Today I slept.  I have been missing sleep from the past four or five days, so I made up for it today.  I slept for 12.5 hours, then the maids came in and woke me up, so I went down for breakfast.  After breakfast I started to watch soccer on euro sport, which works better than ambien by the way, so I fell asleep until lunch.  After lunch I went on yet another unbelievable ride.  I just can't believe how amazing the riding is.  You could easily do 14, 4 hour epic rides.  Those of you who have never been to Italy think I am exaggerating, but those of you who have been here know that I am not.  This place is absolutely amazing.  The Gavia is close and I may hit that up on Saturday.  It is hard to not go too long and blow my legs for Friday.  My legs feel pretty good, so I am hopeful that I can have a good race.  Maybe if I get some help from my super fans both here, home, and in Seattle, I can have a good result.

Val di non sole

On Sunday morning I started my journey back to Europe for World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy.  As I was walking to my seat on the flight to Munich I saw the fattest guy I have ever seen.  I mean this guy was huge, easily pushing 400 lbs.  The momentary laughter at the poor sucker who had to sit next to this guy died about the same time that I realized that I was that sucker; Rob laughed harder.  I sat in the window seat and quickly put my armrest down in an attempted to protect my fragile personal bubble from his monstrous girth.  The little armrest strained and creaked as it was overwhelmed and forced towards me.  His seat belt, even with the extender extended to the max, was unable to contain him.  The only thing that was finally able to reign in his width was the seat in front of him.  I was curled up next to the side of the plane completely hidden from view for the next ten hours.  It was a long flight.

I finally arrived in Val di Sole yesterday after a 6-hour bus ride from Munich.  I have no idea as to why we flew into Munich.  Both Milan and Venice are much closer, however this place is unreal.  There are huge jugged peaks towering above on all sides, unfortunately they are currently covered in clouds.  I rode up this amazing pass that was right here.  15 Switchbacks and two hours later, Schultz and I found ourselves in the base of a gigantic cirque, and in the driveway of this Italian rancher.  He was pretty cool and talked to us a little bit and we responded in broken Italian and and hand gestures.  There are some really big name passes, like stavia, that I will try to do on Saturday and Sunday.  For now I am off to the pasticceria for some amazing Italian treats.

Sleepless in Seattle.

I spent a couple of days in Seattle last week helping Trevor drive his new car back to his house. I happen to know a really good tour guide in the area and she agreed to show me around the city while I was there. It is not very often that I get to experience cities and countries the same way that most people do. Usually I am there to race and that is all that I do. Just hang out in the hotel resting and waiting for the race. Then I race and leave. I don't have much time to walk around and usually just spend my time at the grocery store or local bakery. Not that there is anything wrong with that, however it was nice to be able to see the sights and just wander around. I got to go up into the Space Needle and stroll down Pike Place Market eating all of the Turkish candies, Russian rolls, and French pastries that I could. We also went by the fish market, the first Starbucks, and walked out onto the pier. Fortunately Sayoko was with us so I didn't feel too much like a tourist, although Trevor's purchase of a snow globe didn't help the situation. After all was said and done I didn't get back to the house until 4 am, and finally fell asleep at 4:20 only to be woken up at 5 to start the 13 hour drive back home. Sleepless in Seattle. I do not recommend starting your road trip off with 40 min of sleep. It tends to cause problems, however I feel that it was a justified sacrifice. After about 10 power naps, 15 Red Bulls, 5 coffees, a bag of swedish fish, and a pound of skittles I was awake, alive, and at my house ready for my next adventure.