Another beautiful day in Italy....

Ok so again I should be studying for my 3 midterms on Wednesday but no motivation = not getting anything done. I read Baumann's blog and it sounds like UW kicked some major ass in DePauw this weekend...looks like we have a pretty strong team this year. Awesome...I just wish I could be there for it, but there's always next year when I'll be a crapload stronger and wiser.

So today I didn't do too much at all. Today was suppose to be a study day. 3 of my classes were cancelled so I could study...what do you think I did? That's right...nothing to do with homework. I got up at 9am for breakfast and then like I usually do, I went right back to bed. I slept until about 12:45pm and then went to lunch at 1pm. After lunch I played a 40min game of soccer. I'm definitely a better goalie then when I'm on offense. Today I only had one goal scored on me for the first half and then only 3 more in the second half. I also scored 3 goals (I think) during the game...however we lost 7-10. Oh well, its not my sport anyways. Right after that I wanted to go for a quick juant on the bike. So I got out for a quick 50km ride. It was actually pretty quick. Only took me 1hr 35min, with the two climbs towards Barbarino. I wanted to go a little bit harder today to see how my legs were feeling. They were definitely feeling really good...even with the 20mph headwind I had on the way out. I did the first climb in a gear higher than usual. I was able to complete the whole climb in my 39-23, two gear increase since I got to Italy...and with a cadence of about 60-70 all the way up. On the way back on wanted to really see what my legs had. So on the 13% climb back home I geared up to 39-19 and just busted ass up it. Sitting down the whole way. I was able to keep a cadence of probably around 75. Not too bad. And I was really tired at the end of it and my legs still felt very very strong. So on the way home I averaged about 32mph (thanks tailwind) and decided to put in 5 all out sprints, about 400 meters in length. I got up to almost 40mph each time with one time actually getting to 40mph! So it was a good quick ride to see where my strength is at. Tomorrow I plan on putting around 4-5 hrs on the bike.

So it may sound impossible, but I'm up for the challenge....I have determined that my main goal for this summer is to upgrade to Cat 2 before Superweek, or at least a couple days into Superweek and then upgrade to Cat 1 by the end of Superweek...if not, then by the end of the summer. I have the dedication to do it. I've been improving alot lately. And seeing that theres only short steep climbs in Wisconsin I think I have a pretty good chance of meeting this goal. I'm able to hold 35mph for at least 10km with the pack, I can sprint at least 38mph, I've been getting faster and stronger up all climbs, and I don't tire as much in any of these. I'll be ready when I get back....with a new custom made bike thats 5lbs lighter than mine right now and me being about 10lbs lighter, hopefully. I will become P-R-O.

I would like to get a powertap, but thats a little too expensive right now and I really don't like watching my wattage, speed and time while I'm riding...it actually slows me down...cuz I start thinking wow, I'm only putting out 300 watts and I feel like crap...puts the self-esteem down. I would also love to get one of those altitude simulation masks. That would help out a lot...simulating 20,000ft a couple hrs a day.

Tonight I will be studying to about 3am, hopefully...maybe throwing in an episode of l'OC. We'll see how much studying I get done though. Happy training...

Ciao

Should be doing homework...

So yeah I should be doing some studying seeing that I have 3 midterms on Wednesday...but I'm in Italy, how are you suppose to do that? Honestly... So today I woke up before my alarm for the millionth time. I'm been doing that now for the past two weeks. I don't even go to sleep until 2am and then I wake up at 7:00am...my alarm is set for 7:30am. I was about to try and go back to bed but then I remember I had the group ride today at 8:30am. The weather said the day before it was suppose to be 45 degrees with rain/snow showers. I listened to the cars go by outside and I didn't hear wetness. I got up quick and saw that it was a perfect day. Wasn't even cold. Soooo....I got ready and met the team. Today was going to be a hard day.

It turned out to be a 3.5 hr go-as-fast-as-you-can-ride. We did two mountain passes. And I just love my new position on the bike. I honestly feel soooo much stronger on the bike. Today on the first climb (about 10km long...6-8% with sections kicking up to 17%) I was able to keep up with the best climber that came today with ease. Two other guys tagged along, but we were able to drop them. I love hearing other people just gasping for breath while I'm not really breathing that hard...it just makes me go harder. I love to make people hurt, I enjoy making myself hurt too.

On climb two we just decided to explode up the climb. We were honestly holding a good 22-23mph up a 4-5% climb. Ouch!!! But I was able to do the whole climb (about another 10km in 53-17). After all that pain and suffering we got a pace line going...about 28-30mph all the way back to Sesto. So overall it was a pretty good day.

Right when I got back I was hoping that breakfast was still out...YES IT IS!!! SWEETNESS!!! That just made my day. After that I took a shower and then by 1pm I was passed out on my bed. I was planning on waking up at about 3pm...NO...woke up a 5pm. Four good hours of recovery and my legs feel great. I can't wait to see how my legs feel on a bike fit just for me. About 10 more days!!!

And as of now I should be studying...but I can't. Italy just gives you no motivation to do work...no one really works here anyways...so how am I suppose to? I've mostly been thinking about how I want to turn pro. If I can I would like to upgrade to Cat 2 before Superweek and then somehow upgrade to Cat 1 by the end...Yes I know thats very hard to do, but I'm so motivated to do it. I'm also stronger on the bike than I ever have been before and I just keep getting stronger. Every year I have improved. So I think I can do it...I believe in myself. Even my friend that got me into cycling believes I can get up to the P-R-O ranks. He never believed in me before and he was serious tonight. It made me feel good. I just need to show my stuff and have some team see me. I can do it!!! I will do it!!!

Thanks for listening. Happy training...

Ciao

Feelin' Good...

Me trying to act cool...

Alright so today I wanted to get up and go for a ride early this morning. I look out the window and what do I see....rain. BLAH. So I grabbed some breakfast and then went right back to sleep until about 11:30am. I got up, got ready in about 20 minutes and then was off to Florence with some friends for lunch. We hit up the best place to eat in Florence (according to the guide book), Za-Za's. It was actually very tasty. I enjoyed. It stopped raining during our meal, so I really wanted to go on a ride. We got back to the villa at around 3:15pm and I was out the door by 3:30pm for a short ride.

