The Start of Pain

OK this is my first blog for this site. Hope you enjoy and get some good tips from me for cycling. I'm not going to say too much in this one, but here it goes...

I've been in Florence, Italy since Jan 6, 2006. I've loved all the sites and mostly the cycling!!! I have a pretty nice climb just outside my window, Monte Morello...and the start of the climb is 2 miles away. It begins with a 15% gradient for 4km and then kicks up to 22% for about .7km. It is definitely a bitch of a climb, cuz then right after that it gets easier, but its still 8km of a 6-9% gradient to the top. The total of the climb is 800meters and the first 500meters is in the first 5km...grueling.

Then theres the road to Barberino di Mugello. Its nice and flat for about 15km and then the climb starts. The climb is about 7km in length with a gradient of 7-13% up to Le Croci. Then its a nice fast downhill for about 10km....when you turn around to go back the same way you then have to climb it.

Those are the two main routes I take so far. I'll be joining the Sesto Fiorentino Cycling Team, MTbike this week. The owner of the sponser shop is an ex-pro and I get to start training with him this Tuesday. It'll be hott. I will also start racing with them in the beginning of march all around Tuscany. Each race is on average 80-120 km in length. I'll really need to start kicking my ass and lose some of this Winter weight. I hope to be down to 155lbs by the first race March 5th. Only 7 more lbs to go in one month...seeing that I lost 9 lbs in two weeks before Superweek I don't think 7 lbs in 4 weeks should be much of a problem.

So far I've been here 3 total weeks...the first week I put in 13 hours of training time, Week 2 consisted of only 6 hours cuz it rained most of that week, but I hit the roads hard when it was finally dry. And week 3 consisted of 15 hours of training time. All of this being in the mountains is definitely different for me. Madison is very very flat compared to here. This week I hope to put in a total of 20 hours on the bike...every day this week is suppose to be sunny and 55. That's hott!!

Thats it for now I'll keep you informed on how the training is going from now on...tell your cycling friends about this blog. Tell them they can learn the Italian ways...