<- Left Turns Only!

Assisi, Spello, Trevi, Montefalco, Spoleto — I mean, can you tell I was in Italy with towns bearing names like that?  Although my favorite name (or at least the one that made me chuckle the most) was by far… well, I’ll let you guess after looking at the picture below:

What can I say, I have a “Dumb and Dumber“ sense of humor!?!  It made for good jokes while riding the remaining 50k that day.  Here’s the quick recap:

Day 6 - While the rest of the group went the short route in the morning, in order to make a stop off at an Olive Oil shop, I opted for the long route to ride the hills on my way to Assisi.  The first 14k was a long, somewhat gradual uphill.  NOT the ideal way to warm up the legs in the morning.  Here is a pic that I took at the top of one of the climbs:

The downhill side of the ride took me right into Assisi.  The town itself is not very large, as can be said for many of the towns in Tuscany and Umbria.  From a distance, the Basilica of San Francesco (St. Francis) is the obvious eye opener.  You can see the church on the left hand side of this picture.  You are not allowed to use cameras inside of the church, where there are many beautiful paintings - several of which show the signs of aging and the need for restoration, if possible.  I did take a few snapshots from outside and in the courtyard.

After we spent some time in Assisi, and I had about my 32nd Gelato of the trip, we hit the road again.  It was on this leg of the journey on day six that we had one of the most memorable moments.  Five of us stopped along the roadside to take a quick break.  Needed to grab a little water and give the haunches a rest.  As we stood near a fence line, a local farmer strolled by and we made a few jokes about riding the “Tour of Umbria”.  As he passed us on the street a moment later, on his tractor, he asked us something in Italian.  Fortunately, we had someone there that spoke a bit of Italian - although we all understood the last word: vino.  End result, see pictures below:

Yeah, we all ended up buying a bottle from him - 7 Euros ($10).  Good deal, huh?!?

Day 7 - The last day of riding.  We all left the hotel together, but after about 3k the routes separated and I went for the long route again.  Tried to get a good workout in, as it was only me and Derek (the one guy who rode the long routes with me a couple of times).  We stopped for lunch in Trevi (good climb to get to the town center) and of course to get Gelato as well.  We met up with the group on the road after lunch, and rode into town with them.  Did make a stop to visit a bike shop, where I bought a local cycling jersey… and had another Gelato.    We spent the night at the Hotel Charleston in Spoleto.  Here are a couple of pics from the walk that we took as a group before heading to dinner.

The last/remaining post will cover my time in Cinque Terre… try to have that one up on Sunday. 

As for getting back to the regular routine, last night was our first night on the ice (short track).  This weekend I’ll set foot on the long track ice at the Pettit for the first time this season.  I was going to do time trials on Sunday, but I want to get some time on the ice before trying to push it too hard.  Still haven’t adjusted to the time change either… I was up at 5am this morning.  Yeah, I’m that messed up right now! 

Well, I’ve made it back from Italy, after several days without an internet connection.  I did manage a quick stop at an internet cafe to check email, but it was hardly enough time to type up a good post.  So, I’ll be posting my trip highlights for the next couple of days rather than one long endless post that sums it all up. 

Day four was a little shorter than day three, as I only biked 43k.  The long route was actually 57k, but no one did the long route - since the medium version ended at Piscina Val di Sole in Bagno Vignoni… and after a dip in the hot springs no one was in the mood to hop back on the bike for the remaining 14k. 

Day five the biking was rained out.  The weather actually wasn’t that bad later in the day.  Midday we stopped at an Italian ceramics shop, Cama Deruta.  It is amazing to watch these people create things by hand, in a matter of seconds, that most of us would probably spend all day screwing up.  Later that afternoon, after we had checked into our next hotel, La Bastiglia in Spello, we had a cooking class that was taught by the hotel cooking staff.  The hotel restaurant has earned a Michelin Star in Europe.  I wasn’t very familiar with the ratings system, so to put it in perspective - in the UK and Ireland 2004 guide, out of 5,500 entries, there are 98 with one star, 11 with two stars and 3 with one star.  (We had dinner at the hotel restaurant the next evening)

Here are a few pics from days four and five:

Day 2 - The first official day of our tour. We took a bus ride out of Siena, to a small town called Montalcino. As a group we ventured out for the day’s ride. There were two routes for the day, a short route (26K) and a medium route (43K). This was the most difficult day of riding, as far as road conditions went, as we road on dirt roads most of the day. I was the only person that opted to do the medium route, and as would be the case when you go it alone, I got a flat tire at about the 27K mark (the routes split at about 18K). I ended up jogging with my bike for about 5K because I forgot to grab a tire lever before leaving at the start of the trip. I ended up stopping at a small house to ask someone for help - and wouldn’t you know that the Italian gentlemen that I asked for help ended up having about 40 bikes in his garage! He changed the tire in about 3 seconds!!! I hoped back on the bike and made it back to the hotel after two nice climbs that led into the town. We spent the night at an agriturismo called the Pieve a Salti.

Day 3 - After our morning meeting to go over the route, we rolled out from the Pieve a Salti at about 9:30 am. Today there were three route options (short - 27k, medium - 43k, long - 66k), and once again I had a bike issue. About 25k into the route, and as we hit one of the day’s toughest hills, my right gear shift loosened up and caused the chain to stay in a difficult gear to ride hills. I know little about biking stuff - gears, flats, etc… so I rode the last 2k of that section (when I could manage it, since it was mostly uphill) in a middle gear. At the end of that part of the route, one of our guides, and a bike expert, Giovanni fixed my bike. Back to the road, and the many hills that were ahead.

