Biking in -11? Harsh. I guess it would be in poor taste to tell you about the 6k offroad run in t-shirt and shorts today. 15° and sunny.
Matteo

Happy New Year to you all. I hope that it is a fit one.
My compliments to my cycling blogger buddies... time for me to get out of your draft.... Sorry beets, that i missed your invitation for skiing. I bet it was a blast.
The two weeks in Canada were very tranquil, spent with my family. Dinner at Gregs was a "spettacolo". Fine cuisine and more bottles than there are hills in a Giro mountain stage. The 1962 Coleheita was, as they say in Italy, "da lacrima"... And Greg, i am not the least dismayed that your Cabs were overpriced, they went down fine with me.

Running through the holidays has kept my weight below the seasonal christmas average, although i still put on three kilos. Running on the snow in walters falls was a thrill.
By brother in law lynn is very fit and kept me honest, puffing away trying to keep up. He gave me a pair of brnd new extrawide New Balance which are wonderful for my duck feet.

I got my first ride in yesterday taking my bike to work. I left my wifes car at work so i had a good excuse to ride and pick it up. 5° at the starting point with a chilly wind of the adriatic was a little harsh. Biking out of Bari is not fun, but there is really no need to if you havn't got to go and pick up a car. from sea level to 600m with the wind against me for the fist part. 48km at an average of 23k. I was pretty cold. My feet went offline after 30k. looks like i am going to need some of those fancy clothes that slowcolnago uses. Whatever the locals may say.

Take a looklook and see if you would like to work that in. I think that some of my Italian buddies are training for it (Gianni ran the Bari marathon in nov).

I dont suppose its worth working around the Giro unless we move the dates up. It will be in Puglia on the 17th, and in Cesena 3 days before the Nove Colli. Still, it will be a lot of fun to watch the stages on TV in the evenings.
http://www.gazzetta.it/speciali/giro2004_presentazione/tappe.htm

happy riding guys,
matteo

Happy New Year to all!! I spent the holidays training for the post ride activities as well. My training plan was intended to have me peak on Jan 1, when we hosted Matthew and Roberta for a New Years Day dinner. All went according to plan. Bock, Guinness, Chardonnay, a couple of over priced but decent Canadian Cabs, '95 Grand Cru Pomerol Champers and finally a great '62 Tawny Port: all went down without a hitch.

Rode for couple of hours on Saturday, +(!!) 12 C and windy as hell. At first I thought the '62 colheita and oyster bisque had fortified me as I flogged down the spit at 45 kph; turns out it was the 30 kph tail wind. Made much worse time on the return leg! Ended up doing 2 hours at an average of 22 kph, riding solo. Fell on a steel grated bridge at less than walking speed, no damage. Watch them when they're wet with leaves: NO traction at all with the tubulars at 130 psi.

The accomplishment of the ride was to do the Bayview extention climb (1 mile even at about 7%) in the top chain ring, at about 20 kph. God bless that 24 tooth cog. Knees are fine today, but damn the snow.

Slowcolnago