san pelligrino

and here i thought it was just a nice mineral water i get down at the QFC...
first, let me apologize in advance as i am on the third different type of keyboard this week. if you have never travelled in europe, each country seems to have a different idea about how these things should be arranged. it took me four minutes to find the '@' (that time it only took me three...) and in german keyboards (more on that in a minute) they have switched the z and the y around. ugh.
today was the hottest yet and a 'transfer day' meaning we moved from our first hotel in alleghe to bolzano. when peter 'transfers' a group, he doesn't do it the easy way. covered about 90k, the first 20 or so down into the town of chechequene and then the start of the pelligrino. 18k, the first 10 at about 4-6%, the next 5 at 12-14% and an easy little 1-2% stretch to finish up. from the top down to the town of Moena and a lunch stop and then climbed the passo castalongo (not to be confused with the campolongo we did the other day). another tough day of climbing although only about 7000 ft. or so and the reward was a 30k descent into bolzano. yes, brad, 30k straight down hill! the only time you pedaled was to go from fast to really really fast or (don't read this mom) to pass busses on the wrong side of the road.
bolzano is cool. very hip with boutiques and young people running around looking fabulous, but we are very close to germany and there is more german history here than italian. german is actually the main lanquage - i'll explain sometime how to survive in germany on two words a day and a weird keyboard. remember the 'ice man' they found about 10 years ago...well, he's here too and there is no doubt what allison will be doing tomorrow.
we, alas, have a rest day tomorrow. 50k through apple and pear orchards along a river and all FLAT! no one is complaining. friday and saturday are the biggest yet, so the rest will be valuable indeed.
here's something to think about. we are averaging about 7.5 hours of bike time a day. when many of you go to work, imagine parking your buns on a saddle instead. when you leave work, we'll have just finished riding. it's kinda amazing that dan, tom, and i are doing this mostly on spin classes and the occassional weekend ride! must have a good teacher :)
ciao!