Italian century recap.

left my house at noon-ish.
it was chilly, so i dressed accordingly; knee warmers, long sleeved (UNH, represent!)and, wind vest and wool socks.
i rode to Piazza Arringo to fill up my water bottles and saw a lady ride past me. i filled up me bottles and then caught up to her in order to ask her where she was going. she was just going for a short ride b-c she had to get home for... what ever it is Italians do on sunday; oh yeah, that means nothing, they do nothing all day sunday.
as a side note, she had teddy bear ears affixed to her helmet. it was very cute.
anyways... so i rode to Roccafluvione, which is a esay 20 minute ride. but at one of the intersections, i saw a sign that was hand-written and it read, "Moto pIT bikes".
i didnt think much of it until i arrived in Roccafluvione centro. a parking lot was blocked off and had a hay-bail race track and there were mini-motorbikes racing around.
the second heat was the coolest (as you can see in my photos) b-c there were kids, the youngest being probably 6yo, with helmets bigger than their bikes, racing around this track.

so then i proceeded on to Comunanza on SP237, which was alot like the old, undivided 101. thank god it was on a sunday and there was no traffic b-c an Audi blew past me doing what seemed like 90 mph. but the raod quality was excellent and the shoulders were very wide; oh any who would have guessed it, it was all up hill, tutti in salita.
then there were the tunnels. yes tunnels. about 4 km's of them split up in to 2 separate tunnels; one of about 1 km and the other of about 3 km. these bad-boys were like the tunnels that go under Boston, the kind with giant fans to blow exhaust out of them and call-boxes ever 500 meters. thank god i brought my blimkee light with me. every time i went in to a tunnel i turned it on, even though they are well lit.
let me tell you something about tunnels; even if a car is traveling at a normal rate of speed, approaching you from behind, it will sound like a jet plane. everytime a car was approaching me, i turned around to see if it was a giant freight truck carrying a space shuttle. in fact, each time it was only passenger car.
then came Comunanza, which was nothing particularly special. it seemed rather new (or at least the section i rode through) and rather uninspired. i took a couple of pictures. and was the object of attention b-c two ladies, probably mother and daughter, were eyeballing me as i was taking snapshots of a terraced waterfall thing. the daughter had the thickest glasses allowable on a human being.
i took Contrada San Lorenzo out of Comunanza, headed for Montefalcone Apennino and took the long, round-about way (unintentional) up to the hilltop town. this was the highest point of the ride at 758 meters or 1984 feet!
i cruised around the town alittle bit and took a few pictures of an ancient tower that was in ruins as well as the church at the center of the town. this comes into play later, so remember that.
then the descent. what i am about to say is rather graphic but in no way is it an exaggeration; i think one of my testicles ascended while i was descending out of Montefalcone.
honestly.
no bullshit.
i was that high and that cold. the only thing i can compare it to, although i have never done it, is the polar bear club swims in the winter. i was sweaty and wet from the 30 minutes of climbing with my heart pumping at about 185 bpm, then flew through switchback at 25mph (i ahve gained enough confidence to look at my computer while in a turn now) and hitting 38 mph on the straigh aways, WITHOUT pedaling!
the strange thing here is that with so much elevation change in so little linear distance that the temperature changes in ways that i have never had to deal with before.
then i took Contrada Santa Croce into San Vittoria in Matenano. i dont know that i took pictures of that town specifically, but it was beautiful, like all the other hilltop fortress towns.
from there, i went to Montelparo.
which was interesting b-c as i was leaving San Vittoria, i could see a giant rock face with a town on top. i thought, 'wow. that's really stunning. i wonder what town that is.' then, strangely enough, almost like i planned it, the road took me there.
the first intersection you come to in Montelparo is a seven way, ridiculous mess. since i was in no particular rush, i went up (always up) into the Centro. i found a little piazza in front of a giant church. from there i could see the two towers of Montefalcone and the hilltoptown of San Vittoria. it was so neat to be able to see where i had been! i took a picutre and drew on it in MSPaint.
after that, i went to Sant'Elpidio Morico, which had another gigantic church. go figure....
not to down play these tremendous churches, but they all kind of look the same after you see twenty in one day.
at this point i took a wrong turn. i headed downhill which is a huge mistake around here; b-c as we all know what goes up must come down and at this point i wasnt really interested in slogging back uphill to get back on track. the original ride plan ws to get on top a ridge line and ride that to the ocean. i wanted to go toward Montottone and Monte Vidon Combatte.
but as i said, plans had changed.
i dropped into a valley and rode along roads that had vegatation that looked almost tropical, lush and vibrantly green.
i headed down through Monsampietro Moirco on Via Ete, eventually hitting Grottazzolina.
Grottazzolina is ugly. i rode an industrial road (maybe SP239) in a timetrial position and didnt miss anything. i only looked up to check the road quality. at this point my legs were getting a little rubbery and starting to fatigue. i would big-ring it for awhile, push 23-ish mph. then dump it into the little ring and spin so that my legs wouldnt fall off of my body.
Fermo was next. and guess where Fermo is in relation to Grottazzolina? right! UP!
i road past a sign that advertised "SexyShop". and past a dead kitten on the side of the road.
if that doesnt give you an accurate description of Fermo you might need to see it with your own eyes.
then down, down, down to Porto San Giorgio and the Adriatic!
in typical phil-style, i took a divided highway, when i could have ducked onto a side/commercial street. oops. once again, thank goodness it was sunday and the streets were empty.
before i hit the ocean and SS16, (route 1A equivalent), i went in to a Bar (bar = cafe) and got a pastry and a cappucino. i told the barrista that i was very hungry but only had three euros. she laughed alittle. She probably figured that i was diseased and crazy by the way i was hobbling and the way i smelled, and only charged me 2 euros. i dont know if that was actually what it cost or if she realized how much of a pitycase i was.
so then, after nearly a month here, i saw the Adriatic Ocean!
it is very green. the Adriatic is as green as the Tirreno is blue.
along SS16, at one point i could see 6 off-shore oil platforms.
i went through a couple of towns and alot of closed-for-the-season resorts, as well as a couple of 4 star camping resorts. maybe i just misread the signs or maybe camping resorts are rated out of 40 stars. who knows?
then it was on to Grottamare, San Benedetto del Tronto and Porto d'Ascoli. which all look the same; beachside resort-y type towns that are more or less closed for the season. and b-c it was sunday, if i forgot to mention that already.
i found Via Salaria in Porto d'Ascoli and beagn the long, miserable slog home.
the Salaria is SS4, which means that is was the fourth road the Roman empire built and was used to haul salt from the Adriatic to Roma.
it is all up hill, 153 meters up hill to be exact. at this point i was pushing about 16 mph and completely tapped out.
10 km from Ascoli my quads started to cramp up, which has never happened to me before. when i tried to stretch them, by unclipping from my pedals and putting the laces of my shoe on my seat, my hamstring started to cramp and charlie-horse. so i stretched those however i could and pushed on.
5 km from Ascoli, it started to drizzle. then i got home and had .7 miles to go until 100.
i rode up the street and back and got my 100.

photos from my big ass ride.

i am really not a fan of posting pictures on this thing b-c i always seem to delete a photo or two, and i can't easily caption them.

but anyways...

the most epic ride that i actually did!

