Saturday: 1hr of treadmill and a 20k flat ride on the big chainring.
Sunday: Went for a ride on sunday with my friend Raniero, of last years Stelvio fame. We set out from Cisternino. Down the gravina (ravine) following the epic steps of the Moser and Maertens in the 1976 world championships (Maertens pipped Francesco for the win). Raniero on his mtb, me on my old Karbo. After 15k I flatted. A leak at the valve. I put on my last tube and quoted Murphy, i knew what was coming next.... 2k later a new flat. A punture this time. I put the original back on. Raniero had this crazy idea that if we pulled the valve to one side it might not leak. Absurd but it worked. See the attached photo. We had the wind on our tails on the way back and were managing 40+ kph on a steady upgrade.

Going back up the ravine i was reminded of the time in 1996 when I followed Uschukov the hill at 50kph (I was in car, he was not). The group caught him on the last curve. Cipollini won the stage.

It was a short 30k ride but pleasant, and the valve held all the way home. Best news is my back is good.
Both of us will need to do a lot of training if we want to take on Stelvio this year.
sud