One of the stops towards the end of the Medium route was at a church, Sant’ Anna in Camprena. They filmed The English Patient at this church. One of the other highlights of the day was a stop at the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Majore (an Abbey on Mount Oliveto).

There’s the Cliffs’ Notes version of the two days… here are a few pics from along the way. More to come… (internet access permitting…)

Obviously, from the title, I made it back from Kansas City. Great weekend to see the Yanks win two, see Arod crush three homers, and stop by the Negro League Baseball Museum. I will post a few pics when I return to Chicago, as I am now in Rome for my one big vacation trip of the year.

I arrived this afternoon at 3pm, after taking a connecting flight from Frankfurt, and then taking about a 30 minute train ride from the airport. I couldn’t hold off the exhaustion, as I couldn’t sleep on the planes - so the first thing I did when I got to the hotel was take a shower and take a nap.

After getting a little shut-eye, I grabbed dinner at a small pizza place that the concierge recommended. Best pizza I’ve had outside of the northeast - sorry Chicago folks, your pizza in not as good as that of the pizza in the NYC area (and more specifically, not as good as Tom and Pat’s in good old West Haven, CT… but I digress).

After a small pizza and a half bottle of wine, they don’t sell by the glass, I also had a liter of water for good measure, and some tiramisu, it was time to head over to The Colosseum to take a few photos. First, let it be known - to those of you that know me, and have eaten a meal with me - let me just say that I consciously made an effort to not eat at a normal pace (for me). Life definitely moves slower over here, and I already shock Americans with how fast I eat (I don’t notice it). Anyway, I didn’t want to feel like people were looking at me like I was a wild dog… again, I digress.

I went over to the Colosseum and took about 40-50 photos. I scared the daylights out of a British woman when I was going to make a suggestion on where to take a photo, she was a bit jumpy for someone that was in a group of 5 people. Anyway, I tend to like taking pictures at night. Makes me wonder if it is just because I’ve never been a morning person… or if it’s just that I like the lighting better. Who knows….

Alright, tomorrow it is on to Siena (via train, then bus, then taxi). Not sure when I will have internet access again… so stay tuned….

This was the title of an AP article on yahoo yesterday:

“Sen. Craig launches drive to save his seat”

Is it me, or could they have titled it a little better?

While the my speedskating goal is to go as fast as possible… sometimes life moves fast, and my blog doesn’t always manage to catch up! 

Especially true when the job (and the urge to travel) takes me away from my desk for extended periods of time.  At work, we just finished moving our warehouse to a facility that is a block north of our current office.  The old warehouse is about 3 miles away.  In the next month or two we’ll be moving our office over there.  It’s nice to get away from the desk once in awhile, however I’m usually too tired to blog (and make sense) when I get home… which just means the blog has been neglected for the past 45 days or so.

The office move wasn’t the only thing that had me away from the desk/computer, as I’ve been on a couple of road trips over the last month - to watch the greatest franchise in sports beat up on the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.  The travel bug hit when the Yanks started winning and a friend of mine was able to score us free seats at these games thru work contacts.  Below are a few pictures from our seats in Cleveland and Detroit, as well as some pics of the stadiums, and a pic of Roger Clemens doing some bullpen work before the game in Detroit (while Ron Guidry looks on).  Have to get these trips in now, because I’m anticipating two much more difficult summers ahead of me (from a training stand point).

After moving the remainder of my belongings to my new residence in Milwaukee (which will be such a blessing when they finally put the ice up at the Pettit Center) this weekend it’s time to head off to Kansas City to watch the Bronx Bombers beat up on the Royals.   Next week, I’m leaving for the main vacation of the summer - two weeks in Italy!!!!  Now, while it is a vacation, it’s also an active vacation - as I’ll be biking through Tuscany and Umbria for the first 7 days.  Then spending 5 days in Cinque Terre at a house I’m renting with friends   

As for the past 45-day training recap  -  I think I mentioned the upper back pain I was having during the Napa race at around the 10 mile mark.  Well, it didn’t want to cooperate for a few weeks after that.  Each time I went out running over the next month it would act up at around the 7 or 8 mile mark.  I eased it back a bit, keeping the runs to about 5 miles.  I skipped the other half marathon that I planned to do in mid-August, as the back wasn’t ready for it.  In late July, I joined a gym again for the first time in a couple of years - figuring that I needed to find other cardio outlets, and that it was time to get back to doing some upper body strength work (which I’ve neglected to do on a regular basis for the last couple years…) and to do some more extensive leg strength work as well.  Plus I needed to finish doing some preventative maintenance on my left knee before the season starts.  Still wasn’t feeling 100% after hyperextending it earlier in the year. 

As of right now my ice time is limited to short track “drop-in” sessions in Glen Ellyn, until they get the ice back up in Milwaukee.  Unfortunately it looks like it’ll be another week or two… not that I’ll be here, but it would be nice to be able to get back on the Long Track by now (especially if they plan to have time trials on the weekend of Sept 29th). 

Alright…. that’s more than I care to type (and than you probably care to read)…. I’ll try to add any other tidbits before I leave for Italy next Wednesday.  After that I’ll be back on the ice, back to posting and hopefully back to a normal schedule!