I left my house on Sunday morning shortly before noon.
i returned to my house at 5:35pm.
i did about 2000 feet of climbing in the first 28 miles. (this is going to be rather brief b-c i have to help shoot a movie at 1pm):
list of towns (in case you want to trace my route on google maps or something): Roccafluvione, Comunanza, Montefalcone Apeninno, Santa Vittoria in Matenano, Montelparo, Sant'Elpidio Morico, Monsampietro Morico, Grottalozzina, Campiglione, Fermo, Porto San Giorgio, Pedaso, Cupra Marittima, Grottomare, San Benedetto Del Tronto, Porto d'Ascoli, Centobuchi, Stella, Zona Industriale and back to Ascoli.
Ride time (HRM) = 5 hours 24 minutes 54 seconds
Ride time (cyclometer) = 6 hours 5 minutes 18 seconds
100.68 miles at 16.74 mph avg
4155kcal

and when i got home, back to my apt., my computer said 99.37 miles! so i put my helmet back on and went back out; rode up the street and back to get an even 100!

i will give more of a play by play later, and post pictures.

the most epic ride ever.. that i will probably never do.

this post will truly define my cycling-nerd status.

the hometown of Danilo Di Luca is Spoltore, which is about 90km away from Ascoli.
i, in theory, could ride there.

i could take SS81 south toward Teramo, then SR151 south/East, then SR16bis into Spoltore.

i am not a die-hard Di Luca fan but that would be kind of cool to go to his town and snap a photo.
(like i said, solidifying my nerdhood).

then i could take SS16 all the way back up the coast to San Bennedetto Del Tronto, turn right on to Via Salaria and head back to Ascoli.

the catch is, this ride would be about 131 miles, with some serious climbing on the first half (about 75 miles) of the ride. the second half of the ride would be flat, coastal roads with hopefully a tailwind. but how many times have you wished for a tailwind and recieved the opposite, in abundance!

elevation data provided by mapmyride, at a snail's pace;
min = 184 ft
max = 1709 ft
total ascent = 4272 ft
total descent = 4255 ft

Angus and mine's ride of 120 miles was flat, fairly fast and completed in MAY!
i dont think i've done an honest-to-god-century since mid june.... this is a scary prospect as well as one that shouldnt be tackled alone.
This would truly be the most grueling, miserable, epic, spectacular ride of my LIFE!

this weekends plan.

so this weekend most of the gang is going off to travel.
alex is going to Bologna, a pack of four is going to Firenze, and Ben is going to Roma for a day or two.
so that means it is just Cameron and me holding down the fort here in Ascoli.

the weather is suppose to be nice which i am not bragging about b-c i heard that it was suppose to be rather miserabel back home.

tomorrow at around 2pm i am helping to shoot Cameron's movie with Jessica and Adam. Jessica Hecht and her husband Adam are the visiting cinema professors from Columbia. Jessica was Ross' ex-wifes new wife on friends many years back and Adam directs... stuff. mostly tv shows he said, or currently, not quite sure. but if you liked The B-52's "Love Shack" video, he is the man to thank, b-c he directed it.
anyway, i am lending some man power for that.

then riding.
probably all three days, friday, saturday and sunday.
i was thinking cruising for picture taking oppurtunities tomorrow morning.
a huge loop that combines Vince/Bros and the first Brian ride on saturday, with maybe some hill attacks thrown in for kicks. i might as well incorporate some actual training while i am here.
then on sunday, generally picking my way from Ascoli to the Adriatic, which i have not seen up close yet. i was thinking about trying to pick my way from Ascoli to Force, then toward the beach. then maybe just take the Salaria back to Ascoli b-c by then i will probably be wrecked from so much climbing.
so, check back on monday, when i promise to have pictures!

bummed b-c of the language barrier

every day is a new battle around here with this language barrier.
sometimes i think things are going well and then i take a demoralizing blow.

i had tea with Dianna, our multi-talented secratary, yesterday at a local bookstore and we started to chat and then a friend of hers joined us. then i just sat and tried to listen to thier conversation; tried being the opperative word in that sentence.

we still dont have conversation partners. which sucks but i'll tell you a story about that.
on some doors in Ham'Smith there are flyers requesting conversation partners for foreign students at UNH. everytime i walk past them, i thinkto myself, that would be great, i should do that, when i have time...

people are the same the world over. the italians, the young students and young professionals, are just like their peers in the states: they dont even have enough time in their day to wipe thier asses. any one that tells you that the pace in italy or in europe is slower, is full of shit and was definately on vacation when they visited.

Dianna's friend, a different friend from the bookstore, her friend Sara (maybe) said that we could get togehter and caht but that we would need to schedule something, b-c it would be too easy to say "oh maybe tomorrow", for weeks straight.

so thats the deal for today. i just sat in the school allday, mostly in front of this damned computer; looking for flights, hotels, buses,e tc.
when i should have gone for a ride or read more than what i did(my crim.just.course).
but it has been cold and grey here for the last week. about 17-20 degrees C, which is what the Meteo for central italy has been telling me. so i have not been too motivated to ride. i am also denying the fact that i might have to start wearing tights soon! no!

oh well, tomorrows another a day. and a test in italian!

classclassclassfriedcalzone

i had class today. two in one day! ah man! what a rough life!
before our strongly suggested and cordially mandatory weekly italian film began, i had to go get lunch. i bought two fried calzones.

i bought two b-c i have resloved to eat more so that i do not waste away to nothing, as i am sure i have lost some weight since i arrived here.

however, while i was cramming the second calzone down my gullet, i remembered the dire consequences that accompanied two porchetta sandwiches.

i think there will be hell to pay tomorrow.

in any case, today was boring. class class class.

i am going to try to ride tomorrow, and do the same wretched climb that Brian and i did on sunday since i forgot my camera. i dont know why this sounds like a good idea, but i think it will have to be done. if not, i'll do it this weekend. Chissà? (who knows?)

i helped tourists order their lunch!!!

the subject line says it all!
an english couple was trying to order a cup of tea with cold milk, and they were struggling abit.
now tea in italian is only "the" (t-ay), but the girl behind the counter wasnt really getting it.
so i gently stepped in, and said to the young lady that takes the order, "Sì, the, con un po di latte freddo." she got it, and i told the english couple that i was from the states and that i was studying here. and they thanked me. and i felt ten (10) feet (not meters, never meters!) tall.

it was small but i was excited that i could help.

then i ate two sandwiches, like a fatty, and am going to read.

alex thinks that i must have sleep-bulemia b-c i eat alot but still dont gain weight. actually, i think i have lost a little bit of weight.... so therefore i must go purge in my sleep.
i suggested that riding was the culprit but he was not convinced.
oh well...

in order of appearance: climbing, racing, climbing, eating e ho parlato italiano!

-so phil what did you do this weekend?

