It's "On"!

The timer has counted down to zero. The out of office message at my office says that I will be back on October 5, 2009. I'm on sabbatical!

Thanks to "the gang" who came out to Mazzola's for dinner tonight. It was good to speak English one last time.

I will be up late packing tonight, then off to the physical therapist at 7:30 tomorrow morning for a quick tune-up. My knee decided to give me a going-away present by swelling up a bit on Monday. No particular injury, so I hope a little manipulation will make the maniscus happy again for a while.

Tomorrow will be a whirl-wind of preparations, then Alpine Taxi will pick me up for the drive down to Denver. I'll see my brother, Tim, in Denver and fly out Thursday morning.

Next post will be on the ground in Italy.

Introducing “The Machine”

The term "machine" in normal conversation has a negative connotation. Most people hear that word and think. 'Impersonal', 'cold' and 'industrial'. Ask a cyclist how they feel about their "machine", however, and you will get a very different answer. Words like 'elegant', 'trusted', 'precision' and 'artistic' are much more likely to come up. I can't think of a machine other than a prosthetic limb that is more an extension of the human body. No other machine can carry a person such a distance with such speed over varied terrain with nothing but food and water as fuel. Weighing less than 20 pounds, it can carry well over 10 times its weight while absorbing shocks, jolts and vibration. In the vast majority of cases, it does it without the need for any mechanical adjustment. When you think of it that way, the occasional flat tire can be forgiven.

It's not hard to see why bicycles become something more than a tool to get from point A to point B for many riders. I have to say, I am one of those riders. When I decided that unsupported touring was going to be part of my plan for the summer, I knew that I needed a new machine for the job (that’s rationalization #1 for those who are keeping score). This post describes that choice.

Every job has the perfect tool. If the trip I am about to take is a job, then the bicycle I found may be the perfect tool. It’s an understated beauty. An unpainted frame with simple Helvetica font saying, “MOOTS” (12 times, actually). Some bikes are stunning to look at because they are so flashy. This one lulls you in with its simplicity.


The most distinguishing characteristic of this particular machine is that it has 2 couplers built into the frame allowing it to be broken into a separate front and rear triangles for transportation. The coupler is so effective that it creates no compromise in the ride quality or strength of the bike when it is assembled, but when it is disassembled, it fits into a 26x26x10” suitcase that can be checked as luggage on any plane or train without additional surcharges.

No one bike is perfect for every use. I set out to find one that would excel when traveling by air, train and car, riding on both paved and dirt roads, single-day rides , credit card touring, and self-supported touring (rationalizations are a-flowin’ now). That covers a lot of bases, but it is not a replacement for a mountain bike. It remains to be seen whether it will replace my carbon fiber road bike.

The factory where this piece of rolling art was hand built is less than 10 miles from my house in Steamboat. Forget about t-shirts or shot glasses, a Moots is the ultimate Steamboat souvenir. I will be taking it on a warm-up ride around the world this summer, but I fully expect this will be my travel bike for the next 20 years. I know there is a healthy dose of rationalization going on here, but the trip of a lifetime deserves the bike of a lifetime.

Thank you to Brock from Orange Peel for getting me the perfect fit and making this happen.

For the non-bike-geeks, here are some glamour pictures of the new ride.

For the geeks, you know who you are, here is the run-down on the specs. A couple of tweaks will be necessary between the European day-trip segment and the Pacific Coast loaded touring segment. The loaded touring will require some changes to the low-end gears so I can climb the hills loaded down with 40 pounds of equipment, clothing and food:


