Today saw Brendan and I pedaling up and over mountains for nearly seven hours.  Accumulating over 4,000 meters of climbing!  I would have to say that today’s ride goes down as my biggest training ride ever.  It was another beautiful day for us here in Italy.  We finally made it around to the correct side of the Mortirolo only to be able to make it nine of the twelve kilometers up before running into the snow line.  Snow and ice once again forced us to detour.  Luckily, nine kilometers was more than enough for me!  Its steep slopes are relentless.  Even descending was a workout.  The friction from my breaks had my wheel so hot that I burned myself when my knee touched its sidewall!

The rest of the ride we basically spent bar hopping.  A couple cappuccinos at this bar and a few pastries at another in a town down the valley.  Not a bad way to spend the day, but I believe when I am back here in a month’s time I will be missing those opportunities for coffee stops.  We also made another quick trip up the Passo Santa Christina and it didn’t get any easier overnight.  We are hoping to get in one more solid ride tomorrow, but with rain in the forecast it is not looking likely.

I can’t think of any other race throughout the year that could motivate me so much so late in the season other than the Giro di Lombardia.  Last year I had the best result of my short career at this race and I was hoping to go even better than that in this edition.  I was better prepared both mentally and physically and was more confident than ever before.  The day just didn’t go that well.  I felt good, I just lacked that extra gear and was unable to follow the accelerations.  I have noticed that I have been lacking that extra something since Ireland really.  Maybe it just comes with the long season of racing I have done.

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If I accomplished anything during the race today it was that I came to the realization that I want to live in the Piemonte region at some point during my life.  From the start to the finish we were surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery that you could possibly ask for. 

The days prior to the race Thomas Lovkvist and I rode on quiet one lane roads and up and over countless hills, some gradual and some way over 20% grades!  We past vineyard after vineyard and village after village and hardly ever came across any traffic, something that I thought would never be possible in northern Italy.  I am not sure if it is the food, wine, culture, sights or scenery, but I am always excited to be in Italy and to race through one of my favorite regions, Piemonte, was even more special.

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The GP Beghelli is the final race in a series of the same name.  Starting with Coppi Bartali in the spring, a few one day races in the late summer and finishing with the Giro dell’ Emilia and GP Beghelli this weekend.  We actually started at the Beghelli factory today just outside of Bologna.  From what I could piece together they make security systems.  Regardless, they are obviously big fans of the cycling world so I support whatever they are making.

The race started in the loading zone area of the factory, yet just ten feet across the other side of the road were rows and rows of grapevines.  I always find it surprising in Europe to see how they somehow blend industrial areas with farmland, using every piece of land to its fullest.

As with every other Italian race I have done, once the flag dropped for the race to begin the attacks started left to right and we constantly hovered in the 50-60kph range.  Today was a little strange in that we never really came out of that range.  A small group did mange to get away, but we kept them on a short leash and that made the race quite difficult in the end.

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