I decided to go to Barbarino di Mugello...with the 5km 7-8% graded climb and then a 2km 13% climb on the way back. It was only a 45km ride. I really just wanted to try out my new position on the bike...and it rules. I honestly feel 5 times stronger now. With a little saddle and seatpost adjustment and cleat position adjustment the bike feels great. My body likes it. I flew up the climbs soooo much easier. Its crazy how just a little bit of adjustment can go a far way. 13% climb in 39-19 sitting down is good for me. And it was easy for me...probably very easy for all those P-R-O's in the ToCal. But didn't get out of breath at all. I can't wait to test my power out against US cyclists when I get back. I'm going to try and upgrade to Cat 2 before Superweek, or atleast be able to upgrade a week into Superweek.

Well, I hope it doesn't rain again tomorrow. Theres a 40% chance of rain, and I want to ride with the team tomorrow...get in a good 6 hours or so. Try and keep up with the really good climbers with my new position.

Other than that I'm studying all night tonight. I gots 3 midterms on Wednesday. BLAH...but right after those its SPRING BREAK!!! And I can just ride with out worrying about anything. I can't wait...and my bike will be coming in two weeks!!!!!! When all put together it should weight between 17.0 - 17.5 lbs which is 5 lbs lighter than my bike right now. And hopefully I ride enough over Spring Break that I lose a little weight...get down to that 155lbs. So that would be an 18lb loss, which would be amazing. Climbs would be nothing. And just having a bike just for my body will help me get faster too. I can't wait!!! Happy Training....

Ciao

More efficient and free shit...

Thursday:
Ok so I didn't write a blog yesterday. Yesterday I didn't have class until 5pm...god I love that. So I woke up at about 11am and really did nothing. I was going to go for a short ride before I met up with the team, but decided not too, cuz my knee was bothering me just a little bit. I did go on the ride at 1pm with the team though. It was fun. 2 hours at a decent pace. On the climb to Carmignano out of the 7 of us, only 2 survived...me and matteau. He's really strong, he kinda looks like Cipollini, he does ride Cipo's 2003 National Italian Champion bike (it was a gift from Cipo to him...craziness). So we kept a very hard pace up the climb...can you say 23mph up a 4-5% gradient. We dropped 4 guys and the only one that was able to stay with us for a little bit was the 'big guy' that mostly made me crash a few weeks back. So Matteau was pulling then it was the big guy and then me. I all of a sudden saw that the big guy was starting to die, so I sprinted around him and caught up with Matteau...we dropped the big guy very fast. I looked back about 10 seconds after passing him and he was already about 75 meters back. We both gave everything we had at the end for a sprint to the top. He got me by the slightest bit. I really need to work on my final sprints. But it was fun. At the end of the ride Matteau came up to me and told me that him and Marco were discussing my position on the bike. Marco wanted to give me a free professional fitting on my bike...Ok. So I would go in the next day to get that done.

Later on I went to the library to study a bit before class. I sat on one of the couches...read 6 pages and passed out for an hour.
Can you say 'productive'. Went to class, had dinner, tried to study more...not working, no motivation at all. Then 10 of us went out to Universale, a disco, and had some dancing fun until about 1:30am. Ah good times

Friday:
So I woke up today at around 9am and went down stairs for breakfast. We also make bagged lunches at this time. Well, I was cutting my Bagel and I cut my index finger very deeply. Started bleeding alot...ouch! Its definitely better now, and I still made myself a damn good lunch and had some breakfast. After breakfast I was still very tired and went back to sleep...until 1pm! Good thing its only Friday and I don't have to worry about too much.

I went into the shop at 4pm and Marco did some professional fitting for me. He adjusted a lot of stuff just by the slightest bit, and I can confirm that I feel a lot better on the bike...I'll definitely have him set up my new bike. He gave me some new cleats too. So he worked on my bike for about an hour to perfection and all for free. After that I need to get a rain jacket. Its been raining for the past week, and its been miserable. So the rain jacket usually runs for 30 Euro, I got it for 20 Euro. Sweet. And then Marco asked me if I had one of the team bags. I said no and he left for a while and got one for me. When he brought it back in I could see it was just a bit heavier and something was in it. He put in on the counter and took out a SS full-zip team jersey and a full team jumpsuit!!! So I would say today was a good day. A crapload of free sweet stuff is always good. I feel spoiled on this team. I don't ever want to leave it. It will be a sad day in May when I have to. But being on this team I feel so P-R-O and its like Christmas every time I walk into that shop. I LOVE IT!!! So I'll be going on a ride tomorrow and checking out this new position on the bike.

As of right now I'm doing some long overdue laundry and eating soon. Tonight I plan on trying to get as much reading as I can done and then watch 2 episodes of l'OC. It'll probably be a late night of studying tonight.

Oh and I want to wish my UW team good luck in DePauw this weekend. I know they'll kick some major ass. A lot of them have been training there asses off. And Depauw, to be honest, isn't really that hard of a race...so if they have some good fitness going into they should be able to crush the other teams...they just have to remember to work as a team and not think individually. I want some good, smart results.

Well, thats all I have to say about that. Happy training....

Ciao

The First Race, Milano, Torino and the Olympics...

Ahhh...the Olympics, only a 5 hr train ride away from me!!!

Ok so its been a couple days...ok more like a week since I last blogged. I've been pretty busy over here in Italy...training, studying, traveling and all that good stuff. For the next few days it'll be a lot of studying, I have 3 exams on Wednesday next week...but then after that its SPRING BREAK!!! So to start off I bet you're all dying to know how the race went...

Tuesday 14/2/06:
Went over to Lucca for my first Italian race about noon on Tuesday....thank god I don't have class until 5pm on Tues and Thurs. Me and my teammate, Matteau, registered and got ready. As we got ready we were seeing some familiar faces. I saw that I would be racing against the Italian National Road Champion and Guidi from the Phonak Pro Cycling Team! Sweet jesus, this is going to be a hard race. I was racing against other Pros/ex-pros as well. I was mostly racing against Cat 1/Ex-Pro/Pro/Super Pros. It was a 75km long race...it was definitely going to be fast. Seeing that I'm only a cat 3 on the road this was going to be very different, but I was definitely up for the challenge. So we lined up, a field of 200 and we're off. WOW...we started out going 50-55 km/hr (30-35mph) for the first 15-20km! Thank god I've been training alot and have gotten stronger. I was able to stick with the pack...after about 20km we slowed down just a little bit. Then at about 30km in there was a crash on a narrow bridge...guess where I was......right behind it. GOD DAMN IT!!! About 50 of us came to a complete stop...buhbye main field. But we weren't going to give up, well, at least 5 of us weren't going to give up. Me and 4 other guys were willing to do work to get back up to the pack. So we kept a rotation going for awhile, keeping around 28mph constant...except when someone else came up that didn't want to do any work, then the pace went down to about 24-25mph. And there goes the pack. So we made our own race out of it. We averaged around 25mph for the race. The last 3km was a 5% constant climb. I just kept my pace...I passed some guys and some guys passed me. At the end I placed 100th overall out of 200 and 3rd in my category (U23). Not too shabby for my first race against all Italians and Pros, eh?