• Moots PsycloX – 57cm 3/2.5 Titanium frame
• Alpha Q CX-20 carbon fork
• Moots Ti Cinch Seat Post
• Moots Open Trail Ti Stem – 110mm, 6 degree
• Mavic Ksyrium SL Premium wheels
• Rivendell Jack Brown 700 x 33.3c tires
• Deda Newton handlebars
• S&S Couplers
• Shimano DuraAce STI brake levers & shifters
• Shimano DuraAce front derailleur
• Shimano Ultegra Compact 175mm Crank (34-50)
• Road Configuration
o Shimano DuraAce rear derailleur
o Shimano Ultegra 10-speed cassette (12-27)
• Touring Configuration
o Shimano XT short cage mountain bike rear derailleur
o 10-speed cassette (12-34)
• Shimano DuraAce 10-speed chain with master link quick-release
• Paul Touring cantilever brakes
• Shimano XTR mountain bike pedals
• Cables –quick-releases on all cables for packing w/ S&S couplers
• Chris King head set (red)
• Fizik Wing Flex saddle
• Stainless steel water bottle cages (3)
• Weight: 19.25 lb before accessories

Italy Bike Hotels

This was my last weekend of prepartion before heading to Italy. In one week, I will be riding along the Adriadic Coast and the Hinterlands of Romagna.

I spent much of the weekend at Orange Peel Bike Shop. It was my last chance to work out the final details of my bike equipment, light touring configuration and to get mechanical instruction from Brock Webster, the owner of the shop.

In addition to all of the bike advice Brock has dispensed throughout my preparations, he also alerted me to the existance of "Bike Hotels" in Italy. I have not heard of this concept anywhere else in the world, but it is exactly what you might expect in Italy.


View Italy Bike Hotels in a larger map

There are hotels scattered around the country that cater to people on cycling vacations. Riders of all abilities, at least those who would choose to spend their vacations riding, use these hotels as home-base for doing day-rides around the various regions of Italy. People stay anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to get a deep exposure to the rides surrounding the hotel.

The hotels have guides on staff who take any guests who want a group ride out into the countryside. There are apparently enough people wanting to ride in groups during popular times of year that they have 4 or 5 different groups every day. The hotel provides breakfast in the morning and packed food for the ride. I am sure it varies by hotel, but I think rides leave at about 9:00am and return between 2:00 and 4:00pm. That's plenty of time to work up a pretty good appetite for some Italian fuel.

When you return to the hotel each afternoon, they have a secure place to store your bike, a shop for any repairs and food waiting for you to start recovering for the next day. You can then go out to the pool, get a massage, walk on the beach or explore the town until it's time for dinner.

I can't imagine a better setup for a solo traveler. Thanks Brock!

I built a map tonight that marks the locations of all of the Bike Hotels around Italy. They don't precisely correlate to the "Possible Destinations" map I put together a couple of days ago, but I'm sure I will be using a number of them to get within striking distance on two wheels.

Destination Update

I knew that my list of possible destinations would grow, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Mark Fitzgerald suggested a couple of spectacular-looking locations on the west coast of Ireland. Billy Kidd told me about some high mountain passes between Italy, Switzerland and France that I must visit by cable car. Thank you both for your suggestions. They have been added to the map.

The map will be a dynamic thing, and every time I make changes for my personal planning, you will see the updates in my post from yesterday. I have added some color-coding. Blue are recommended destinations and Green are booked on my itinerary. Hopefully you will start to see more green soon.

Possible Destinations

You can view my itinerary at any time by clicking on the "My itinerary" link in the "Relevant Web Sites" section of the right column. You can tell that I have a substantial amount of time that is not booked yet. That is mostly by design, but also a function of the clock ticking down on me.

I compiled a map this evening that shows all of the places various people have recommended that I see while in Europe. It is becoming apparent that I will not be able to do it all, but this map will help me pick off gems as I pass through various regions. I'm sure this map will get even more busy as I meet people along the way who tell me everything that I must see and do.


View Possible Destinations in a larger map

All Techies - you're done reading
I expect to be using Google maps extensively on this trip. People who use these a lot need no explanation, but those who don't, here are a few things you can do to make the map useful.