- wow, i dont know where to start! it was the best weekend of my life!

-what did you do that made it so amazing? tell me the best part first, the hardest part second and the biggest personal victory last.

- oh ok, what a good idea. thanks for the prompt b-c i wouldnt know where to start!
I RACED IN ITALY! ON MY BIKE! WITH OTHER ITALIAN RACERS!
so, on sunday Brian and i went to CAstel di Lama to see our friends, Fabio and Francesco, teams race. their team is called Eco-Service, after the garden services center that sponsors them. Brian and i were late to Cesco and Fabio's race, which started at 8:30am. but when we rolled up, the second race was starting, the faster race.
Cesco and Fabio told us that we could jump in and do a couple of laps, in THEIR race but we werent sure if it would be ok if we jumped into the faster race. but there was only one way to find out, so we jump matched pace with the peleton and jumped on to the back of the pack.
we did one lap with them. i stayed on brian's wheel for our one lap. i looked in the windows of a store we zipped passed, and saw my full UNH kit flash passed. IT WAS SO COOL! i looked down and we were doing about 30 mph.
at the begining of the second lap, i saw a guy come from left side, advance on Brian, grab his jersey pocket and pull himself up past brian and say something to him. then did something to another unregistered race-poacher.
not a minute later, a race official rolled up through the peleton pointing and yelling at those of us without numbers, "IN DIETRO!", which means "in the back!". at this point, brian and i didnt want to piss anybody off, so we just drifted out of the pack.
we werent advancing inthe pack, but i suppose we were too far up in the field for his taste. but it was the cooooolest thing!
as brian and i rode around the course alone, he said it was funny how racers in the back of the pack are always the ones the bitch the most about poachers or not working together; apparently its the same the world over b-c the racer that gave brian shit was all the way at the back and not even actually racing, just sucking wheels at the back.

-wow! thats really neat phil. so what was the hardest part of your weekend?

- yeah that would have to be the climbing Brian took me on. saturday, i had 15 minutes to get ready. Brian had an hour or so to ride before doing family things. anyways, we did a 45 minute climb; 185bpm average heart rate at 10 mph for ... like i said 45 minutes, straight!
that wasnt even the hardest part.
oh and a side note: Brian knows about townline sprints! thank god!
but on sunday, after the race, Brian and Tisiana invited my to an argotorismo (a home run little restaurant that makes all their food from their products) but the catch was that we had to ride their.
brian had pointed to the town while we were on the race course, which was deadflat. but the town was way up their. as a gauge, there was a promotional balloon high above the city for the grand opening of a walmart-like store.
so we started climbing on the same road i rode on with Vince and Bros, toward Teramo. we took a right toward Folignano. then climbed passed San Benedetto (which is different from S.B del Tronto) then on to Colle. as near as i can figure, with the help of MapMyRide .com, we climbed 1854 ft in 6.8 miles! my heartrate was between 185 and 195 bpm at about 5 mph!
we came around a hairpin toward the middle of the climb and there was retaining wall covered with really good graffiti for its entire length (at this point my perception of space, distance and time was completely warped), i said to Brian, "after this meal, brian, you and i are through, we're not friends anymore." this was between gasps.
as we reached Colle, the last maybe 50 meters was the steepest pitch i have ever and will ever ride my bike up; i have no idea how steep it was. the only i do know was that my back tire was losing traction and it felt like i was doing million pound squats. at the end, when we pulled into the ristorante/house's driveway/parkinglot, i saw that my heartrate was at 195 bpm, which was after i took a few moments to take off my helmet and glasses.
when we got to the top, and during our meal, we went out on the peoples balcony to see the view. we could see the sea and the mountains, Sibilini and Monte della Laga national parks. and wouldnt you believe it, we were higher than the 'walmart' balloon!
oh, earlier in the climb, brian asked i wanted a cookie which he had in a bag in his jersey i took a couple and handed them back. as he was digging for another cookie, he saw the town line to Folignano (maybe?) and went for it; with his mouth full of cookies and the bag in his hand! i think that one would have had to go the cameras, b-c neither of us won it out right.

-Wow, phil! youre an animal. and i think you need nicer friends that wont torture you like that. but i guess you wouldnt be a cyclist if you didnt know and hang around people like that. anyway, was there any personal victories this weekend?

- why yes there was, im glad you asked.
so in between the second course and the dessert, we went for a walk, brian, tisiana, the two girls and i. the two girls are 3 and 4 years old. Tisiana and the girls went back and brian and i started talking with a fellow named Andrea, who lived in the little town of Colle (little town means like 5 house, remember?). we got back to place and i sat down at my chair and didnt look at the seat before i sat, b-c who really needs to do that. but as near as i can figure the girls must have been playing around and dropped the dessert, Crema Cotta, Cooked Cream, on my chair.
when i went to change back into my cycling clothes, i saw that i had dessert all over the seat of my pants. "oh well. ill just have to take them to the hotel to have them washed," i said to myself.
so atfter a screaming descent down from Colle, i got home, showered, changed my sheets and gathered up my cycling clothes, sheets and pants and walked over to the hotel.
the receptionist was busy booking a room with a german couple, i think, so i told her i was not in a hurry (Non sono fretta). so a little later, before i handed her my bag of clothes and such, i told her that there was a funny story attached to the pants that were in the bag.
i told her that i went to and agriturismo with my friends brian and tisiana, who are married and their two little girls and tisiana's mother. the girls are 3 and 4 years old and must have been playing with thier desserts. and when i sat down in my chair, i didnt look and i sat in Crema Cotta.
but i told it to her ALL IN ITALIAN! then, she chuckled and said that my italian was very good. i said thank you. and was very excited ! so that was really cool b-c i am getting better at talking with people. Adam, the film professor here, speaks italian fairly well, and he and i were talking, and he said his theory, and what his father told him, was just blurt stuff out, b-c if you dont talk or are concerned with the correct conjugation, youll never get anywhere.
but for my little exchange with the receptionist, i have to admit that i practiced in my head. but still i had a conversation with an italian person and they understood me!

so all in all it was a pretty rocking weekend.

and another thing, every ride around here is better than the last. everytime i am taken to another town, by Brian or Vince or Roberto, its just mind boggling how lovely this place is. and if you go to once hill top town, you inevitably say, "Wow, this place is so beautiful! i cant believe these places exist!" but then the next town you go to gets the same reaction! its endless!

i just cant express how spectular this place is b-c you just have to see it and ride it and smell it and walk it. i cant even take pictures b-c the views are just too grand and defy you to capture them in pixel form. but just the same, since i forgot my camera yesterday, i will have to go back and do that hellish climb again inorder to take pictures.

so, what did you do this weekend?

