About Me

I am a 45 year husband and dad, currently adjusting to life back in the United States after living in Italy for a little over two years. I love spending time with my family, cycling, model railroading, mosaics and watching TV and movies.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Milan - Sanremo

Brandon and I woke up at 6:30am to get ready and head into Milan to see the start of the 98th Milan -Sanremo bike race.  This is one of the oldest and longest one day races in the pro circuit.  It's a 298 km (185 mile) race from Milan, south to the coastal town of Sanremo.  


We exited the Metro near the Castello and made our way to the staging area, located on the street that circles the front of the Castello.  Brandon and I love to watch the teams get ready, look at all the beautiful bikes and gear, and feel the energy as the riders get ready to race. 


Leopard Trek team bikes


Garmin Cervelo team bus and cars


BMC 


Astana team bikes


Lampre has some brightly painted bikes


I like this gorilla!


Brandon and HTC Highroad 


Another cool logo


Team RadioShack!


Liquigas, an Italian pro team you can spot from afar




Team RadioShack backup bikes


Brandon checks out the Team Moviestar Pinarellos


Love the paint on the RadioShack bikes


Love the detail as well


All the riders attached a white ribbon to their bikes in support of Japan victims


SRAM - cutting edge technology


Team Sky Pinarellos



Brandon gets his yellow jersey signed by RadioShack sprinter Robbie Hunter - an Aussie


Yaroslav Popovych signs Brandon's jersey.  He was a contender to win today.  He ended up coming in 26th.  


LiquiGas teams waits for the start


Brandon gets a LiquiGas autograph.  We have to admit, we don't know who he is and, of course, can't read his signature


Team FDJ


The riders sign in area, setup in front of the Castello


Team Sky members sign in


All the riders signed a Japanese flag in support


Here they come...


The cyclists had about a 2 km neutral zone to ride through to get to the start line



A Team RadioShack rider checks his radio




The parade of support vehicles that follow the race


Garmin support


RadioShack support


...and medical support.  4 ambulances followed the race.


The last 'sweep' vehicle of the race.


We spotted this sculpture near the Cadorna Metro station in Milan.  Its a needle and thread.  The end of thread comes out of the ground in the middle of the round-about to the left of the picture.  

We had a great morning in Milan.  After catching the Metro back to Sesto, we stopped at the mall.  Brandon wanted to visit the Disney store to see if they had Puffles.  Club Penguin has not made it to Italy yet, at least not in the toy category.  Brandon has been searching for a blue Puffle to complete his collection.

Oh well, we had a nice lunch and headed home.  This afternoon I took a bike ride towards Lecco.  To mix things up and not always ride the Lurago d'Erba route, I followed another route through Lesmo and on towards Lecco.  Its a challenging route with several climbs, but the return home is a blast - at least on the smooth sections of road.  I hit 50 km an hour which is good for this area.  

We missed our usual pizza night on Thursday, so tonight became our pizza night.  What an evening.  It was filled with an hour or more of lightning and thunder.  I loved it.  


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