Well, OK… maybe not just like Lance. Nina and I (father/daughter) are indeed ahead of schedule! Chris Charmichael wrote about how Lance was ahead of schedule as he prepared for his first tour event of the season, and well, I at least want to be just like Lance. This Sunday was just our 2nd ride outside since the fall, and we had planned on only 30 miles with some climbing, since last week we did 20 with no climbing. After the first half of the ride, we both felt so good we decided to do the extra 15 miles and “step it up” a bit. Since we put 90% of the climbing at the very end of the ride, we were feeling the fatigue over the last 10 miles.

In my last post, I was excited about how I felt stronger, even though I was training harder. I may have turned the proverbial corner, at least the first of many corners on this long road. Nevertheless, I still had a fresh set of X-Rays taken on Sunday, and sent them to my surgeon extraordinaire; Dr. Harlun Amstutz of the Joint Replacement Institute.

It’s a good thing I had almost 10 weeks of base building underneath me before I started training for the Giretto, or I’d be a hurtin’ puppy right now. As it was, the first two weeks (even while I was waiting on approval from Livestrong I started training in earnest) were pretty painful. I am used to training hard for events and races, but the real concern I had was the pain in my most recent hip replacement. The right hip is almost 10 years old, but the left hip is only 1.5 yrs old – still finding it’s way and settling into my humble abode… or … abody. Hence, my concern has been not will my conditioning stand up – even though it has never been tested at this level – it has been will my hips hold up.

As they say, you should be careful what you pray for… you just might get it. On Friday the 6th of March, I was given approval by Colleen Wilson, the Grassroots Fund Raising manager at Livestrong that this would be an official Livestrong event. I could hear the skepticism in her voice… where would I get the riders, how would I handle the accommodations, and other questions I’ve had to pepper myself with before I decided to open my big mouth. Apparently I was convincing enough because she said we are approved, and now it’s put up or shut up.

I’m chompin’ at the bit to buy these bibs for the Giretto d’Italia, but I can’t do it till I know if we are an “official” LIVESTRONG event. The suspense is killing me! It’s been about a week since I made the decision to ride in my self proclaimed Little Giro (Giretto), and I’ve managed 5 good training days and 2 days of rest so far. The training is harder than I thought, since now I have to push and structure my indoor rides for myself, not just a class of newbies or intermediate riders. I’m excited about the process though, as I’m starting to feel the extra sweet soreness that comes only from well earned pain… er I mean training.

So here’s the idea. We get as many riders (intermediates to advanced) that we can to ride our self made “Little Giro” – or Giretto d’Italia for cancer under the LIVESTRONG banner. This will consist of just the first 5 stages of the actual Giro, done about 5 hours in advance of the Pros, but covering every km that they cover. The fact that the founder and worldwide ambassador for LIVESTRONG™ , Mellow Johnny himself, will be riding “right behind us”, makes the event all the more perfect!