Parco Sibilini and Polizia

Wednesday i rode with Franceso. we went to Roccafluvione, then toward Montegallo (chicken mountian, he told me), then through Uscerno. we climbed for about 10km, i think, but it was gradual and nothing like the misery Brian or Vince subjected me to. Francesco said the the last 3km were tough and i'm sure if you did it at race pace it would be miserable.

then we turned around and went to the race course where Francesco will be racing on Sunday.
which was flat and goes through the industrial zone.

we did 53 miles at about 18.5mph average, which was alot faster than i am used to lately. my legs were jello after our ride.

then today, Friday, we had to be at the Police station at 9am to finalize our Permisso di Sogiorno (temporary visa's). we (the group and myself) were not the first ones there but were promptly there at 9am. we all threw our documents in the little plastic bin and waited. and waited. and waited.
we were at the american equivalent to the DMV except they also processed visas and immagration type documents. we waited until about 10:30 when we were called up to a window, and told we needed copies of our passports (allpages, every single page) and a letter from our school and an offical stamp; all of which we had completed 3 weeks earlier at the post office.
the other kids hit the roof, were generally livid. i called Cristian, our director and he said just to hang tough and wait. then an arab fellow (not exactly sure of his nationality) helped translate what the lady at the window said; he confirmed that we had to re-do all that stuff. but also told us that students usually get called from another room to have security things done somewhere else. this was generally what Cristian had explained to me, so it seemed like we were on track, although no one was staying the least bit calm.
another kid from the group called Cristian, who was enroute to come help us.
by this time, tempers were flairing. but i just hung tough and waited. an who would have guessed it, but two minutes before Cristian arrived with our sponsorship letters from the school, they start calling groups of two of us back to be fingerprinted, thereby finalizing our temporary status! who would have f___ing guessed that, you impaitent little ragamuffins!

me: Cristian, ciao. we're all a bit confused about what to do here. theyre telling us we need to fill out more forms.
Cristian: no, you just give them your documents and then wait. theyll call you, then you wait some more. i suggest you find a seat because you will have to wait a while.

so, at 12:30pm, i walked out of the Ascoli Piceno police department into the rain, after 3 and half hours of waiting, huffing middle eastern peoples bodily musk and sitting on a marble floor. thank god it was raining because if it that was how i would have had to spend a beautiful sunny morning, i would have been a little impaitient too.

now... off to shoot a movie.

i ride to school every day

i ride to school every day not b-c its is so far away, but b-c i am lazy.
i fastened my camera to the shoulder strap of bag and road to school this morning.
when i got to school, i realized that i had my camera set to picture mode, and not camera.

so i went back to my apartment and rode BACK to school, again.

then, i realized that i had the camera set to 'stop-motion' filming mode. so that me 3 or 4 minute ride to school was compressed to about 15 seconds.

i'll try again tomorrow.
but for today i have alot of reading, reading responses to do; both of which have to be done before 3:00 pm when i am going to ride with Francesco, a friend of Dianna, our sectrary.




( so i posted this and then watched it. and the quality is miserable. i'll try to start a youtube or some sort of video posting account somewhere, so that the video i take doesnt remain this bad.)

ride and/or food pics

the food is what i ate on saturdays ride: the bag (nutella sandwich) is what i didnt eat on the ride, the goo is what i actually ate on the ride (4x), and the pile of pasta is what i ate after the ride. the photo on the right is of my street, Corso di Sotto, and my house is the one with white light. below, left, is grocercies for 9euros and 30 cents and is enough for about 2 day (riding) 3 days (not riding); three cans of tuna bag of chips, bagguette, two apples, three tomatoes, salame and pasta. middle pic was dinner last night. right pic is of the dam that brian and i were standing on.

right, pic is dam upstream; middle is looking down off the dam;


the scenery is from Brian and mines ride. and Brian is in the red and black kit.

more food, panchetta, tomatoes and ravioli with a tomato and mayo side.

Every cassette is a climbing cassette!

i should be reading something about criminal justice but before i forget....

8 oclock roll out from Mozzano, which is 3 miles ffrom ascoli. i woke up at 7:30. shit!
didnt eat breakfast, pumped my tires, made a nutella sandwich, stuffed it into a bag, put it in my back pocket for later, and time-trial-ed over to Mozzano inorder to be on time, b-c Vince told me to.

i get there with plenty of time b-c the ride leader Bros (still not sure of his name) was late.
eeeee-asy roll out of 6-8 mph, through ascoli and toward Teramo on SS81 (find it on Google).
we past/went under Civitella del Tronto, which was beautiful. its a little village perched way high up on a cliff with shear faces on the side i rode past (i still have no idea which way N,S,E,W are).

[anachronistic insertion; bros, guido and the rest of the guys, except Vince, me and Vince's friend were older, maybe 45-50; vince me and friend were all 24]

so at this point i figured out who was who on the ride. there was the obligatory fat guy on a sicke bike (time ulteam, full record, fulcrum zeroes) with 50 pounds too much in the belly. there was an older fellow in the Mozzano kit (which i need to buy) (Bros was wearing the same kit) and he, lets call him Guido [b-c that was the model name of his bike, which means 'guide'] was very strong but holding back.

so Bros is on the front setting the pace on the climb up SS81, about 9-10mph, which was very comfortable. but then i got up next to him... and i hear the peanut gallery fire up behind me. (i should say that they called me Armstrong b.c i told them that i was an american student here for 3 months)
so i hear "cambioritmo" which means change of pace. so i just looked at Bros and smiled.

and attacked.
Bros, Vince and Guido stayed with me. Bros was tough but i blew him up, but the other two really had engines and we worked up the ... i guess mountain b-c everything is a mountain around here. then we let up when we got to a flatter section and shortly after Bros caught us.

i looked at him and said "BROS" very loudly and every one started laughing. so i am not sure if i butchered his name or was just busting his balls. however unitentioanl it was, i got a laugh.

we stopped at a bar and filled up out bottles, waited for the group and Guido got a coffee.

rolled back out, and headed up, always up, and to the west (i have a map open inanother window) toward Ripe. we rode the switch backs up Via Caserma in to the Monti della Laga.

we came to a flat section and when you looked to your right, east, you could see the Adriatc and Civitella way down below you! we topped out at about 1000-1100 meters! it was wild to see Civitella far below you. an hour before, you had to crane your neck just to see it on top of the cliff!

so we rode into the national park, and stopped again to wait for the group (Vince me and Guido). and they told me to yell "BROS" again when he showed up, but i couldnt... im a chicken.

cultural note: public water sources are everywhere! Roberto rides with one water bottle cage all through the summer b-c you can just ride from town to town and get water from running or spigot-ed fountains. its incredible. Brian and mines ride the day before, we rode up to this little group of maybe 5 houses, past a grandfather and his grandson playing cards, and filled up our bottles at thier "town" (remember 5 houses) well. and in the national park, there was a running fountain with ice cold, potable water (if you can physically reach it, you know like put you mouth to it, and its running, its potable).

so back to the ride; the group gets back to gether and they asked me what i studied. i told them inglese and giornilismo. then they said that i should interview Bros b-c he has a beautiful mind; which i think was a reference to the movie with russell crowe. so i went up to him and pantomimed interviewing hiom with my waterbottle as a microphone.

then we started descending. more swithbacks, always switchbacks. and it was cold on the other side of the mountain! we had been in the sun and sweating alot up the climbs and now, wow! it was cold and cloudy. but parcourse around here, you dont descend much before you start climbing agian. so my temperature moderated. and we kept climbing....

vince and i stayed shoulder to shoulder most of the rest of the day. he is really strong; at least as strong as i am b-c we were settingabout the same pace up the climbs but im not sure if he could have attacked and dropped me. but for most of the climbing i was at about 177 -190 bpm (maybe 1.5 hours out of the 3 hour ride).