There was a little problem though, after the race my right knee started tensing up...it actually did that after the ride on Sunday too. I know its not poor cleat position. But I do have an idea. I'm in a soccer league here at the villa (I don't even know why I signed up for it), and at the first game I was jacked in the knee right where the pain/stiffness is. So I wonder if its coming to haunt me. GOD DAMN SOCCER. It's on and off. When I keep a higher cadence it starts bugging me, but lower cadences with hard pushing of the pedals doesn't hurt at all. So I really don't know whats going on. I hope I don't have a hairline fracture or something. That would kinda suck.

Friday 17/2/06:
Me and a couple of friends went up to Milan for Fashion Week. We walked around all day going from store to store. I think I shopped from 2pm until 10pm straight. Within that time I bought a very nice pair of Armani pants, a white button down shirt and a new tie. It was all well worth the huge cost.

I did actually do a little bit more than just shop. I also visited the Duomo in Milan and spun on the bulls testicles...yes its in the Galleria and you spin on the bulls balls for good luck. If you go to Milan someday you'll definitely have to do it.


The Duomo...kinda creepy looking, don't you think?


So yeah, you put your heel in that hole and then spin around once...suppose to give you good luck...ok

After all of that I was suppose to go over to Genoa to meet up with my other peeps I would be going to go see bobsledding with. But I changed my mind and stayed in Milan for the night. I stayed at someones house in Milan. One of my friends on the trip knew the girl so we stayed for free, SWEET! But...the friend came home at 4am with one of her friends. They were both smashed. And came into the room we were sleeping in. One of the girls started screaming and freaking out that she couldn't find her mom's phone (with the two charms that hang off the top) and she lost 50 Euro. Then they turned on our light. SWEET JESUS...go do that in another room. Long story made short, they argued for about an hour. 50 F***ING EURO! Thank god she found the phone. Well, the one is freaking out about the 50 euro and the other one isn't believing that she lost it. *SLAP* Ok now there's slapping happening. MY GOD. More arguing and then an HOUR later they finally go to bed. God I know its 50 Euro, "which is more than 50 dollars but calm the F*** down. Very Interesting night.

Saturday 18/2/06:
So we caught a train to Torino at 9:18am. I needed to meet up with my other friends for our event while my other friends went to their event. The train was packed...5 of us had to stand inbetween cars right next to the bathroom for a 2 hr train ride. OK so that sucked. We got there and there were people from all around the world...it was sooo cool. We toured the city for a little bit before I had to catch the train to my Event in Oulx, 5500 ft up in the ALPS. The view was gorgeous:



When we got there it was atleast 60 degrees out...by night fall it was 10 degrees out. Being in 50 degree weather for awhile, my body did not like the cold too much...frozen toes. But it was a cool event...not one of my favorites, but it was still really cool to atleast be at an Olympic Event in Italy!!! Team USA kinda sucked it up...so we cheered for Morocco. lol.


Part of the course at night


Right up next to the course

So our seats were right at the finish, so that was pretty cool, but you couldn't see much of the course so we definitely walked around for a little bit to get a closer look...even though they wizz by at about 130km/hr.

We then had to leave at 8:15pm when the event was done. We didn't get back to our hostel until about 2am. God I was tired and Sunday was going to be a long day of Trains.

Sunday 19/2/06:
Nothing too much to report today. I was on trains from 11am until 3pm. I was going to go for a ride, but I was just dead...so I just stayed in, took a nap and worked on some homework.

Monday 20/2/06:
So class all day. I got my Italian quiz back...95%. 3 Quizes and my average score is a 95.5%. HottNESS! I got out for a 2 hour ride today. It was raining all day except for the 2 hours I was out. Since I haven't been on my bike since Tuesday I decided to kick it up a notch. I was able to do every climb in 1-2 gears higher! I'm definitely getting stronger. I was actually able to do a 1.5km 13% climb in my 39-21 sitting down. Thats actually kinda hard, not gonna lie. So it was a good ride.

Later in the night I went out for a friends b-day. Enid turned 21 today. So we went to Tijauna's in Florence. Yes it is a mexican restaurant and one of the best I have ever been too! After that we had cake and then headed out on the town for alittle bit. Not too long though. It was a fun night though.

Tuesday 21/2/06:
NO Class until 5pm. Riding Time!!! Ok so today I headed out at 11:30am. It was sprinkling just a little bit, but I wanted to go on a ride. The first half of the ride was cool, but then second half was just miserable...I kept going at a hard pace, but sweet jesus, it just started pouring. My brakes were being eaten up. The ride mostly turned into a 4.5 hr death march. 5 good climbs. I got in a good 110km, but wow. By the time I got back to the villa I was soaked, had purple lips and no brakes left on my bike (good thing I brought replacements). My knee also acted up again...not as bad as last time though.

I had Commedia dell'Arte then at 8pm. For our performance at the end of the year I will be playing the male lover. An important part...one of the main characters. SWEET! Hope I don't choke. But it should be fun. We have a script but no text. We just know what were suppose to do, and then improvise the text. My prof. likes my ideas, I made him laugh pretty good.

Wednesday 22/2/06:
I hate class. Its soooo hard to stay up for 3 straight hrs learning about the exact same thing. I didn't do too much today other than study and go to class. I wish I could have taken a nap...thats all I wanted all day. A couple of my friends and I were suppose to watch an episode or two of the OC but there were others using the TV, so that fell thru.


Well, tomorrow night I'll be going out I think. I hope to get in at least a 3 hr bike ride tomorrow with some hard paced efforts up a couple of the climbs. Its suppose to rain until Wednesday next week...BLAH. I wish I had a set of rollers here for those rainy days...maybe I could borrow some from the shop. We'll see. Well, I hope to get up early tomorrow to do some laundry, eat breakfast, study and go for a ride. This weekend will be a lot of studying, so I won't be going anywhere. But Spring Break starts in exactly one week :) SWEET.

