice crispy one, a ferrero rocher one and something called ‘biscotto’ (which is basically the cookies and cream equivalent to gelati)!! My favourites so far are by far the biscotto and banana however these seem not to be made very often…Oh well, just means I’ll have to get extra when it is there :P And since we are talking about food, I think I’ve mastered the whole ‘cooking your own food in Italy’ situation. I now know what you can and can’t buy (no, don’t bother looking for ‘mixed herbs on spices’ in the racks…) and have been introduced to the world of fresh bread and cheeses. Yesterday I bought a fresh loaf of bread form the pizza restaurant called Risto around the corner, it was still warm when I bought it and needless to day it didn’t last long after I used it for lunch and made the tastiest bruschetta know to man for dinner that night!
The girls and I have also taken UNO to a whole new level, making it ‘high stakes’ UNO. Screams and shrieks can be heard well into the evening as whoever loses is forced to do whatever punishment the group has decided on before hand. So far Chloe has been the only unlucky one having to wear chamois cream on her face instead of sunscreen and today has to do the motor pacing session in leg and arm warmers which may not seem bad for those of you back home, but when it’s a lovely summers day like it is here...Let’s just say I’m glad its not me!
So apart from that, nothing much else has been happening. Belinda Goss arrives today so I am no longer by my lonesome which will make for a nice change! Rumour also has it that we are going to do a recon of the time trial and one of the climbs in the Giro (the Monte Serra) tomorrow which will be good! And we are also thinking of heading into Milan to do a bit of shopping either Monday or Wednesday and we have a date with the Pizza restaurant scheduled in there too!! Beth is also back so we are being pampered with massages and Ariane now comes twice a week for Italian lessons!
So things are looking pretty good over here. I think my body has finally started to adjust to the time zones after waking up at 5-530am everyday since I’ve been here, I was relieved this morning to roll over and see my watch was ticking over close to 630am!! Success!! And I’m starting to feel my legs again too which is good considering the training that we have coming up! Not to mention something we call the Giro starting just around the corner….
So until next time, take care
Ciao
Miffy
xx
P.S Uploading photos seems to be a touchy subject for my computer at the moment... I will try again soon but in the mean time feel free to check out my photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275166&id=746470234&l=7a4717fe97
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