No! we head in to the park more. from Guazzano to Macchia Del Sole, kindof past Leofara, then in to Valle Castellana! thats right, thats the route.

then it started to drizzle jsut after Valle Castellana. then Vince flatted. then the rain was alittle mroe steady for the 20km descent back to Ascoli! everyone was taking it REEEALLY slowly and i was wayout front. the roads arent as treacherous as i was led to believe, this section of road is wider, maintained better, and less fully blind switcbacks, curves really. and you just have to descend with your head; go where the water isnt and dont roast your brakes.

so a couple of times i waited and Vince and his bartender friend caught me. then they would go slow, and id ride away..... lather, rinse repeat.

so all in all, we did 52.09 miles at 15mph!!!!!!!! wow!
after i made a pile of tortellini in a ricotta and sauteèd red pepper and tomato sauce and slept for about 2 hours b-c i was WIPED out!

then sundays ride got rained out. theonly pictures i have are of the food i ate afterwards b-c the ziploc bag i keep my camera in was holding my nutella sandwich which i never ate. oops.
i'll try to do the same ride again and take pictures b-c it was just a killer ride.

first weekend of REAL riding

thursday i met up with an American named Brian, from Boulder CO., and we spent the afternoon/evening together; talking bikes, racing, life in italy, how he came to italy, the bike shop he and his wife are opening in ascoli.
his wife Titsiana (spellcheck), invited me to stay for dinner, so i ate with them and their two adorabel daughters.

then Friday brian and i rolled out of piazza aringo at 9am. climbed for an hour to Valle Castellana, and Cervarra (?), then descended what would be the equivalent of single-track for raod bikes.
sick switch backs that werent big enough for a toyota tacoma pick up truck. at one point, i crossed over in to the oncoming traffic lane for an apex and there happened to be there. we both jumped out of the way, i straightened up and darted right, and he put the side of his truck into the cliff wall so that we wouldnt collide.
then it just got more narrow and overgrown as brian and i started to bottom put the descent, to the point where we were riding over a once lane bridge with a canopy of trees four feet over my head!

i ahve to go to class, more to come after.

some more pictures b-c i have some time

ok, none of these are in a particular order. also, in previous postings of pictures, i tried to write captions right next to the pictures but ended up erasing them (operator error, no doubt).

but Piazza del Popolo is the one with the shiny marble floor.

Piazza Arringo is the one with out the shiny ground.

the water bottle filling from the mega-nipple is in Amalfi Centro.

the one armed lady is in Apollo's temple (?) at Pompeii.

the picture with the blue buses is the street that switchbacks its way down to the sea in Sorrento.

the rest are from Capri; a couple from the boat ride and then a couple from the walk around the island.

and another important note; we have three day weekends during which we dont hae access to the school. so on friday saturday and sunday, blog posts and emails might be hard to come by and or nonexistant. b-c, seriously, that internet point downtown is sketchy.

the aftermath...

with out going into too much graphic and sensory detail, i will just say this:

the pork sandwiches must have the same chemical composition as firecrackers soaked in Drano.
b-c the net effect on one's g.i. tract seems to be the same.
like all thing delicious, decadent and phenomanally greasy, pork sandwiches carry a heavy tariff.

on a different note, i bought a 105 dieci veloce cassetta yesterday afternoon for 55Euro. which doesnt seem to be too bad of price. i dont know what the exchange rate is currently but the lady at the counter at Falciani 's gave me a discount. if they ordered a SRAM cassette for me, it wouldnt be in until monday or tuesday of next week, which is not an option.

switching gears again (pun intended), as i was walking back from the Tigre (local grocery store), i thought that i should start being more philosophical in my posts. i made a mental list of a couple of things that i could write about, observations and cultural comparisons. i told myself to write them down when i got home and further ruminate on those ideas throughout the evening.
guess what i didnt do? exactly; i didnt write them down.
instead, i came home to the door to our apartment wide open (strange b-c Alex always seems a bit jittery when i leave it open during the evening) and a service-man checking out the stove.
Alex tripped the breaker b-c he was running the stove and the lights. which was definately not an extrordinary load, but apparently enough to trip the breaker.
Il tecnico pantomimed 'dont use the stove anymore' to Alex and left. so Alex turned the stove back on, tripped the breaker, and i had to play 'man' and find and flip the breaker switch. oh well...

but in any case, one of the things that i need to over come while i am here (ingeneral as well, but it would be best to do b-c of the language barrier) is to say the right things at the right time.
for instance; on our trip to Amalfi, the first time Charlie let me use his swimtrunks, i asked our bus driver, 'Posso a cambia en l'autobus?' which means 'i can change in the bus?'. he said yes, so i changed and exited the bus.
then he said, 'Posso?' which literally means 'Can i?'; he was saying 'can i lock it?.
i said 'Si, grazie' and waved goodbye.
i should have said, 'Si, poui.' which means 'yes, you can.?
now that is not a big thing. you know? you can get by with alot of pantomime actions and please's and thankyou's, but it would have been a personal vistory.
then later on in the weekend, the lovely barista, from on the corner near the hotel, after seeing me a couple of times for a quick breakfast (the only kind here, no heaping plates of eggs and breakfast meats and toast, AHHHHH!) [sorry], asked me if i was here per vacanze.
i said, yes and that i was an american student studying in ascoli for 3 months and that my group of students/friends were in Sorento for 3 or 4 days for a small trip.
she asked where i was from. and i said, sono di gli stati uniti, cerca bi Boston.
then she said that she wanted to go to the united states, to arizona, which was where her father was from or was there currently (not sure).
we said a couple more pleasant phrases and then i said goodbye.
but i wish i could have said that she should visit boston and the east coast b-c there really isnt much in the desert and plain states. you shoudl come to newhampshire and see the mountains and ocean in the same day. and go to boston or NYC or philadelphia b-c those are our Rome's, venice's and milan's.
i wish i could make talking more betterer!

people here are like people everywhere.
if you are polite, act kindly and try to communicate as best you can, they are interested to talk to you, interested in where you come from, what you are doing in their neck of the woods, what you study, what your home is like, do you like there town, how is your town different from theirs; they want to know about you.

just like if you were to meet someone from Spinetolli or Colli del Tronto (aside from first asking them, where the hell is that?), you would want to know all about them, b-c i dont care who you are, it's just neat to meet someone from 4500 miles from where your home.

on a similar note, i want to tell people jokes! now, im not funny like a comedian or 'that guy' but i can get a laugh. but i dont have the language skills to make cracks to people i know. this is just a small thing.

but for now i have to thrash my way through the italian language leaving bloody chunks of bad grammar in my wake. how ever, i still have something like 15 weeks left. so we'll see how this issue evolves.