Ciao

I could be in the olympics some day...right?

Today was a great day to be outside, but not for the body. I've been feeling kinda shitty the past couple of days. The stomach hasn't been treating me very well. I believe I've been eating too much bad food, but I've been able to burn it off with the training. The weight has been staying on though :(

I woke up at about 8:30am this morning and did some situps. Then got ready and got to class for 10am. Class sucks. I'm in Italy, I just want to travel and train. I guess I need an edu-ma-cation too. Class went to 1pm and then it was time for lunch. After lunch I went for a 1.5 hr moderate ride.

The ride was a little painful. My legs felt like lead pipes that didn't want to do anything useful, until...i got half way up the first climb. Then my legs had something. My lungs didn't get tired at all which is good. I wanted to go a little slower today though seeing that I have my first race tomorrow over by Luca.

Saying that, I got my Italian racing license today. I went into the shop and Marco asked if I needed a little tune up for my bike. Well, sure. He did that while I looked at some carbo and protein powders. And chose a good euro protein powder (banana flavor) and carbo powder (Apricot flavor). I bought the powders and then they gave me my bike back, free tune up...and then they brought over a pair of bibs and socks...and gave them to me for free. SWEET!!! Free gear and now I look like part of the team. HottNESS.


So this is what an Italian Racing license looks like. I'm a Cat A Cicloamatori if you can't read that....

So I race tomorrow. WOW. A little bit of nervousness and excitement is coming over me. I haven't raced since July 23, 2005. That's a pretty long time if you ask me, but I've done lots of hard training since then, so we'll see if its been worthwhile. It better be. Also, I've never raced with a field full of Italians so it will be interesting. I'm racing in the Amateur class, but...I'm a category A racer. Damn, I really wonder if thats like the top category, like a cat 1 in the states. Usually nothing comes after an 'A'. We'll just have to see if I get destroyed or if I can destroy everyone else. Oh, and if I win tomorrow I'm giving myself a mohawk...no questions asked.

Ok time to get going on some of that homework I should have done a long time ago. Happy training...

Lots to Tell...And a Big Day is Coming!

I think I'm turning just a bit Euro since I've been over here just look at that picture...geez...what the hell am I thinking. I went out one night like this. Fohawk, half tuck and white tie...WOW

Ok so I haven't done a post since Monday night. Alot has happened since then. Here it goes...

TUESDAY -
I went in to the doctor today to have my stress test. Mostly he measured my weight and height, then I had an EKG. After that I had to step up and down on 'a' step for two minutes to get up my heart rate and then rest for two minutes just to make sure the heart works well and everything. Everything is all fine in those departments. And then I had a lung capacity test. I guess my lung capacity is almost 6 liters. Not bad, that makes me a little bit higher than the average male lung capacity of ~5.5 liters. Tomorrow I'll have to bring in a cup of my urine for them to test. I hope they don't find all that EPO I've been taking. lol.

After all that I went on a 2 hour jaunt with a couple guys from the team. About 10 of us. We went 70km. Only 1 short climb, which I mostly crushed everyone on...that always makes me feel good. Only one guy was able to keep my pace and he was breathing very hard the whole time. I wasn't even breathing that hard. So I'm happy how my ability has been improving. That's all that really happened today.

WEDNESDAY -
Crappy day today. Cold and rainy. Blah. I took my urine in at about 8:30am to find out that the doctor's office isn't even open until 1pm. God damn it, they even told me to bring to them in the morning. So I went back to the villa, had class until 1, lunch and then went back to the doctor's office. It took them about 5 minutes to test my urine and I got the sheet I had to turn in for my license. Sweet. So I went over to the shop and applied for my Italian racing license. I should get it next week some time.


The sheet to apply for the license

I didn't go for a ride today cuz it was so crappy and I won't be riding for the next 3 days. That will suck, but at least I'll be walking all over Rome for the next 3 days instead. :) I was thinking later on in the night how I should be packing for Roma, but I passed out at 8pm after a huge dinner...we had amazing lasagna. I had a little too much. Oh well, I'll be burning it off later.

THURSDAY -
We had to get up at 6:30am for breakfast and make it out to the bus by 7:30. I had to get up at 5:45am to do my packing still. Thank god I went to bed so early. I got everything done and surprisingly enough got everything packed that I needed. The bus ride took a good 4 hrs. I slept some more with some music. We got to Roma at about noon and checked in to the hotel. We relaxed for a bit and watched some tv. We didn't have to be anywhere until 1:30pm...so relaxation it is. At 1:30 we were off to Piazza del Repubblica for a tour with our cool tour guide Marcello. He was awesome and funny and actually very interesting.


Piazza del Repubblica

OK so we started at the Piazza and started our way down to the Roman Forum which use to be a marsh way back in the day. We got a lot of interesting history on the place, got to see a lot of the buildings like the senate building and stuff like that.


The Roman Forum

We ended the tour at the Colusseum which was the one thing that I wanted to see for such a long time. It was a great view. I loved it. We took a picture with some of the Romans and goofed around pretending to be gladiators just like everyone does. It was a good time...


il Grande Colusseo


Me, a couple of friends and my 'willy' being sawed off...


Me and Dan battling it out in front of the Colusseum

After the tour we went over to the Pantheon and toured a little bit more of Roma. We got back to the hotel later on to relax for a little bit, take a shower and watched a little bit of the olympics. After all of that we a couple of us went out for caffe and dinner. After that it was time to go out on the town for some partying and meeting some people. We went to Campo di Fiori to a couple of the bars and started the party. We were at a bar called the "drunken ship". There we danced and met people from all over the world. I actually met an Australian chick. She thought I was Italian when she first saw me. My friends told her that I wasn't, and she didn't believe them until she heard my accent. She was very nice and wild. I'm not gonna lie, I think she just really wanted to get in my pants. She was telling all my friends how hott I was and how she wanted me. It was crazy. We got back to the hotel at about 2:30am and passed out.

FRIDAY -
I got up at 7am to shower and got downstairs for breakfast at 7:45am. Breakfast was amazing. And then we were off to go visit the Vatican. We met up with Marcello again and he showed us around the vatican museum and the sistine chapel. Everything was just so cool and glorious. We also went to St. Pieter's Church, wow big and wonderful. After the visit I went down Via del Corso (big shopping district) and bought myself a white tie for the opera later in the night. At about 6:30 eight of us went out to dinner and then went to the opera. We saw the famous opera Rigoletto. I really enjoyed it. We got back to the hotel and changed and went out again. A couple of us sat at a couple different bars just sitting back and talking. And then at about 1:15am we had a craving for some gelato. We actually found a place open at that time. So we went and it was glorious. We went back to the bars and they all said they were closing at 2am so we just went back to the hotel.


