As I write this blog before breakfast on day two, my stomach is in knots and I don’t know if it’s nervousness in anticipation of the longest ride of my life (200km), or just a something I ate last night… but the travails of today will have to wait, I have yesterday to regale you with, and by the way, click here to see pics of each stage.

We started late as usual; seems like we are a good 1 hr slower than we think we are when it comes to ride preparation each day. After having the van and bike trailer turned away from the start by multiple blockades and polizia, we were finally seconds from riding to the start when Jennifer realized she didn’t have her riding shoes. I saw them sitting in the lobby, but thought she would pick them up before she left. Nina and I moseyed up to the start gate, and after giving the officials a good song and dance about our Giretto, in my very broken Italian, they allowed us to prepare to start inside the gates. I sent a tweet out while we waited for Jennifer to retrieve her shoes and meet us at the start, but Jennifer never showed. After 15 minutes of waiting, we departed anyway, and discovered that she was lost somewhere in Jessolo, and we spent the next 45 minutes trying to hook up. The fantasy of doing the official race start was followed by the frustration of another delay.

Not to worry, the sun was out, we were pumped and we were finally off – but with now just a little more pressure to go just that much faster. We would pass many riders today, but one in particular was pretty curious about us as we pace lined and took our turns at the front. He asked me in Italian how far we were going, and when he learned it was for the entire stage, he offered to pull for us for the next 30km. He kept a 20mph pace, and the help was really nice to have in the headwind we had at the time.

As we went along each city seemed to be decorating more and more for the Giretto. The pink paraphernalia was everywhere. Each city was so excited to have the Giro coming, people were getting ready with their chairs and setups hours in advance. The cycling culture in Italy is amazing. I assume it was because we were all in “team kits” (matching shorts and riding jerseys) and working a tight paceline, but for whatever reason, we were getting little “cheers” here and there by just about anyone; from 9 yr old kids to 89 year old nonas (grandmas). It was just a little more fantasty for the day, and quite encouraging. They knew of course that it was too early for us to be part of the race, but they cheered anyway.

It was a little less than 100km when Nina’s knee started to really hurt. It seems that the advil she took prior to departure was masking the pain, but her knee was not right. In fact, the pain continued to increase to the point where we had to stop and experiment with different set up positions and slow our speed. Nina had trained HARD for months with no injuries or sickness, and now this – very frustrating indeed! Just as our spirits were beginning to sink we came across a huge group of fans, most of which were kids seemingly together from the same school or something. As we road through the center of their town, they started cheering in advance of our arrival, pushing us to go faster and pump our fists as we passed. They cheered for us as if we were the pros themselves. It would be the happiest moment of the day for all of three of us – a fantasy so very cool!

As we got closer to the destination city of Trieste, the crowds were starting to form on the sides of the road, and our cheers became just a bit more frequent, but while Nina’s spirit was buoyed, her knee was not. Her pain continued in earnest, and we broke out the advil for another dose. We reduces our speed, and we increased our frustration as we started to enter Trieste. Yes we made it to the destination city, but doing multiple loops was now not likely with the pain she was in. Nevertheless, we were treated to an unexpected fantasy that topped all others for the day.

Trieste is a big Italian city, and they had already closed every street that would was to be used for the Giro. We entered the “shoot” of the final streatch first as we began our first loop – with the barricades and fans thick on both sides. We were at the back of the sponsor vans and it looked as though they were leading us in. The sponsor vans pulled to the side and we zoomed past them. The crowd response was fantastic. The sponsors then pulled off the course, and we continued on the first loop around the city.

Each km we rode became more empty of traffic, and more present with police and fans. The last portion of the loop was just after a significant climb, with switchback turns down a steep descent to the city. The police at the top of the descent asked me if I was going to stop (in Italian), I told him yes, and proceeded even faster down the hill. I figured that he was not going to chase me, so as soon as I was to the bottom, I started pushing the big gears. I was clocking 48km/hr as I flew through completely empty streets, with police and officials at every intersection, manually turning every traffic light green for me, and fans lined on each side wondering if I was some sort of early break. For me, I was riding in the Giro d’Italia for REAL! My heart rate was at threshold for those final few km and It was the most incredible and surreal feeling on a bike that I have ever had. For me, if nothing else happens at the Giro, this was worth the entire trip.