L'oumo porchetta!!!

Charlie told me about a porksandwich man and sweet mother of mercy, what a sandwich!

a man in a shiny metal van has a roasted pig in front of him and just carves off chunks of pork and puts them right on to a roll for you. no condiments, nothing except pork and bread! he even puts a slab of roasted skin on the sandwich so you get this crunchy, salty nugget in the middle of your meal!

i bought two b-c my craving for meat seems insaitable lately, since my diet has consisted mostly of pasta, pasta, pizza with a side of carbs and a carb-salad on the side.

back on the bike note; i was looking at my chain and saw that i had a link that was coming apart a little bit. i got my little multi-tool out and put it back together but am still concerned about the integrity of my chain.

but my monthly dose of sodium has eased my concerns, a little.

Change one, change the other.

so last night, i left Ascoli to do Offida-Spinetolli backwards.
as i began climbing up to Spinetolli, my chain came off and kept slipping on the cassette.
i monkeyed with barrel adjuster but to no avail.

i changed my chain before i left home and didnt take it out and do a break-in ride. so 60 miles into Italain riding, my cassette shits the bed on me.
i kicked myself for not just dropping the money on a new cassette at home!
but as luck wold have it, Julia and Charlie (resident professor and husband) met an american fellow that is starting a bike shop here in Ascoli. he does not have his shop up and runnig yet but he is a life long mechanic and said he could help me out.

so today's schedule consists of dropping a bunch of cash on a OG-1070 Sram cassette and then hopefully finding someone with chain whips and cassette tools to change my jawn out.
the alternative is to buy a case of emory boards and file off my old cassette, install the new one finger tight and say a prayer.

wish me luck!

a little more about my weekend....

ok so now i am in the student center at school.
no longer surrounded by creepy internet cafe creepers. so i can write more about some insights of the weekend instead of a blast-through itinerary.

thursday, i went out for the Roberto ride, which was lovely but still very hot.
the climb to Offida takes about twenty minutes at a moderate effort; i wanted to enjoy the scenery and didnt have anyone to attack, so what's the point. i stopped acouple of times to take pictures and some video (which i havent figured out how to post here, maybe youtube in the next couple of days).
after you reach the center of Offida, you have to climb some more. after the newer center of town (i remember it by the petstore) you start to a set of medium length, sharp rolling climbs that take you to Spinetolli Centro - actually past it, i think. this part of the ride is really lovely because you can see the road you took to get to Offida which is across the valley. you then descend out of town with a huge wall to your left. (the term Centro is the historical center of the town, usually marked as a piazza.) like most of the towns around here, it is built on a hill, so there is a massive wall that seems to rise out of sight and is dotted with houses and clothes hanging to dry and flowers and hundreds of years of humanity.
then come the switchbacks...
then first one comes up really fast and totally blind. i forgot about this first one and grabbed my brakes really hard, shifted my weight outside and leaned in hard. as i exited, i looked at my speedometer and was doing 25mph! (i thouhgt i scrubbed off more speed than that!)
the second one is built for speed and has enough room for rally cars to slide thourgh. it also has spectacular visibilty, which allows you to see how big your balls are. if there is no traffic coming up the hill and you cut in toward the apex as close as you can, you can feel your body drop, almost like you caught air off a BMX jump. i think exited that at about 32mph.
after that you get back on to the main raod and its like 108 for 20 or so km back to Ascoli.
but this part is no less interesting for one major reason, traffic.
people areound here KNOW how to drive around and near cyclists!! the main road, like i said, is like 108 (b/w newmarkt and durham); very little shoulder, vegetation grown very close to the raod, in short, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. however, when a car passes you, if you were to stretch out an arm, you wouldnt be able to touch the car going past. and that situation is the same even if there is traffic travelling both directions at the same time! it is truley amazing to not be heckled and bitched at for riding your bike on public roads.
and of the 9 or ten people i saw riding on thursday night, only two were wearing helmets- i was one of them.
so that was thursdays ride.


then we had to be at the bus at 7am, for a 5 hour ride to Sorento, on friday morning. uhhh....
by then i knew i was going to get a cold b-c the scratch at the back of my throat was still hanging tough.
the ride was long and borring; bet you could have guessed that. but parts of it were lovely. like all the tunnels and the landscape, and finally getting off the bus!
Pompei was, like i said in a previous post, a death march and i think what really took my cold from a 3 to a 9 (on a 1 to 10 scale of suckage). we were all somewhat dehydrated and exhausted after the tour. the tour itself was led by our art history teacher, Christina (?) who commuted from Rome to lead our bedraggled group.
pompei was nice but its just generally dusty and grey. it was also a tough mental exercise to try to recreate a giant city in you head when all you see is ruins. the majesty was lost on me, or maybe i just couldnt see it through my haze of suffering.
after that we went to Sorento- actually the town next door, Sant Angello- where we stayed in hotel over-run by british tourist. we ate dinner, we slept.
a note about the food; its good but i am not blown away by the culinary masterpieces that await you in every nook and cranny of every alley and back alley. the food here is like food anywhere, you can eat it. maybe i am just asying that b-c i am jonesing for a bacon blue cheese burger the size of my foot but, i have yet to blown away by the local culinary offerings.
so, Sorrento is a touristy town as was Amalfi. this does not detract from the beauty, but it does however subtract alot more euros from your wallet. i will let my pictures do the talking b-c the rest is just tourists looking confused, puffy, raw and sunburnt.

Sunday we went to Capri. this place is not only worth a completely separte paragraph but also an entire day of exploring. it was just a beautiful place that defies words. the water is blue and clear; when we were swimming - after the jellyfish stings- you could see the bottom but would have to dive down much farther than youd would think to touch the bottom. at Marina Piccola, i floated at the surface of the water and listened to the waves clink the rocks of the beach, the people jumping and splashing, boats. it was the closest i think any human can get to paradise.
in order to get to Marina Piccola, you have to hike up and over the middle of the island, past a 5-star plus a little 'L' for luxury hotel, shops (fendi, prada, blaine&harmot, 2 dolceandgabana's, and all the fanciest stores money can buy), and throngs of sweaty tourists. the best part is Via Krupp, which is a road/donkey-path built by a German (maybe a nazi) in order to connect his house to Marina Piccola. it consists of about 10 to 14 switch back turns and a ton of elevation change. Maybe google ould find you more specific data about it, but what i saw was just unbelievable; once again no words can describe it.
so after our swim (Charley and i shared bathing trunks all weekend, so i think that means we're dating) Cristian and i walked back up and over to the Centro or Piazzeta to meet Kai and Charley (Charley is the resident professors husband, and Kai is their 12 and half year old son) who had taken the bus back.
oh yeah, in there, during our privately charterd boat ride around the island (after we bought tickets to a mega tour, Cristian bargained a deal with a local fellow who ran a smaller tour company) i got stung by jellyfish on the foot, arm and leg. it hurt. but makes me way more badass than the rest of my groupmates!
that evening, Charley, Kai, Cristian and i met up and went to a very nice restaurant in Sorento where we continued to suffer - a joke we started during our lunch of octopus salad and fettecini in a creamy salmon sauce - suffer in the buddhist sense that everything is a form of suffering that purifies the soul (i think) - over local fare and wine until about midnight. the waiter took a shine to Kai and kept bringing him extra little peices of food and sweets.
the next day, we went to naples for two hours b-c everyone was sick, exhausted or both. the best thing about Naples was that we left two hours after we got there.

the bust ride home was about as good as the bus ride there; again the best part was geting off the bus.

the whole trip was lovely, hot, loud, tiring and beautiful. but all in all, it made the whole group appreciate Ascoli for its lack of tourism and choas.

wow! what a long post. i think i'll go food shopping b-c much like at home, i am always hungry, go ride a little and........ uh.... study.

pictures from (inorderof appearance) Amalfi (1,2) and Capri (3-6)

here are some pictures from this weekend. click on them to view them in original size.

handsoap, t-p for tissues and Medussa!

i will not be trapped by cronology!