The Vatican


Teatro Opera

SATURDAY -
I woke up at 8:30am and got downstairs for breakfast. At 10 we went to the Modern Art Museum. There was some really cool contemporary art. But after looking at it for about 2.5 hrs I just wanted to ride my bike. Me and Danny Crump left and went to go eat on Via del Corso. After lunch we went over and saw the Spanish steps, sat there for awhile and then we went over to see the Trevi Fountain. I loved every moment of it. We had to leave at 5 for back home. When we got back to the villa I ate and then fell asleep. I had a long day of biking on Sunday coming.


The Spanish Steps in Piazza del Spagna


A view from the top of the Spanish Steps


Me at Trevi Fountain with Abby and Enid...and I will be coming back to Roma because I threw a coin into the Fountain.

SUNDAY -
I woke up at 7:45am and got ready for some bike riding at 8:30am. Thank god I actually had time to eat, because today turned out to be a death march. I ended up going out for 4.5 hrs, 120km and that included 3 mountain passes. I believe we had 25km of climbing and about 2500-3000m of vertical elevation change. Wow, after eating lots of crap for 3 days and not biking for 4 days my legs were blowing up. I was able to do the whole ride just fine...but it hurt like a bitch. There were 20 guys that came out again and I was top 5 up all 3 climbs. The first climb was the hardest because my legs weren't ready for the climbing and it was about 10km of climbing, a 6-7% grade. On the second climb I was going along and everyone just started dropping off my wheel one by one. All of a sudden I turned around and I was all alone and gaining ground on everyone. I didn't think the climb was that bad...4-5km at about 7%. The third climb was sort of optional. Only 7 out of the 20 of us decided we wanted to do it. I now see why 13 opted not to do it. It was a long and hard climb. It was 13-14km long with grades varying from 5% to 9% in little sections. WOW ripped my legs off...but I still felt good. It was a very hard day and to top the day off I rode with a sore throat...not cool. I got back to the villa at 1 and had a sandwich and passed out on my bed until 5pm when my mom called me on skype. And then I just hung out the rest of the night watching some of the olympics and the movie Elf. Thats about it.

The best thing about today is I found out that I can go pick up my Italian Racing License tomorrow and my first Italian race is this Tuesday! IN TWO DAYS!!! Wow, I was not expecting that. I'll probably just use this race to see how the Italians race and see what the legs have in them. I'm nervous and excited. I haven't raced since July 23, 2005. God damn brain trauma. If I have a chance to take the race, then I'll take it. It seems like I'm a pretty good climber and the adrenaline will definitely be raging thru me. I also heard that the course is pretty much flat with a climb in the last 5km of about 5%. So lets see what I gots...

Happy training....

Not Much...

Today was kinda a boring day. 4 classes at 1.5hrs each (except for Italian which is 50 minutes). It was class from 10am until 1pm. Had lunch. The cooks here make the best tomato soup I have ever had. And then for the main course it was roast beef, potatoes and broccoli in olive oil. God its good. I'm trying so hard not to gain weight here. I'm staying the same weight though. I need to start getting that down...grrr. Right after lunch I played soccer. I don't quite know why I signed up for the villa soccer league. I don't even like playing soccer. I enjoy watching it, but I would rather ride my bike. So I played soccer for about 45 minutes. Our team lost 11-5. Yeah we suck, but we don't have anyone on our team that plays soccer. So us getting 5 goals was pretty good. One thing I learned is that I suck at soccer. I can't shoot, pass, or dribble the ball at all. I didn't make a single goal, but I had a couple good assists, I think...I don't quite know soccer lingo.

After soccer I really wanted to go on a bike ride, but I didn't have time. I had to go to Esselunga and the pharmacy before my 5pm class. I had to go get some passport photos taken and get a sterile cup for urine. I got the passport photos easily...I gave my little smirk for the picture. Its pretty hott. But then I had some trouble getting the sterile cup. I got in the pharmacy asked for it and they looked at me all confused. Then one said take a right out of here and go to the brown building on the left. YEAH..Thanks a lot...very helpful...whore. I went back to the villa to talk to my Italian prof. about what to do. She gave me what I need to say. So tomorrow morning I have to go back to the pharmacy and get a god damn cup for my urine..grrr.

During the night I didn't do homework again...I believe that makes it 10 straight days of not doing homework. Oh well. I just sat on the computer downloading funny stuff and talking with friends. We're in Italy. We shouldn't have homework anyways.

I have my stress test tomorrow at 10:30am. And right after that I'll go to the bike shop, get my license and then go on a ride and meet up with the team at 1pm. I really want at least 4 hours of riding tomorrow. If I need to get back for my 5pm class, then so be it.

Ah, a short blog entry...I enjoy this...happy training...

Fun in Bologna...

So this weekend was lots of fun. First off, on Friday morning a group of my classmates and I had to go into Florence at 8:30am for a museum field trip to the Archeological Museum and the Pitti Palace for the Mythological Erotica exhibit. The Archeological museum was not really that much fun cuz all we did was look at vases for about an hour, yay! But then we had to trek across the city to the Pitti Palace after that for the more fun museum tour. The Mythological Erotica exhibit was cool. It was a lot more paintings and had cool scenes in them...not gonna lie, some of them were kinda sexual seeing that it was "Erotic". I know what I'm going to write my paper on now for mythology class...'rape and abduction scenes'. Yes, I know that does sound weird...but being raped by a swan I think is a little weirder. You don't see that everyday.

I was able to get back to the villa at about 1-1:15pm. I had my bagged lunch which we get every Friday. It's some good stuff. I was then going to get ready for a ride, but since I only got 4 hours of sleep the night before, because I can't go to sleep until about 3am again. And I've been riding since Sunday, so I decided to take a nap. I was only going to go for a recovery ride for about 1.5-2 hrs anyways. But sleep is important too. So thats what I did. I'm going on a good hard ride with the team on Sunday morning and I'll be walking all over the place in Bologna all day Saturday. I'll get my exercise.

