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....