I GOT STUNG BY A JELLYFISH THIS WEEKEND!

that is instant badass points. we (the group and I) went to Sorento, Almalfi, Capri and Naples this weekend (google image search any of these places to see pictures before i postthem).
and since i am in an internet 'cafe' (minus anything civilized like coffee or.... uhh.... it just makes me shiver; it feels like the fifth wheel), i will keep this brief and expand upon this post tomorrow when i am on friendly turf.
on thursday, i did that ride that Roberto showed me, and felt an annoying tickle in the back of my throat.

on friday, we left for Sorento, and stopped at Pompeii for ... a three hour tour. it was actually a death march b-c it was about 95 degrees and super humid. everyone was miserable and i was thoroughly dehydrated.

on saturday, i felt like i got hit by a train. we went to Amalfi where we swam, got sunburned, and got burned by tourist traps.
on sunday, we went to Capri, where i swam in Marina Piccola (the adriatic again). Oh, that was after the two hour boat ride around the island and the jellyfish stings.
i'll stop here; we stopped the boat inorder to jump in the water, and Cristian and i jumped in. i was swimming then felt a little bite or something on my elbow. then another on my calf. i began swimming back to the boat and the capatin began saying 'Medussa' , which means jellyfish. then i kicked one with my left foot. as i got out i told him that i got stung and he gave me some ammonia to put on the sting sites. they felt like an electric, burrowing catus needles.

but even with that, we (Cristian, Charlie, Kai and I ) hiked up and over Capri to Marina Piccola, had lunch at a beautiful restaurant, and then went swimming. i climbed up on to a rock that the local kids were jumping off of and joined them in throwing myself 20 feet off of a lava-rock into crystal bluewaters.

monday, we left the hotel (packed with ugly british folk who cant close a door quietly to save their lives) and drove to Naples for a breif two hour stroll. everyone was tired and didnt want to linger too long. plus it was unbearably hot and humid aswell as being very dirty. its a giant city so i suppose the dirt and grime is tobe expected.

so then, five hours back home to ascoli and here i am. in a flourescently lit, creep-ola gallery run by an begali fellow that seems to speak neither italian or english. sorry for the bad spelling or grammar but i hadto get all this out, in order to keep all my adoring fans up to date.

i am going to go wash my hands in fire now b-c i dont know what happened here before me. or if anything in here is communicable.

these are the pictures from the first week.

Ok, so this post is not in any sort of order. i wrote the stuff below about an hour ago and have been screwing around with posting pictures for a while. i am ready to smash this computer.

so , the pictures above are, (top) Roberto my riding buddy, (middle) from the hills around Gimigliano, and (bottom) me in Offida.

like i wrote before that you will read later (!) just get facebook, b-c i am not posting pictures on here anymore.



this is the public link to a facebook album.

if it doesnt work, which it is not for me, find somebody that has facebook. b-c i dont feel like opening a flikr account right now.

but for now, this is it.
i was going to try to ride before my next class but ... dont think thats going to happen.
id rather go eat a bunch of food. so far, i have subsisted on about 10E in groceries per day and 1E for a cappucino in the morning.

i.ll probably ride after class, and re'do (AHHHHHHHHH, there's the apostrophe!!) the route that Roberto and i did.
ok-ay.





ok so here is a teaser. if you dont have facebook, get it.

un bel giro, un giro eterna!

today was the best day of my life.. so far.

Roberto and i rode for about 2 hours to Offida, Borgo Miriam and Spinetoli then returned to Ascoli. i think he made the mistake (roberto is 52, let me say that) of letting me pull for the first 5 miles and i think worked hin over b-c he didnt really let me pull another time.
but any way...
the terrain here is, i suppose you would call it rolling. but in all respects, it is actually incomparable to home. the hills go up and along ridges, with drop-offs, and ... i am at a total loss for words. if you look at pictures on the internet you can maybe figure it out for yourself.

but never in a thousand years did i think that i would be riding my bike in Italy, with an Italain friend and absorbing all this new cultural stuff. then then sitting in Piazza Arringo eating gelato !!

today was the best day of my life so far! that is all i can say. while Roberto and i were riding, i dont think i really believed what i was seeing. i knew i was riding my bike. i knew i was in italy but those two ideas seemed to be mutually exclusive (?) from eachother. it seemed as if they were two separate things, like train tracks, forever existing together but never touching, and if they did, maybe reality would seize to exist.

the raods, the nice ones, are no wider than Nichols ave. big streets, streets comparable to 108 are highways between towns. oh, and this was fun; one time i was riding south on rt.4 and a car traveling north pulled out into the southbound lane to pass the car in front of it. it felt as though the car was going to run me over, even though i had a good 5 feet of room. now think about the same situation, on 108. a car pulls out to pass a scooter (thank god it was a scooter, smaller than a car) while roberto and i are riding in the opposite direction. WOW! now i am not skittish when it comes to riding in traffic, but that made my heartrate jump about 5 beats (acutally 5 beats, i looked at my HRM).

and there are lots more MTNbikers here than :corsa: (road). Roberto summed it up well while we were standing talkinf to heis friends in Piazza Arringo; road has more men, but mtn has more women. this was while we were standing next to 4 women mtn bikers, two with rings and jewelery and one with an impeccable french manicure.
Scotty sell both you livers if you have to! you have to come here! it is the most beautiful place you will ever see, ride, visit or live in!


i have to check my email now and then go shower.
ciao tutti

Roberto ed Io faremo un giro a Offida!

at one this afternoon (alle uno di pomeriggo) Roberto and I will ride to Offida!

this should be great! i am so excited!!!!!!!

i.ll back track a little;
yesterday i rode to Gimigliano and Oleficio Paniche and it was frinkin rugged. i was out for an hour and 20, max heartrate was 194 (!!!) with an average pace of 14mph; and that was after doing some ass hauling around the city, motorpacing i motorini (scooters). i did about 20 miles.