Click and drag or use the arrows in the upper left corner to pan around the map

Double click or click the '+' symbol to zoom in

Double right-click or click the '-' symbol to zoom out

Click on the map title directly below to enlarge the entire map (in this case "Possible Destinations")

Click on any of the tags to see the location name and any comments I have entered

Click on 'Map', 'Sat'-ellite or 'Ter'-rain in the upper right corner to change the map background

That's about all you need to successfully navigate Google Maps.

More Behind the Scenes

GARMIN SLIPSTREAM Service Course from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

For the gear heads out there, here is a 4 minute peak behind the scenes of a pro race team bike shop. An unimaginable collection of bikes, components and vehicles. Bike racing is not as carbon-neutral as you might guess.

Bike Racing - Behind the Scenes

Montepaschi Eroica - Behind the Scenes with GARMIN Slipstream from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

I know I am fighting an uphill battle trying to introduce people to bicycle racing. It is hard to understand, and it's sort of like trying to get Americans to watch soccer. Knowing that most of the people who read this blog are not familiar with bike racing, however, I feel compelled to share what little I know in order to provide context for the posts I will be writing in Italy.

Garmin (the GPS company) has a professional cycling team. They published a blog post called Team Garmin video: Behind the scenes in Tuscany. It contains a 14 minute video (embedded above) showing the strategy planning that happens back in the team cars. This is one of the early spring 1-day races in Italy. It has the pro riders, but isn't nearly the spectacle of the Giro.

Take a look at what it takes to get a new bike to one of the Garmin riders in the middle of a race when he has a mechanical problem. The team car makes its way from the back of the pack up to the rider, then swaps bikes and has him riding again within 30 seconds. It's also interesting to see how fast the caravan of cars goes flying through the narrow streets in the little villages in order to keep up with the race. Finally, watch how many things the team director is doing at once. Driving (not easy by itself), communicating with team members and race officials by radio, handing out water bottles through the window, evaluating the race profile and planning strategy as the race conditions evolve, and of course, conducting an interview for your viewing pleasure. I have even seen cases where the team doctor administers first aid and mechanics adjust bikes out the window of the car as they are moving along at 20+ mph. All in a day of racing.

Train Travel

Although I'm sure it will seem simple after being in Europe for a while, figuring out the options for traveling by train can be confusing. You can buy individual tickets, single-country passes, multi-country passes, consecutive days tickets or "flexi" limited day passes. Then there is the 1st class / 2nd class option and the sometimes-optional, sometimes-mandatory seat reservations. A lot more to consider than I had always heard, "just buy a Eurail pass". It gives me empathy for what people go through to buy a lift ticket.

Today, I found a great tool online for sifting through all of the options on the RailEurope web site. With their tool, I was able to enter the countries I plan to visit, how long I will stay and how many days I plan to travel within each. The calculator then evaluates all of the available pass products and recommends a combination of passes I can buy to satify all of my requirements at the lowest possible cost. Sometimes it takes 4-5 pass products for 1 person. Come on - no lift ticket is that difficult to buy!

It is really a pretty impressive software tool. There was just one problem. Of all the information it needed to make a recommendation, the only thing I kind of know is the countries I will visit. How long will I stay? Where will I go within each country? How many days will I travel by train? Who knows! Almost all of the assumptions needed to buy the right pass(es) would be a big fat guess. By design, I am not really sure where I am going and when.

After about 3 nights of research, I landed on the only logical answer. Get the big-mac-daddy pou pou platter. I ordered a 3-month Eurail Global Pass. It is the most flexible option available. Travel any day, anywhere in 21 countries for 3 months. It isn't quite that simple when you factor in reservation charges and the occasional excluded private train lines, but for the most part, it should be "get on the train and go".

The countdown timer shows 13 days!

First Week of Giro Logistics - Solved

I have mentioned already how difficult it was going to be to work through the logistics of following the Giro when traveling alone. Some of the challenges are train schedules, hotel rooms, rental cars, van services, parking, closed roads, language and mobs of people. Repeat each one of those challenges every day as the race moves from town to town.

