Spring Break

During university days, Spring Break conjured up images of beaches, fruity drinks and road trips to places south. For my own adult spring break, at least I kept up with the going South theme. I went to Italy for my second annual Spring Break/Training camp with the triathlon crew.

Unfortunately, as we were flying into Bologna, we were greeted with this view. Not exactly what I had in mind. I just got done skiing! Alas, snow was on the ground in Italy.

Luckily, the sun was shining and the roads dry (unless the snow melt was running down them) This is what a group of adults look like on spring break. Well, a group of adults with 7 bike boxes....

Every day the sun was out which was great. It was still a bit chilly early in the week as evidenced by my overdressing. Who told me the temperature was going to be freezing up the mountain? Liar!

Riding up cobblestones on the way to the coffee stop.

The group enjoys the sunshine

Paul and I with team kit on. What kind of face is he making? Geesh.

A hazy view of the beachfront with Rimini at the bottom of the hill




Part of the charm of our cycling spring break is that you get to climb up some hills. We do have those in England but you've got to find them and they are a bit shorter than the average. So on this trip, we climbed. We climbed a lot. Here is a good picture at the bottom of the hill where I have people around me and we are merrily chatting.

So we are climbing... enjoying the view... la dee da......

More lovely, sunny country side... la dee da.. climbing... climbing... breathing.....no talking....

And then later on the hill no more friends to chat with as we are all busily trying to breathe and get a bit strung out on the hills. Its tactics really, I'm just looking for someone's wheel so I'm not doing all the work. :o)

Sometimes we even climbed to the snow! I was still overdressed as I was sweating like a you-know-what but fun to see that I'm now surrounded by snow!

Here Chris gives us a back drop to the snow around him. Thank goodness we were almost at the top.

Most innovative use of snow for bike parking?

Or perhaps you prefer to park your bike like this?

Holly and I put the arm warmers back on and zip up to get ready to go down the hill. It might have been a warm journey up but it is going to be a chilly descent.

Do you think there are enough signs behind Simon telling him which way to go? He still looks confused.

No snow bike parking. It's not your usual Starbucks coffee stop now is it?

Riding in such interesting conditions leads to a few wardrobe challenges. How hot will it be? What will I need for the descent versus the climb? Louisa solved that issue by buying some long socks at the airport. Her (mainly) black outfit was complimented very well by her yellow, brown and pink socks and her new, shiny, white shoes. She did win the fashion award by the way.

Chris displays his traveling buddy. The cute lion in his back pocket was cute until he tormented you by passing you up the hill. Nothing against Chris' superior cycling ability, but I have to believe the boys weren't happy to be passed by a man with a stuffed lion in his shirt. I loved it.

When we weren't cycling, running or swimming, there was various other fun to be had. Some people spent some time in the cold plunge pool to try and relieve the sore legs after 5 straight days of climbing. Needless to say, I just took Motrin instead.

Of course, there were the standard gelato stops. That's my cone in the front thank you very much.

And really, who are we kidding? After the rides we celebrated with a bit of calorie replacement. Beth and Katy don't even make it out of their cycling clothes before the prosecco is opened. I'm jealous that they started without me.

And I have to end again with a picture of my good friend John Booker. This is how we roll. A fabulous week with very fun people. Now I just need to lose a few of these pounds that I gained. I'm going to blame the Italian food for my excess calories. Yup, it must be just the hearty Italian food........