the terrain is unbelievable, like i said in my previous post. the grades are unreal.
this i kind of funny; i was riding up hill for what felt like forever, and then shot down the other side of the hill (which is not entirely accurate b-c there doesnt seem to be sides or fronts or backs , they just flow in to eachother and, well its just hard to explain) and past a couple that was working their fields (farms are all over the hills) and then past a house. there were three old people on the balcony and i waved and said Ciao, and rode past.
then i started climbing, again, and rode past a pig pasture, and up some more. then the rode turned to dirt, then it turned to silt, then it stopped at a dilapititated house. when i say stopped, i mean there was nothing. not even a goat couls have found his way past that piont.
so i just turned around and went back the way i came. and as i rode past the same house with the same people on the balcony, and the same couple working in their same field, i just smiled at what they might have been thinking. what it was, i dont know but i am sure that they knew exactly where that rode went, nowhere.

so after that it was more of the same. i would go up at 7-9 mph with my heart redlining. then roast my brakes and rims into switchbacks. it was incredible!
there are a couple of one-lane bridges aruond here. so at the first one i stopped and to take a couple of photos and as clipped out, a Great Blue Heron (or its Italian cousin) flew out of the stream below. and damnit, i just could get my camera out fast enough! but the shot was still lovely.

the traffic situation here is... fun, to say the least. now as a disclaimer, i dont really know how to ride here, ie, their rules of the road like where to be in the lane. but, its generally a free-for-all. the cars give you space but will pass you whenever it suits them (b-c theyre used to bikes and scooters EVERYWHERE!). but in the next few days, i;ll learn more from riding with Roberto and (hopefully) Vince, when i figure out il mio orario (my schedule).
[side note, alot of the words i need are buried a mio cervello (my brain) but i cant seem to dig them out when i need them. but it,ll start coming together, b-c i have only been here 4 days (?)]

some other things of note, Ross;s ex-wife;s lesbian girlfriend is here. Jessica Hecht (i think that, s how you spell it) is the professor for the film-making class. i met her. she,s very willowy and looks as though she might fly away on a stiff breeze.

we had our first language class today, which was spectacular for a couple of reasons. A primo, we went down stairs to the bar (bars here are cafes, like Breaking New Grounds) and talked about important things like how to order coffees and pastries and sandwhiches. A segundo, it kick started my italian; i started to remember more things, verb tenses, as well as just hearing our teacher, Sylvia, speak to us slowly and clearly instead of blurringly fast.

but now it,s about lunch time here, so i have to go eat my weight in pasta and grapes (my groceries from yesterday) so i don,t keel over and die on Roberto,s ride.

tune in next time for more from Ascoli sponsored by Arbys.

i rode, i cooked, i slept (a little)

so yesterday, i didnt eat until about 1:30 pm and was ready to fall over.
we (some of my groupmates and i ) went to Tigre, the local supermarket that is about the size of the irving in newmarket.
then we went to get our permisso di siogorno at the post office. so now we are legal to live here.

then i went for a ride... which nearly killed me.
if i wasnt absolutely redlined going up a super steep grade, my brakes were glowing as i screamed down a hill at 26 mph. (i refuse to switch to KM)
the roads that i rode were more narrow thana a drive way. there were switch backs all over the place.

i,ll write more later b-c i think i have to got to class.
Barb, dont even think about bringing your bike. you probably wont even want to walk around the streets.

oh and i ordered my first cappucino this morning at a bar, and drank it at the counter.
and if you thought that soccers moms could be hot in the states; think AGAIN!!!
i almost slipped a disc this morning turning my head around, and yes, she had her son in tow!


Ciao Tutti!

i rode my bike with an italian fellow

so the big news first!
i went out yesterday to ride a little bit and as i was leaving my street, Corsa di Sotto, i saw a guy in a yellow kit zip past. i turned around and caught him and accidently scared the hell out of him. It turns out that Vince,s (i can,t find the apostrophe) english was about as good as my italian. so we road for about 10 miles b-c he was finishing his ride. as we were we riding, we were able to communicate enough to say that he would take me for un bell giro a San Benedetto a Giovedi alla Otto e mezzo di mattina.
but sadly and with much difficulty, i told him that i had class on thursday at 8:30 in the morning. however, i gave him my phone number and he said to call him when i could ride.

so now i;ll back track alittle. being foreign is SOOO weird. Alex and I walked around yesterday for about an hour before our first walking tour of Ascoli and not knowing any local customs -ridiculously simple one such as going to order a coffee and knowing the order to pay for things- seemed almost crippling. not to mention, the language barrier.
the language barrier is quite gigantic but if you speak slowly the residents will take thier time to help you along with whatever youre trying to do.

the apartment that Alex and I live in is managed by a the Residenza 100 Hotel and is quite nice. its rather small and we dont quite live on top of eachother, but its small none the less. I,ll post pictures when i figure out how.

the city is ancient. period, thats all. alot of streets are cobbled. there are shops everywhere with all kinds of merchandise. it wold be entirely possible to live your whole life here without leaving. but at first glance, you would never think that it would be possible. tiny little spots, the size of a walk in closet are doggy toy stores, a place the size of your bedroom might be an entire Staples-equivalent. there are clothing shops everywhere; on that note, as i was walking around yesterday, i saw a women numerous times window shopping from her bicycle. she would pedal alittle, then stop to check out a store window, then pedal some more and look at another dress or blouse. i saw her about 4 or 5 times.

this might be a little gross, it smells like a port-o-potty when it rains. i suppose b-c the place is so old but it,s not over powering and it doesn,t rain alot.

the first couple of nights of sleeping has been tough b-c my body thinks that i,m taking a nap at abotu 4pm eastern time and wants to get up at about 10pm eastern. when i really want to sleep from 10pm to 8am Italian time.

some cats were brawling out side our apartment at night and even they fight with more passion and vigor here. maybe it,s just b-c there not de-balled like my cats.

tune in next time for more life in Italy, sponsored by Vita.meat.a.vegi.min!

i woke in Italy today.

I woke up in Italy today.

my trip went fine.
on the way i saw:
- a wind farm off the coast of da nederlands
- people riding bicycles from the air (also over da nederlands)
- the sun rise at 2:55 am over the atlantic

those were the cool things of note.
some other neat things are:
toilet paper here is much more robust than even the heartiest US brands
i have a bidet in my apartment
i rode my bicycle 2.73 miles last night in order to see if it was in working order (a spoke is pinging alittle on my powerstrokes)

oh and the best part is that the airline only charged me $50 to ship my bike instead of $150 and it actually got there with no broken parts.

i saw a guy riding an Epic Marathon thru Piazzo Del Popolo this morning . and Cristian is going to introduce me to a roadie he for me.
the group seems nice. i am rooming with Alex and i think it will be a good fit b/c... well im not sure but he seems laid back and is more courageous than i am.

i have a phone now and at the advise of our program director YOU SHOULD CALL ME instead of me calling you.

country code = 011 39 then my number 327 733 6807

it will be an international call but we can keep it short. we were advised to do it this way b-c there is a ridiculous amount of ringamarole associated with international calling on cell phones.

check back in another day or two for more complete ruminations.