I finally found a good solution. I am going to join a group traveling with a tour company called Experience Plus for the first week of the race. They take care of everything other than the riding, watching, eating and sleeping. I have those covered.

I traveled with Experience Plus back in 2003 when I rode from Venice north through the Dolomites. I know they do a very good job, so I am confident this will be a good introduction to getting around the race. Once the first week is done, I will either be able to do some chasing on my own, or slow down the pace a little and not change hotels every night. Although the company runs tours all over Europe, Asia, South America and Australia, their headquarters are just over the hill in Fort Collins, Colorado. Barely a long distance call.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for getting off to a good start.

Subscription options for this blog

There are a number of ways you can keep up to date as new posts are published on this blog:

1) Caveman Technique - You can periodically come back to this page (http://www.randyhowie.blogspot.com) whenever you think about it. The newest post will always be at the top of the page, followed by others in reverse chronological order. You won't be notified right away when new posts are created, but for casual following, this technique is simple and will work.

2) Bring the World to my Door Technique - If you want to receive an e-mail each time I create a new post, you can subscribe by entering your e-mail address in the right column in the section labeled, "E-Mail Notification for New Posts". This will walk you through a process to prove that you are a human by demonstrating your ability to interpret squiggly letters and validate your e-mail account.

If you use this technique, you will receive an e-mail once each day that I create a new post. Since some of the embedded videos, maps, etc. are not visible in the e-mail, I suggest that you don't read the post in the e-mail. Instead, click on the title ("...and now, for Something Completely Different"), and read the post directly on my blog.

You don't need to know this, but if you are concerned about privacy, read on. This process will register your e-mail account with a site called Feedburner.com which is operated by google and utilzes their privacy policy. I feel okay about registering my address there.

After you follow the subscription instructions, you should receive an e-mail sometime in the middle of the night on any day I create a new post.

3) Super-Geek Technique (obviously, this is not an insult coming from me) - If you are a sophisticated web user and understand about "feeds", you can subscribe to a feed from my blog and any new posts and/or comments will show up in your feed reader.

Regardless of what method you use, I hope you will use the "comments" feature after the articles to keep this interactive.

Test Article

I am publishing this article at 3:50pm on Friday.

Chuck & Jeff - Please let me know when you receive the e-mail notification and whether it is plain text or if it includes the picture I posted. Thanks.

Giro d’Italia Primer

I know a lot of people who read this are not bicycle racing fans, so you probably don’t know why I would dedicate 3 weeks to trying to follow a race all over Italy. Bike racing is not easy to understand at first. The tactics can be pretty complicated and the physical requirements of the race may not be apparent to people who do not ride much. A stage race like the Giro d’Italia takes weeks to complete, covers more than 2,000 miles, crosses the most difficult mountains in Europe and a 2 minute lead at the end would represent a dominating performance. Here is a little background information that may make future posts make more sense.

Types of Races
There are a number of types of road bike races, ranging from the one-day classics, to criteriums and the Grand Tour stage races. The Giro d'Italia is one of the big-daddy stage races. That means it is a multi-day epic event with a number of competitions going on simultaneously. The existence of multiple simultaneous competitions is part of what makes the tactics in racing so interesting. Teams and individual riders all have different goals for the day's race (stage) and the overall outcome. There is a lot more going on that a bunch of guys trying to get to the finish line, although being the first to the line never hurts.

History
This is the 100 year anniversary of the first running of the Giro. That should make this year an even bigger celebration than normal. The race was interrupted for both world wars, but has run every year since WWII. Some of the previous winners over the 100 years are household names in Italy. Just like almost anyone in the U.S. knows about Babe Ruth or Tom Brady, Italians know Fausto Coppi and Ivan Basso. How many cyclists do you think most Americans know other than Lance?