I woke up at about 4:45. I got a good ~3 hours of sleep. SWEET! And then I had to throw everything together and go get some money from the ATM before getting to the train station by 6:15pm. Dan, Kat, Lindsey, Danielle and I left at about 5:40 from the villa to get on the bus. We arrived at the train station at 6:14 or so. Ran in, got our tickets and got on the train. It started moving about 5 minutes later. We just made it, eh. The ride wasn't bad at all. 1 hour train ride. We got to the Bologna station and got some bus tickets to get to our hostel. We finally got to our hostel at about 9:15 because the bus schedule sucks. Got ready to go out and then went out. We found this really nice family owned restaurant. I had Passatelli, some Caprese(buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes), some caffe, and a couple glasses of wine. I didn't eat since about 1 on Friday so I needed some food. Our bill came to 108 Euro for 5 people (we got two bottles of wine). Not actually that bad for everyone getting two courses and two bottles of wine, and it was really good food. We got out of the restaurant at about 12:30am. Not gonna lie, I love sitting in a restaurant for two hours until after midnight. Its always a good time, I love how things work here. So before we left we had a huge table of 50-60 year olds start talking to us and then wanted us to sing 'West Side Story' with them. Ok so we did, it was awesome. But then it was time to go see a couple bars and clubs. We started out at this Irish Pub (name was too long to remember) and I had a pint o' beer and a malibu and pineapple. I got a little tipsy seeing that I bike all the time and I'm a light weight anyways. We stayed there until abotu 1:30am and then decided to go to a Disco called 'Kinki' There was an 8 euro cover for guys and a 5 euro cover for girls. God damn it. But we got in and there was some good music playing, you could dance to it. So we danced the night away...literally. By the time we left it was 4am. Yeah we danced for almost 3 hours. Awesome time. The girls with us had Dan and me save them from the crazy Italians wanting to dance all over them. When we left it was definitley like the Dane Cook Joke. "I was in the subwoofer". My hearing was all muffled and everything. Yeah I'm probably a little bit more deaf now, awesome. But we got a cab which only cost 12 euro to get us back to our hostel. That is an amazing price...split up betwee 5 people. We got to sleep at 6am and then got up at 10am. Sweet jesus.


Just one of the many covered streets in Bologna


The rest of the gang, hanging out at the Irish Pub....Dan's being a silly bitch like usual.


Day two in bologna was a little bit more relaxing and touristy. We walked around for about 5 hours taking pictures and shopping. It was a very nice day. There was the 'leaning tower of Bologna' (well, thats what I like to call it). It was actually built to lean like it does. But Bologna was a really cool city. It kinda is like the Madison of Italy, but Italian-ized. I liked it. For lunch we went to Nicola's Pizzeria. We had some amazing Bruschetta (probably my favorite antipasto), and then some awesome Ravioli al quattro formaggi (4 cheese ravioli). There was just one thing I was craving all day...PASTRIES!! I love the pastries here. Not donuts, actual pastries. So good. We finally found a pasticceria after looking for one for about 45minutes. I don't think my group was liking me too much after the 45 minutes of trying to find it. We left at around 5:45 to get back to Florence cuz we were all tired.


I want this to be my new bike


A little acoustic music in the streets


Neptune...The God of the Sea


A bike protest....they want people to ride bikes more, therefore creating less pollution...YAY


Dan Crump and I trying to look all badass...My god I love the coat I'm wearing...


We got back into Sesto at about 7pm. We made reservations at the Sesto Pub for 9pm. We got there at 9 and the place was packed. Lets just say reservations in Italy are shit. We had people come in after us and get seated. We didn't sit down until about 9:40. They probably just don't like Americans. I just had a salad with tuna (Insalata di Tonno). Then we went back to the villa and watched 'The Rock' until about 1:30am. And I didn't get to sleep until 2:45.

I woke up this morning at 8:07am. I was suppose to meet my team at 8:30 at the shop. CRAP. I still had to get ready, eat, fill up my water bottles, and get my bike ready. and I had to at least leave the villa by 8:25. WOW I hurried. I got ready very quickly...thank god its been warm. I didn't have to put on too much winter gear. I ate. I don't know how I survived the ride today with the amount of food I had. I had 7 small graham crackers with some nutella, and three pieces of bread with just a little bit of peanut butter. I'll get to the ride time and distance in a second. That's not too much to eat before a hard long ride. I brought a package of graham crackers with me (about 10 crackers). I got everything ready and I was out the door at just about 8:25. Don't know how I did it. I blasted down the streets to the shop and they were just leaving as I got there. WHEW... A couple called out my name "Matteau, ciao" I love it. There were about 20-25 riders in the group. Nice big group. I like it. Ok, it was then the start of a long and tough ride. We started out west like usual. There's some pretty nice roads out that way. My legs were feeling good after two days of rest. I could hear some of my teammates talking about me "Americano, giovane" (young american), and telling each other what they know about me. I bet some of the people I haven't met yet were a little skeptical of my ability. But I'll show them what I can do. We go to the first climb about 15km into the ride and right away the field broke apart. I noticed that there were about 5 of us that stuck together on the climb and we kept going hard. It was only about a 2-3Km climb with a gradient of about 4%. We kept a nice hard pace up it. More was to come. About 35km into the ride there was another climb. This one was about 5km at a 5% gradient. The field broke apart again and it was the 5 of us again with one extra. The extra was thrown off half way up the climb. And then I was with about 1km to go. My legs needed a little bit more feeling for the climbs. I'm still not quite a climber yet, but I'm getting there. I was able to keep them within about 75-100 meters though and at the end of most climbs my legs all of a sudden feel fresh. Its kinda weird. We all got back together at the top and continued on. I was wondering how long the ride was going to be. Just wondering thats all...I didn't quite know if my fuel was going to last. We hit another hill. We took this one a little easier, it wasn't that long at all. Very easy. At about 65km one of the guys told me a 6km climb was coming up with a gradient of about 5-6%. Ok not bad. "The Elite 5" (The 4 other climbers and me) and two more started booking it up the climb. We had a really hard pace going. One guy got shedded off and then with about 2km to go my legs feel like they're on fire. Damn it. I slowed down a little bit. They started taking off. Two of the other guys got dropped and then it was a group of 3, a chase group of 2 and then me. I was able to catch up to the chase group. We were only abotu 15 seconds back or so. At the top we rested a talked for just a little bit waiting for the rest of the group. One of the guys asked how old I was, I said 21 and then he said "molto giovane" (very young) but he said he was impressed with my ability. AWESOME. I guess all the others turned off at some point cuz they didn't want to go any further. We continued on. I had to go with even if I didn't want to, cuz I didn't really know my way back to Sesto. About 3Km later there was another climb. 5km with a 6% going up to 8% a couple times. I was GOING to stay with the group this time. Hard pace up it again. I stuck with. Little pain. Get out of the saddle for just a little bit. Keep Going. YES I made it. OW. We kept going. Two more climbs after that. The wind started to pick up too. I guess we had a 16mph wind with gusts up to 30mph. Wow, this is a hard day. We ended up going 110 km in just under 4hrs with 7 good climbs. It was about 25km of climbing (probably a total of 2000-2500meters of elavtion change). Good ride. After all of that, I can't believe I didn't bonk with the amount of breakfast I had. Thank god. It was a good day. I got back. Took a shower and then passed out on my bed. I got up at about 5:30. Damn I was tired after all of that.

