I’m back from Italy…and I have numerous posts waiting to be cut and pasted. I learned that on a trip like this, it’s impossible to think you can eat a good pre-ride breakfast (which suck in Italy), organize your stuff for the day, ride 100 miles (and eat enough in the process), see a little of the stage, get to the van then drive to your next hotel (anywhere from 30-60km away), eat dinner, shower, get a massage, and try to get to sleep. OH, AND write a blog post and download photos??? There was no way that was going to happen! Only our basic needs became priority – eat, sleep, ride and hotel (and maybe a massage) were the only things that mattered. Even our conversations at dinner never varied beyond those few things, except maybe a discussion of how the day went or the Giro.

We did not have one night where we got more than 6 hours sleep, which is not a good thing when you’re trying to ride this much. The body NEEDS rest, and we did not get it.

In brief here’s what exciting info I have coming for you in the next few days:

• descriptions of stages 3, 4 and 5. VERY exciting!
• how to eat when riding this much (and why it’s so difficult)
• photos, videos
• how things went from bad to worse after stage 4 – I ended up in the hospital! An analysis of what went wrong and how I (or anyone reading this) could avoid repeating it.
• thoughts on how to run the Giretto better next year. 

Come back soon for more. I just have to play catch up at home (300+ emails) and get all my photos in one place. Man, these things always take longer than expected!
 
Ciao!