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.