Well, I made my goal this week. I lost 5 pounds. I'm down to 164 now. I think if I can lose about 4 pounds each week I should be good. I want to get down to 153lbs (~70kg) by March. We'll see if thats possible. I think it is. Then I'll definitely be awesome up these climbs. I wish all of you could experience cycling in Italy. The way we ride in the cities (Crazy) and how hard some of the climbs are and especially the beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside.

On Tues I'll be going to get my stress test and then I'll be able to get my racing license. I was also thinking about buying my racing license for the US. So I don't have to worry about it and they'll be there when I get home.

I think that's enough writing for one night. Time to do some homework. Happy training...

My Racing schedule....

So I decided to put up my schedule for this season. Yes I know I will not be doing all of these races but I would like to keep it open so if I could I would. I'll be racing on the road for Brazen Dropouts out of Madison. I still need an MTB team. If anyone knows of a good one, tell me and give me infomation on them.

Main goal this year - upgrade to a Road Cat 2
2nd goal - Top 25 overall in Elite WORS
3rd goal - Collegiate MTB Nationals

Racing Schedule for 2006

Sun Mar. 5 Italy 80-120km Road Race
Sun Mar. 19 Italy 80-120km Road Race
Sun Mar. 26 Italy 80-120km Road Race
Sun Apr. 2 Italy 80-120km Road Race
Sun Apr. 9 Italy 80-120km Road Race
Sun Apr. 16 Italy 80-120km Road Race
Sat May 20 LeLand Grand Prix WCA Cat 3
Sun May 21 Wheels on Willy WCA Cat 3 Crit
Sat May 27 WORBA GEARS 12 Hour Duo
Sun Jun 4 Nine Mile Elite WORS MTB
Sat Jun 10 Spring Prairie State Road WCA Cat 3
Sun Jun 18 Kewaunee Elite WORS MTB
Sat Jun 24 WORBA Metro Challenge 12 Hour Duo
Sat July 1 Cudahy Crit WCA Cat 3
Sun July 2 Chippewa Valley Elite WORS MTB
Sun July 8 Superweek - Menasha Cat 3
Sun July 9 Superweek - Manitowoc Cat 3
Sun July 10 Superweek - AV Cat 3
Sun July 11 Superweek - MGA Proving Cat 3
Sun July 12 Superweek - Whitnall Park Cat 3
Sun July 13 Superweek - Shorewood Cat 3
Sun July 14 Superweek - Brewers Hill Cat 3
Sun July 15 Superweek - Waukesha Cat 3
Sun July 16 Alterra Coffee Classic Elite WORS MTB
Sun July 17 Superweek - Holy Hill Cat 3
Sun July 18 Superweek - Lakefront Cat 3
Sun July 19 Superweek - DePere Cat 3
Sun July 20 Superweek - Sheboygan Cat 3
Sun July 21 Superweek - Kenosha Cat 3
Sun July 22 Superweek - Lakefront Cat 3
Sun July 23 Phillips Elite WORS MTB
Sat&Sun July 29-30 24 Hours of 9 Mile 24 Hour Duo
Sat Aug 5 PCW Crit WCA Cat 3
Sun Aug 6 Calumet Elite WORS MTB
Sat Aug 12 Ore To Shore Expert MTB, Hard Rock
Sat Aug 26 State Crit Championship WCA Cat 3
Sun Aug 27 WORS Cup Elite WORS MTB
Sat&Sun Sept 9-10 Collegiate MTB Class A Collegiate
Sept 15-17 Chequamegon 40 MTB
Sun Sept 24 Rome Around Elite WORS MTB
Sun Oct 1 Collegiate MTB Class A Collegiate
Sat&Sun Oct 7-8 Collegiate MTB Class A Collegiate
Sat Oct 15 WCA Cyclocross Class A
Oct 20-22 Angel Fire Resort Collegiate MTB Nationals
Sat Oct 28 WCA Cyclocross Class A
Sat Nov 4 Iceman Cometh Expert MTB
Dec 8-11 Cyclocross, Providence, RI Cyclocross Nationals

WORS Events 8

Italian Road Races 6

WCA Races 6

12 Hour MTB 2

24 Hour MTB 1

Superweek 14

Ore 2 Shore 1

Chequamegon 40 1

Collegiate MTB 6

Collegiate MTB Nats 1

Cyclocross Races

Cross Nationals 1


Total Races 50

As you can see I can't wait to race. Hopefully climbs like this will help me get stronger....I would think so....

65 and Sunny...

Ah I love this weather. It was 65 and sunny again today. So I woke up had some breakfast, studied for my Italian quiz at 5 until 11:30am and then got ready for a warmup ride before meeting my team. I left at noon and rode over to Le Croci...flat for about 10 km and then the climb starts. I did about 3km of the climb and then returned to Sesto to meet the team by 1. I got there and Marco, the shop owner...really cool guy, checks on me once again to see how I'm healing...totally fine now, other than the hands still stinging some of the time. He then grabbed a little bit of my jersey and then had an idea. He called me into the shop. His co-owner started rummaging thru something behind the counter and then he pulls out one of the team's long sleeve jerseys. They put it on me and then said there...now you're ready to go ride. They gave me a team jersey for FREE! I haven't even paid any club dues or anything like that. I don't think I even need to pay club dues. SWEET. Well, Marco didn't go on the ride, but I went with 3 of the other teammates. One of them talked a bit of English, so we were able to talk about racing and training and some stories. He told me theres a short race (70km) on Feb 17th over by Luca...I was like sweet I'm in. Later on I remembered I'm going to the olympics that day...DAMN IT...I want to race sooooo bad. My last race was July 23, 2005. Thats a long time and I'm dying. Oh well I guess, I probably need a little bit more training anyways and I still need to lose a little bit of weight.


