Tuesday - Stage 3
I don't think I realised how hard this event would be. Don't get me wrong - it's fantastic fun, and really we're just dawdling for much of the time, but 180km on the bike over 9 hours is a LONG time to be riding.
Today's timed section was 8 or 9km long and nowhere near as steep as yesterday's cruel and unusual punishment. Still, the time trial came after over 100km of riding - so with pretty cooked legs!
I'm afraid I'm too tired to retouch the lens scratches out of the photos but here are the photos, and a couple featuring Yours Truly, courtesy of Angelo.
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| Crossing the finish line for the second time to get the shot :) |
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Wednesday - Rest day
Reflecting on Bolzano - it's a funny place. Look up and it's a farm. Look down and it's a stylish small Italian city. Look left and it's Austria - look right and it's Italy.
I call the town Bolzano but like all the towns around here it has not one, but two names - Bolzano and Bozen. Moreno and Moren. Brennero and Brenner. And so on.
Apparently Mussolini annexed teh Sudtyrol (South Tyrol) region from Austria 60 years ago and there is still a real divide. Many of the people here identify as Austrian and speak German before they speak Italian. It's always fun going into a shop and thanking someone in Italian, to realise they are really a German speaker and you should have said 'Danke' instead of 'Grazie'.
Also, what the hell is with the 'love lock' thing? It's repulsive.
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| This triumphal arch blares the Italian national anthem regularly to celebrate the annexation of the region (seriously!) |
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