Where to start?

I am SO cross-eyed at this point in the Giro that I don't know if I can do a good job of re-capping the stages contested so far. Today was the 5th day, but called stage 4 and was an 84 mile romp over some category 2 and 3 climbs.

But before I get into today, let me back it up a bit and review the last 2 stages: 2 days ago, the day we were woken up for blood testing, we did a 72 mile race that consisted of nine 13km loops. This loop had the requisite cobblestone section (about 1km), the flat and windy section (about 8km), round-a-bouts (yep, just like in the Tour de France where you see the peloton split off and go around then rejoin) and the lead-up to the finish line section that had about a million turns just for fun and skill testing. I keep wondering who the person is that is on the front driving the pace at 33 and 34 miles per hour during this race. I am doing the classic look-down-at-the-speedometer-while-pedaling-furiously-
just-to-maintain-contact-and-spewing -very-bad-words-thing.

Oh, and the round-a-bout was cool the first time through, after that, novelty factor went down quickly.




We tried to set Tina up for the sprint and the last roundabout before the million turns is the last place that one could move up before the end. Otherwise, it was game over. Every lap before, the field split the roundabout, but the last time through the head of the peloton went left and only a few of us got caught out and went right. Game over. For real. It was impossible to move up after that, we had lost a whole bunch of positions going right. We finished pretty much where we were after the roundabout, which is to say, way back in the 30"s. Ugh. Did I mention it was Africa hot?


Next day...uphill time trial day. This was a 10km mountain climb. Our director was only going to have Alison try hard as she was in 15th place in the General Classification. No need to mention the fact that the rest of us were in Siberia as far as GC. So our orders were to conserve as much as possible this day to have more energy and recover for the other stages. Actually, I believe the term used to describe the upcoming effort was to "soft-pedal". Now, how do you soft-pedal up a steep-&**% climb for 10km? Near impossible, our legs still took a physical hit in this stage, but mentally, at least, we did not have to "get up" for a performance, so that was pretty nice. It was the climber's day to shine, and shine they did...like a blinding diamond actually. Remember when I described the time we had done this climb in training to see how it would be....we went with male cyclists, one of them an ex-pro and their times were trounced by over 6 minutes by the top 10 girls. Ok, they weren't racing etc, but you pick up what I'm trying to lay down here, I'm sure.

Which leads me to today's stage. Yes, the general theme is that this race is "man-fast". From kilometer zero, I was again doing the speedometer curse. Seriously? This is no play-play peloton. The climbs that were in the course outline were as expected, and I had some trouble with the third one, as in, some I'm off-the-back-trouble....but what was truly even more insulting was the fact that there were "bumps" (ahem) on the course that were NEVER mentioned in the profile that were absolutely kicking my butt. These came up randomly all over the course almost all the way to the end. So, long story short, Sarah and I got back into the main field with a group of girls that had also had similar troubles, and for the next 50 km, we prepared for a sprint finish. The climbers had already finished playing their cute little Queen of the Mountain game and now it was the sprinters' turn for fun. Speeds are now man-fast times ten and I am simply amazed at how these girls will risk life and limb for 2 Euros and a podium, or maybe I am just soft.

We got Tina to the front and then with about 3k to go there was a huge crash that caused a separation in the field. One girl even pitched herself over a guard rail. Ouch. None of us were hurt, but Sarah and Andrea were behind it while Ali, myself and Tina were in front of it so we were in the group that continued to blaze on to the finish. Some more near crashes and yells and darting in front etc, and suddenly the arrivo sign was right there. We have no idea if Tina got in or near the top 10 or not at this point. Pretty crazy.

When we got back to the hotel Tour de France coverage was on and they interrupted to throw in some highlights of the women's Giro. To see this field racing on tv is impressive as we look as if we are going at it like the men do in the Tour. Certainly feels like it, but I realize I might have mentioned that fact prior, so I won't dwell.

Anyway, tomorrow's stage is shorter, a mere 62 miles, but contains some category 2 and a category 1 climb. I bet you can't wait to hear the race report on that one.

Tid bit: they interrupt regular radio programming to bring the last 3-5km of the Tour de France live. Pretty cool. We were listening to the radio while driving from yesterday's stage to hotel and caught Boonen's win in Italian coverage......sweet