My new team until May...MTbike out of Sesto Fiorentino

But we started out on our ride going West. It was nice and flat and fast. We ended up going to Fognano. There was a nice little 6% climb for about 4km or so. It was only me and the guy that could speak some English. He's a pretty good climber..and about 10-15 km heavier than me. He was sticking right with me...My legs decided to give out half way up the climb so he pulled away, SHIT. But then with about 1km my legs were fine...god damn legs...sometimes I just don't know about you, but at least you're getting stronger. We got to the top, I was about 6-7 seconds behind and then the other guy came about 6 minutes later. I thought he would have been more of a climber. He was small, maybe about my weight. But I learned later that he use to be a great soccer player for the Firenze team. Damn, that's awesome. Well, we ended up losing him on the next climb again and then he didn't take the turn we did. So after the downhill we had to climb back up the 'downhill' which varied from 9% to 18%. WOW that kinda hurt. But I love climbing, thats why I need to get better at it. We never found him...good thing he lives around the area and knows the roads.

On the way back into town I talked with my teammate and we started telling each other stories. I think the coolest thing was he was riding a 'gift'. He's bike was given to him as a gift from Mario Cipolini. Yes, Cipo!!! The bike he won the 2003 Italian Championships on. Sweet jesus. How you may ask. Well, I guess his grandpa was an amazing mechanic for 23 years and became friends with Cipo and then he became friends with Cipo. I love Italia. Well, it was then the end of the ride...total time today for me...3 hours (90km) at an average of about 18.7mph with 4 decent climbs. Not bad if you ask me. Next ride with the team will be on Sunday at 8:30am for a nice hard ride with 500m sprints every 10km. And again I can't wait. I'll be going on a recovery ride tomorrow and then taking Saturday off seeing that I'll be in Bologna for some travel site seeing.

I got back to my villa and I saw I had a package waiting for me...SWEET my wheelset and other new shit. HOTTNESS!!! I put my bike away got changed and picked up my package ASAP. I should have been studying for my Italian quiz, but this was more important and I only really needed another 30min to study. I ripped open the package and took everything out, just making sure everything was there...and I wanted to look at it. I got my Fulcrum Racing 3 Wheelset, my Fizik Arione Wing Flex saddle in Chalk White/Silver, my carbon Keo pedals, a pair of Michelin Pro2 Tyres, and some light blue Deda bar tape. Hottness. Heres some pics of my new toys.


Some carbon Look Keo pedals. They are hott and light. 230 gr for the pair. Yes please.


I live by Michelin Pro 2 Race tyres. I've had a pair since July and have never gotten a flat once...and theres a lot of miles on the Pro2's on my other bike. Besides that is some nice comfy Deda Light Blue Bar Tape to go with the baby blue in the frame.


White saddles rule. Looks comfy doesn't it...


My Fulcrum Wheels. The silver will go nicely with the rest of my bike. Front - 16 radial spokes, Rear - 21 spokes in a 2 to 1 ratio design


Hottness

I can't wait to have my new bike all put together...too bad I have to wait for one more month. At least Feburary is a short month :) Keep up the training, I want a challenge when I get home....

Crash pics

Here's just a couple pics of my body from my crash on Tuesday. They may not look bad, but road rash on your hands...OUCH!!! And the shoulder is very stiff and cracks alot, but its healing nicely.


The Right hand (this one hurts the most)


Yes I know its sideways, but its the left shoulder. Just a nice big bruise. Kinda hard to lift the arm sometimes


A few cuts and scrapes on the left leg


And the Left hand, definitely not as bad as the right.

Well, my body may be beaten and torn, but I'll keep on riding...my legs feel good...so I ride tomorrow. Should be around 70 degrees, AGAIN!!

Another day...

So I got some encouragement from one of my best friends to keep on cycling and not be worried. I was just a little scared after the crash. I crashed the exact same way in July and had some brain trauma a few weeks later. I don't quite know if I hit my head...I think it was just my chin, but I'm not gonna lie I was a little worried that I could have something like my episode in August happen again. But my best friend told me to keep going...he knows I never give up and keep going until I've accomplished what I set my mind to. I won't have anything bad happen, it was just a flukey thing anyways. Thanks Ben.

I was going to take the day off to heal a little bit, but it was almost 70 degrees outside today and not a cloud in the sky. How could I pass that up. How could any cyclist pass that up after months of miserable cold and snow. So I got ready...all I had to put on was my shorts and a jersey!! Its February 1st and thats all I have to wear biking, I LOVE IT!!! I went to Barberino di Mugello again today cuz Ullrich, my professor, and sara, training for the Ironman Wisconsin, wanted a little bit more flat than going up into the mountains. OK, I probably shouldn't go that hard today anyways. I couldn't hold the handlebars too well at first because of the road rash on my palms, but I got over the pain and held them like I usually do. Although, whenever I took my hands off the handlebars some of my road rash decided to stay with the handlebars...I have to clean it off now. The shoulder was better, but still a little stiff and the right side of my neck was a little bit stiff today too. None of that is going to stop me from riding though. I felt fine on the bike.

When we got to the first climb I decided to pick up the pace. I dropped Ullrich and Sara right away at the bottom and kept motoring. I wanted to go as fast as I could up this climb. Show that no crash is going to halt my improving climbing ability. When I got to the top I checked my time and was 2 min faster than the last time I did it, and it was pretty fast that last time. WOW. Ullrich came 2 mins after me and then Sara was about 5 min after that. I do feel so much stronger, I just hope I AM able to show it during my races here. Some of my friends at the villa want to come see me race...I'll have to get them a good show. It was also warmer at the top of the climb, it wasn't because of my sweat and body heat...it was actually warmer...I love Italy. I wish I didn't have class at 5pm, cuz then I could have taken a longer route...but I got my 2 hours in and was happy with my performance with the climbs. I can't wait to be about 155lbs and get my new ~17lbs custom Italian bike. I'll definitley be flying up those climbs then. 18 less pounds will really make a difference (my bike now weighs 22lbs and I weigh 168lbs...god damn winter weight).

I'll be going on another ride tomorrow with the Sesto Team at 1 and then I have an Italian quiz. I'll definitely study for that tonight and then tomorrow morning and make sure I know my stuff...then get on my bike. Ciao....