Todd and Melisa are staying in the country today, and cancelled today's tour and changed Saturday's to Monday. So, I have a couple of days off, which I am happy to have. It does take a lot of energy to guide people and mostly to be, "on" the whole day. I love interacting with others and getting to know the clients, but I am not gregarious by nature, so it is an effort. Anyway, after many days of tours and only a couple of days off in the last week or two, I was happy to have today and tomorrow. Also, there is this event going on in Florence, which to me is about as cool as it gets. The UCI World Championships are here, and this week is full of racing. So, I get to watch today and tomorrow.
Today, the junior women raced in the morning, starting at the stadium in town and doing 5 laps, each of which goes directly by our apartment at a curve. We have windows on both sides, so we can watch them come down the hill, ride through a turn, and start a straight. It is really fun and we are so lucky to be in this location. I just get very excited watching these incredible athletes ride. I am pretty obsessed with cycling, as any blog readers know. Kate's babysitter was up late last night, sick, and texted Kate this morning that she could not make it. Kate asked for our help, and I went over around 11:30 to watch the kids until around 2:15 when Emily took over. My timing was good, as the morning race was over, and I saw the afternoon race come through town before starting their laps.
The afternoon race was the Under 23 Men, and it was really cool. A couple of weeks ago, I did 3 laps, trying to go fast, and came up with a time of around 40 minutes. My course was a little longer, and I did have traffic lights, etc., but at best you could round down a minute or two. Well, the fast young women were doing the lap in around 35 minutes, but the fast under 23 men were around 24 to 28 minutes, getting faster as the race went on, which was the opposite of what I expected. Overall, it was just super fun and exciting to watch this wonderful event up close and personal. Ciao.
I think this is my favorite picture. The Women's junior (they do not have a separate under 23 and junior class) peleton coming through below the apartment on one of their laps.
The Men's under 23 group just starting to come through on one of the laps.
I think the pictures on the street were better. This is just below the apartment of the Men's under 23
road race peleton. They are absolutely cooking.
The men's peleton on the way down Via Bolognese from the apartment.
oh man.... this looks like soooo much fun. not as crowded as I'd imagined, were there more people in the stadium or on other parts of the course?
ReplyDelete