Road Cycling - Saw the coolest thing!

I just returned from the trip of a lifetime to Italy with my family and father. It was truly a beautiful place and the art and history was mind-boggling. Despite all of that of course I had to check out the cycling scene as much as I could considering I couldn't bring along the bike.

I met some local folks and on the way to a day trip we stopped in the town of Lucca (in Tuscany) for some espresso and pastries. I started reading (really looking) at a story in the paper about bike racing and asked some questions as I ate my goodies. Suddenly through conversation I was told that the very shop in which I sat was the one that Mario Cippolini comes to almost daily for little sweet treats. In fact he was supposed to come in that day to pick up an order. How cool is that. A superstar that is really just like all of us regular riders in that he has his favorite little shops and stops by often - "ride to eat, eat to ride". So there you have it. Eat sweets, drink espresso and you too will be a better cyclist.

A couple of days later I was riding in our rental van back to the apartment and who did I see out riding on the busy roads with cars, trucks and crazy scooters, but Mario himself. No mistaking that face, hair and those zebra shorts. I wanted to turn around, but alas not this time.

I did buy a really nice jersey from a shop in Lucca (Poli is the owner's name) and he sponsers a local racing team. I will wear it proudly (at least until my BikeForums jersey shows up). I also saw a large number of pro racers out training in the hill country north of the city.

I'm no hero worshipper, but despite his ego and bluster Mario is one heck of a cylist and apparently a pretty nice guy according to my friends in the area.

Just thought I'd share my little story.

That is really cool! :D

Originally posted by bikeman
I just returned from the trip of a lifetime to Italy with my family and father.

I should have stopped reading your post right there. I knew it was going to lead to a fit of jealousy.

I hate to do it to myself but - please tell us more about your trip.

OK you've shamed me into telling you more.

It really was a great trip. We flew from the good ol' USA to Paris then on to Rome. Trip started badly with Air France losing 3 of the 5 pieces of luggage. We found out from many airport luggage people since that they are notorious for doing that. Live and learn.

We spent 2.5 days in Rome and walked endlessly and saw most of the major artifacts and art. Wife and daughter had fun buying clothes at cool shops to temporarily replace the lost luggage (it showed up the morning we were leaving on the train to Florence). Rome is such a cool city and is worth the trip. The traffic is crazy and the scooter drivers are fearless. The cyclists just tool along in traffic without a care and we didn't see any accidents. The hot setup for food is the little trattorias (mom and pop restuarants) that serve great pizza, pasta, fish and meat dishes at reasonable prices. The table wine is very good and always ask for "aqua minerale" with either "gas" or "no gas" (bubbles that is). Another thing we found is not to dress like a tourist. They are easy to spot. Look for shorts on men, lots of khaki and Teva sandles. I never wore shorts in public in two weeks there. Italian men just don't do that plus there are dress restrictions to get into churches (no bare legs on men, or bar shoulders on women). I was never pestered by vendors or panhandlers as a result. Dress conservatively and keep a low profile. It is more fun to blend in. My wife and I were even mistaken as local Italian speakers by some American college girls that wanted their picture taken. How funny!

We took the train to Florence and it took about 2 hours or less. Once you figure out the train schedules and get on board it is a great way to travel. I'd recommend looking up books on train travel in Europe and the best I've found is Rick Steves "Europe Through the Back Door" (http://www.ricksteves.com/). He also has a video series on PBS. Great stuff. In fact the two hotels we stayed at were recommended by Rick Steves and they were very nice and the people were fantastic with a great location.

Florence is a city of beauty, art, narrow ancient streets, cool shops, lots of places to eat and get an espresso (my favorite), hang out and watch the people kind of city. Worth a longer visit next time. We spent 2.5 days there visiting the art museums, churches, gardens, eating great food and vino. I'm really going to miss the Tabacaria stores. They are little small tobacco stores (lots of smokers in Europe - they haven't figured out the bad effects yet for some reason) that sell drinks, candy, espresso (.80 Euro) and sandwiches. Cheap and clean. Look for the square black signs with the large white "T" on them.

Hint: if you want to visit the Academia Museum or the Uffizi Gallery, have your hotel call for reservation tickets and you will avoid huge lines (up to 2 hours). We basically walked right in and payed a whole 1.50 Euro more for the priviledge. We hated to leave the city, but we had a rental van waiting (there were 5 adults and luggage - cars are cheaper and make your car rentals stateside - much cheaper). My oldest son drove us to Lucca (actually a small town outside of Lucca called Ponte Moriano). The stretch of road between the two towns is where I saw the famous Mario Cipollini. We stayed at a rented condo (400 year old villa with three floors) for one week and used that as our home base for day trips to the coast and up north through the mountains. Incredible beauty again, hill towns, pro cyclists training in the hills, old folks strolling through the town squares, lots of ancient buildings and churches and scenes right out of books and postcards (better since you are really there - pinch me it was too beautiful).

We met some of the most wonderful people just by happenstance. A man and his wife that own a huge housewares business with franchises all over the world (including the US) were our nextdoor neighbors. They invited the family onto their 50 foot sailboat and my son and I went sailing for a day off the coast near the city of Viareggio (the women of the family were not into sailing). It is the boat-building capital of Italy and there were ships there under construction like you see in Monte Carlo photos. Our downstairs neighbors helped us out with directions, reservations at eateries (little out of the way place that only the locals go), and even helped with the resetting of our funky Euro hotwater tank when the pilot light went out.

Last day it was really hard to leave. We drove 4 hours to Milan along the western coast of Italy and since it is very mountainous you pass through at least 50 tunnels. The driving is very intense, fast, curvy and my son was exhausted when we arrived at the hotel outside Malpensa Airport in Milan. Milan is from what I could tell a huge, industrial, powerful center of commerce and nothing like Tuscany in any way. Felt like a highway loop around Chicago or Detroit instead of Italy. We took the long flight home (headwinds make it slower than going over) and got home to some jet lag. Overall a memorable time and we plan on going back. My lovely wife thinks that next time I should plan on doing some major cycling and then meet up with them later. There is a place in near Venice and Bologna Italian Cycling Center (http://www.italiancycling.com/) that looks good as a homebase. Soom friends stayed there last year and had a blast.

One final thing. Drivers overall seem very tolerant of pedestrians and cyclists (and scooter drivers) as far as I could see. Everyone seems to know the rules and despite our American perception of Italian drivers they actually seem to be more on the ball then drivers in the states. At least that's my two cents worth.

As far as affording such a trip. We divided up the expenses, ate cheap, saw the real side of the local environment and didn't buy a bunch of trinkets. To paraphrase what Rick Steves says in one of his books. Keep the old car, save your money, and experience the rest of the world instead.

Super Mario hangin' with the people - too cool!!

I was in Italy for 12 days in May. We rented a car and traveled a bunch - as far south as Sicily and as far north as Venice. Anywho, while staying in Sorrento we shot up to watch the end of stage #9 of the Giro in Caserta. BTW, Cippo won that stage!

As awe-inspiring as the entire trip was, catching the Giro was the truly the icing on the cake. I can't wait to go again!!! :D