Giro

Alistair here.

The timing worked out well for a family vacation to Italy over the Memorial Day weekend. We left on Wednesday and came back on Monday. The Giro d’Italia http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/ (second biggest bike race behind the Tour de France) just so happened to be passing through northwestern Italy and lined up well with staying at Camp Darby (an Army base near Pisa) in a “deluxe” cabin (bathroom and running water IN the cabin.)

The first day we drove through Germany and Switzerland down to Arezano (near Genova where Christopher Columbus was born) to watch the end of stage 11. Watching this stage was a bonus as I originally planned on just driving to Camp Darby, but adding the stop near Genova only added about an hour to the day’s drive. I knew it would be a sprint finish and was not disappointed. Lars and Eliza loaded up on the Giro’s kit – pink shirt, hat, etc… (Yellow is the color of the leader’s jersey the Tour de France; in the Giro it is Pink.)

Next day we were off to the Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore) to watch the end of the 67km time trial. After an hour’s drive to La Spezia (and trying to find a parking spot) then a short train trip to Riomaggiore, Ian and I hiked up a hill (it’s all hills near Cinque Terre) to get to the finish line.

Tanya, Lars and Eliza had their own adventures that day, rather than watch riders go by one at a time....admittedly, not the most fun for a six-year-old. :-)

Ian and I found a good spot near the finish and watched ALL the 189 riders finish (spaced out by 2 minutes => 4 plus hours.) It was a long hot day, but great to hear the race updates and watch the riders roll by.

If you happened to record the stage on Eurosport (here in Europe) or Verus (in the States), Ian and I are the ones on the right hand side at the 50 meters to go sign.

The white line at the top left of this photo shows the TV support vehicles lining the course.

Originally had planned to watch the next day’s stage finish in Florence, but decided to just drive to the start (only about 15 minutes from where we were staying) and watch the preps for the race. I like to see what goes on “behind the scenes” and I was not disappointed. After finding parking about a mile from the start, we checked out the starting area. Ian, Lars and I walked back to where we parked - which turned out to be in a great spot – right by the team buses where the riders all get ready.

Checking out the bikes, team cars, etc… we saw the Astana team bus pull up [Lance Armstrong rides for Astana…see where this is going?] We headed over to the bus and checked out their gear (Lance’s bike, etc…). Lots of people were gathering around the bus and we were right there at the front. Lars’ had his pink Giro hat and I knew I had a permanent marker pen in the car (a few feet way.) We were on a mission! Get Lance's signature on Lars’ hat and a small “Lance Rides Again” poster Ian had in the car from the previous day. Lance was one of the last ones out of the team bus and signed a few autographs – both for Lars and Ian – and our mission was complete; everything else was gravy. We hustled over to the start and watched the riders roll out on the day’s stage.

Three days in Italy and three stages of the Giro. We did some other cool stuff in Italy on the two non-Giro days, too.