The only American to ever win the Giro was Andy Hampsten in 1988. He clinched the race on an infamous day cresting Passo di Gavia in the snow. It was such an impressive win that it gained the respect of the host country fans, even if an American had no business winning one of the European Grand Tours. That was well before the days of Lance.

Giro’s Place in Bike Racing

The biggest 3 races in cycling every year are (in order) 1) le Tour de France, 2) Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy), and 3) Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain). I have heard that the Tour de France is the biggest spectacle, but the Giro is the “fan’s race”. Apparently tens of thousands of amateur riders line to courses to get a glimpse of the pro riders as they fly past. I plan to be one of those tifosi (fans). Unlike a football game, you don’t buy a ticket and walk to your seat. You earn your vantage point by riding your bike to the top of the biggest mountains in Italy. It’s hard to imagine what that atmosphere will be like, but I’m sure it will be different than anything I have seen before.

Announcing the route this year was pretty big deal. It was done in the Teatro La Fenice in Venice – high drama.

Route
The map at the top of this post shows the 2009 route.

Although the web page is pretty ugly, SteepHill has the best stage maps and elevation profiles I have found. Scroll to the right to see the list of stages.

The race route is different every year, and its selection has a big impact on the tactics used by the teams and racers. This year’s route has only 3 days of flat racing before it heads into the Alps. This route favors riders who arrive at the race in peak condition. Some years, it is preferable to be well rested and ride into peak condition over the first week. This year, the race could be over for anyone who cannot answer every attack on stage 4.

Another peculiarity of the 100th anniversary route is that in ends with a time trial in Rome. This is unusual for 2 reasons. First, the Giro has ended in Milan every year since 1989. Second, a time trial on the last day means that the race could be won or lost on the final stage. Usually tactics allow a team to protect a race leader on the final day of a stage race, but not this year. If the race is close at the end, the last day will be critical.

The cities the tour passes through this year are Venice, Trieste, Padova, Bologna, Florence, Milan, Turin, Bergamo, Rigomaggiore in the Chique Terra, Naples and Rome. Countries covered are Italy, Austria and France.

Weather

Weather is a real wildcard in the Giro. It is entirely possible that there will be snow, rain, hail or sleet on the high passes. Imagine descending a pass on a 15 pound bicycle on tires that are 20 mm wide at 60 miles per hour while sliding on snow or being pelted with hail. Bike racing isn’t for sissies.

The general rule of bicycle racing is that the race goes on regardless of weather. With such an early schedule through high mountains, the Giro organizers are occasionally forced to re-routes the race on short notice. As a spectator, it is already a nearly impossible logistical exercise to follow a race that moves over a hundred miles every day. Booking hotels, trains, rental cars, navigating around closed roads with thousands of fans camped out along the roads and timing your bike ride on unfamiliar roads to arrive at the desired location at the desired time is difficult enough. Add the possibility of the course changing on the night before a stage, and the life of a spectator gets complicated. Type A personalities need not apply. Planning on the fly and going with the flow seems to go with the territory if you want to watch this race.

Stage Types
Each day's event at a multi-day race is called a "stage". A big race like the Giro has a number of different types of stages. The tactics and objectives are different for each type of stage. These definitions may help:

Prologue - Some races start with a very short stage on the first day. It establishes the initial general classification for the first stage, but rarely has much impact on the overall race. This year's Giro does not have a Prologue.

Flat Road Stage – "Flat" is a relative term. A flat road stage is typically more than 100 miles, and does not contain many climbs that contribute to the King of the Mountains competition. They are usually a showcase for the sprinters who put on a chaotic show at the finish.

Mountain Road Stage – This year’s race has six mountain top finishes. Stages 4, 5, 14, 16, 17, and 19. Tour organizers are sick people. No climb is too long or too steep. Many times, a single stage will have multiple climbs that make your legs go weak just to look at them.

