day 2...OMG!

I don't even know where to start for today. So, I'll start with the big news. today was Tom's birthday (so i let him win). More on that later. We began the day with the hardest climb i have ever done. I read the boys were heading up Larch mountain, think about 3 of those consectutively and a bit steeper, average 10%+, and that's what we did. The Passo Giao was a monster. Weather was great though, we're two for two on good ride days! The van meets at the top of most climbs with food and water, a nice little break and always nice to have that kind of support. After a fantastic downhill, we began the next climb, the Passo Falzarego. Nowhere near as tough as the first. Imagine riding up Larch again, this time only once, and considering that a break...that's the kind of day it was. Another trip to the van for cookies and bananas and then another bomber downhill! Into the town of Caprile, a sharp right, and the final climb of the day - the Passo Fedaia. Steep? High? I'll just tell you we passed people skiing on the way up! first 10k not bad, the second 10k almost killed me. Average of over 12% for the final 5-6 miles, an absolute gut check, suffer fest, whatever metaphor you like. forget about the first climb, this is now the hardest thing I've ever done! But soooo worth it.
We arrived at the top (tom in the lead, coach totally bonked, happy birthday brother!) with a couple hours left before the pros got there. we had three tents, one to change into dry clothes, one with lunch, and one with the english feed of the tour so we could watch the pros do what we had just done (only a bit faster.) as they approached, we went to the road and stood in the street like all the other crazy italians and watched them ride by, so close you could push them up (and some actually asked for that!)
I have seen some cool sports moments. i've seen jordan drop 50 on the blazers at the garden, i've been to the nba finals, i was on franklin st. in downtown chapel hill when the tarheels were in the final four - but I have NEVER SEEN ANYTHING like the crowd at the giro when an italian man breaks away and destroys the field like happened today. "Sella" they were chanting as he blazed up the hill, minutes ahead of the best in the world. an italian taking the mountains of the giro, and we're there to watch. it was awesome!
Oh, and the scenery today...yeah. unreal. like really not real. like you couldn't imagine unless you were standing there unreal. I will add pictures when i return, i'm a little low tech at the moment.
miss you guys and wish you all could experience something like this sometime. and sorry about the metaphor for life crap before...this place just kinda gets to you :)
Ciao!