Individual Time Trial (ITT) - A time trial is a race where each rider goes against the clock. No drafting, no break-aways, not team tactics. Just an all-out effort to be faster than anyone else. Stage races are often won on time trials.
Riders start the race 1-3 minutes apart in the reverse order of their race position. This gives the race leader that advantage of knowing what he needs to beat at every checkpoint along the course. This year’s Giro has 2 ITT’s (stages 12 and 21), and both are unusual. Stage 12 is a 38.2 mile course. Although that is very short compared to the road stages, Lance Armstrong says it is the longest ITT course he has ever ridden. It is so hilly and curvy that most riders will need to ride their road bikes rather than their more aerodynamic, but less nimble, time trial bikes. The second time trial is unusual in that it is through downtown Rome snaking through the iconic ruins.

Riders use different bikes for time trials than they do for road races. Here is an example of Lance Armstrong's TT bike followed by a Alejandro Valverde's road bike (both exceptional examples of their breed).







Team Time Trail (TTT) – I think the Team Time Trial is the prettiest event to watch in cycling. Not all stage races include a TTT, and when they do, I have never seen more than one in a race. In this year's Giro, it is the first stage in Venice.

Team members take turns leading to be as efficient as they can breaking through the air. No one rider could possibly ride as fast as the team. Riders tuck in within a few inches of the wheel in front of them while riding 30-35+ mph on the flats. The leader stays on the front for a short amount of time (10-15 seconds) then hands-off the lead by peeling to the back. The line looks a bit like a living organism, and the spinning gears sound like a swarm of angry bees. Rules vary from race to race, but typically, the team's time is the last rider to cross the line, so dropping the weakest rider does nothing to help the team.



Circuit race - Circuit races are rarely included in stage races. Although it is the most popular race format in the U.S., they are not normally included in European races. A circuit is a loop course that racers navigate multiple times. They tend to get a little "busy" with racers jockeying for position. It wouldn't be surprising to see a crash or two.

As a spectator, it should be interesting because you get to see the racers multiple times. The organizers included a circuit race through downtown Milan in this year's Giro.

Race Stats
Dates: 5/9/09 - 5/31/09 - 21 days of racing with 2 rest days
Distance: 3,330 km / 2,105 miles
Shortest Day: Stage 21 – Individual Time Trial in Rome – 15.3km / 9.5 miles
Longest Day: Stage 7 – Innsbruck to Chiavenna – 244km / 151.6 miles.

As hard as it may be to believe, the difference in time between the first place finisher and the 20th place finisher is likely to be greater on stage 21 (the shortest day) than it will be on stage 7 (the longest). Time trials tend to be decisive days, even though their mileage does not represent a very large percentage of the total race.

Who is Competing?
This is obviously an Italian race, but the field is decidedly international. Only the top teams in the world are invited to compete. There will be 17 teams with 10 riders per team at the beginning of the race (170 mutants). There is always substantial attrition during the race due to crashes, injuries, illness, equipment failures, time elimination, etc. Some of the big names in this year’s race are:

- Lance Armstrong (US) – 7 time Tour de France winner. This will be his first Giro. He was considered a leading contender until his crash in Spain last month. It is still likely that he will ride, but his training will be interrupted enough that he will probably only be able to use the race to ride himself into shape for the Tour.
- Ivan Basso (Italy) – "Ivan the Terrible". Former Giro winner and Armstrong nemesis in the Tour de France. He is Armstrong’s pick to win the 2009 Giro.
- Damiano Cunego (Italy) – former Giro winner
- Danlio Di Luca (Italy) –“the killer”. Former Giro winner
- Stefano Garzelli (Italy) – former Giro winner
- Gilberto Simoni (Italy) – 2-time Giro winner
- Carlos Sastra (Spain) – 2008 Tour de France winner
- Levi Liepheimer (USA) – 2009 Tour of California winner
- Christian Vande Velde (USA) – rising star
- Denis Menchov (Russia) – 2005 and 2007 Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) winner
- Fabian Cancellara () Olympic time trial champion, Winner 2009 Milan-San Remo.
- Alberto Contador (Spain) – Lance’s teammate will not compete, presumably in an effort to peak his training for the Tour. He is the 2008 Giro winner, 2008 Tour of Spain winner, and 2007 Tour de France winner. Too bad I won’t get to see him race.

Spectators
The Grand Tour bike races draw bigger crowds than the Super Bowl every day for 3 weeks. Spread out millions of people over thousands of miles, and you can see how logistically challenging it is going to be to watch this race. Every day is a new location to figure out. Transportation, lodging, weather. Wow. I see why most people use tour companies when they want to watch more than one stage.

Simultaneous Competitions

General Classification (GC) - This is the headline competition in a stage race. When people said that Lance Armstrong "won" the Tour de France, they were referring to the General Classification competition. GC is calculated as the cumulative time for all of the stages. You can win the GC competition without winning a single daily stage as long as your cumulative time is lower than all other riders. GC is stated as minutes and seconds behind the leader. The leader's time might be 55:30:27 (55 hours, 30 minutes, 27 seconds). The second place rider's time would be stated as +0:48, meaning he is 48 seconds behind the leader.

The leader of this competition wears the Pink Jersey each day. This is the equivalent of the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France.

An interesting point about the GC calculation is that all riders who finish in a group at the end of the stage are awarded the exact same time. That is why it is so common during flat stages where the riders cannot create gaps between themselves for GC to remain completely unchanged in the top positions from one day to the next. This is one of the reasons why time trials are so pivotal where there is no such thing as a "group finish".

Stage Winner - Although the ultimate glory is to win the GC, there is a lot of status in winning a daily stage. Interesting tactics can develop when a rider who is contending for the GC takes advantage of the efforts of a rider who is out of contention, but wants to compete for a stage win. By offering up a stage win as incentive, the GC rider can utilize the services of a non-team member as if he were an ally. It gets pretty interesting.

Team Standings - Cycling is a team sport, but the team rarely gets recognized. This competition goes to the team with the best combined result of its surviving members.

King of the Mountains - Climbs are assigned points based on their difficulty. The first rider over a climb gets the most points, second less, third less, etc. The rider with the most mountain points at the end of the race wins this competition.

The leader of this competition wears the Green Jersey each day.

Best Young Rider - This competition goes to the lowest GC rider under the age of 25.

The leader of this competition wears the White Jersey each day.

Points / Sprint - Points are awarded for the first several riders to cross mid-stage sprint lines and the finish line of each stage. The rider with the most sprint points at the end of the race wins this competition. This competition rewards consistency and sprinting ability.

The leader of this competition wears the Mauve Jersey each day.

Is That Enough?
Well... This turned into another long post, but I hope this helps you understand future editions more clearly. Congratulations, you now know more about bike racing than most Americans!

Tick...Tick...

Time's Ticking

The countdown timer I put on this site was intended to generate excitement for the upcoming adventure. I am excited, but seeing that timer tick down (currently at 28 days), it also induces a bit of anxiety. There is so much left to do. Some of the bigger palm sweaters are:

Hand off duties at work

Complete the department's business plan so everyone is clear on what needs to be done while I am away

Find a tenant for my house

Get a lease renewed on the rental unit

Figure out how to notify people when I update this blog

Arrange logistics to get bills paid and rent deposited

Book my flights

Figure out rail pass strategies

Plan the itinerary for tracking the Giro

Book a trip with a Giro tour operator

Research must-see destinations and continue to build my itinerary

Arrange for house maintenance

Order remaining gear for travel and touring

Learn some Italian

Since this primarily a bike trip, it also wouldn't be a bad thing if the weather would let me get a few hours in the saddle.

It sounds like I haven't done anything, but that's not true. The list of things that have been completed is at least as long. Just need to keep making progress.

Tick...Tick...