Hi, back from biking in Italy
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go 'gate 2006 posted 6 weeks ago.
wow, that's awesome. this is the kind of vacation i like. sitting at a resort is cool and all, but I get bored after a couple days. cycling tours sound right up my alley. did you plan this all on your own? was there a resource you used to figure out the logistics?
- AT
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Tamara posted 6 weeks ago.
Welcome back, Robin! I'm so envious. My first ever real cycling day was in Tuscany during a break in cooking school with my then-boyfriend (now husband) and got separated from him among the hills and curves for 3 very scary hours. He had the map, money, passports, hotel key, and Ital-Eng dictionary! So happy that your trip with the kids was much more fun!
Needless to say, can't wait to read your blog!
"It's very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit." ~George Sheehan
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beads1985 posted 6 weeks ago.
That sounds great!! I liked your blog entry. It brought back memories of earlier this year when I was in Rome for my honeymoon and the marathon. The Piazza Navona was on the Rome Marathon route and I got to see it for the first time running by it. I got to see it a couple times when I was there. If I go back I would love to do a cycling tour.
Nothing to it, but to do it
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kylie posted 6 weeks ago.
welcome back, and I'm glad it all went so well :)
Got any ideas for the couple race for next year yet?
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beads1985 posted 6 weeks ago.
kylie wrote:
welcome back, and I'm glad it all went so well :)Got any ideas for the couple race for next year yet?
Maybe tandem pogo sticks? ;-D
Nothing to it, but to do it
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kylie posted 6 weeks ago.
beads1985 wrote:
kylie wrote:welcome back, and I'm glad it all went so well :)Got any ideas for the couple race for next year yet?
Maybe tandem pogo sticks? ;-D
Beadsy DARLING she clearly wrote they are looking for a tri with an oly for husband and half IM for her :P I was wondering if they had a couple they were considering.
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beads1985 posted 6 weeks ago.
kylie wrote:
beads1985 wrote:kylie wrote:welcome back, and I'm glad it all went so well :)Got any ideas for the couple race for next year yet?
Maybe tandem pogo sticks? ;-D
Beadsy DARLING she clearly wrote they are looking for a tri with an oly for husband and half IM for her :P I was wondering if they had a couple they were considering.
"Ahh, I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw"
I'll be more careful next time ;-)
Nothing to it, but to do it
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Anton posted 6 weeks ago.
Yup! Still hate you. ;)
Looks awesome...what lucky kids you have.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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Ironmom posted 6 weeks ago.
go 'gate 2006 wrote:
wow, that's awesome. this is the kind of vacation i like. sitting at a resort is cool and all, but I get bored after a couple days. cycling tours sound right up my alley. did you plan this all on your own? was there a resource you used to figure out the logistics?
Yep, this was self-planned, self-supported. I'm of the mind that planning a good vacation is half the fun, so that's been part of what I've been doing the last few months. Learning Italian, booking hotels, B&B's, farm stays, etc. I planned some of the biking routes myself using maps + Google Earth (very helpful!), and some of them we got from a book with detailed cycling routes (some of which got us quite lost from their descriptions!). I found an apartment that we rented in Rome for a week, and the rest of our stay was a mixture of different places. We did a lot of practice runs with the kids and tandems in our own hilly wine country, putting bags of dog food in the trailers for weight. So we knew we could haul the weight and go the distance, I have an Italian friend that I practiced speaking the language with, and all of the places I booked over the phone or the internet ended up being great.
For one thing, I knew we'd pretty much have to book it ourselves, because Italy cycling tours tend to fall into one of two camps: experienced cyclists on light weight bikes doing monster climbs and mega-mileage (something I would ordinarily love to do, but I'm not sure the kids would've appreciated) or more touristy-tours with rented mountain bikes and 15 easy miles a day. Neither was what we wanted, so it was a DIY tour. We have kicked around the idea of leading tours over there some day, maybe for families who are looking to do something similar without all of the hassle of booking themselves.
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/
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Ironmom posted 6 weeks ago.
kylie wrote:
welcome back, and I'm glad it all went so well :)Got any ideas for the couple race for next year yet?
*I* knew what you meant ;-)
I'm thinking Black Diamond would be a good one. I love fall races the most, and Pacific Crest and many others have the possibility of being way too hot for me (hubby runs well in the heat, I do not). Plus my sis lives in Washington so we'd have a place to stay, and I've done the course before and like it (though I hear they changed the HIM bike course this year and I'll have to see what people thought of the new course). It would mean I couldn't do my fave fall race (Black Hills Oly) but I could live with that. It would give us a fun summer to train together too!
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/
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jtrimom posted 6 weeks ago.
welcome back...you have a lot of reading and responding to catch up on :)
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groovyjen posted 6 weeks ago.
Sounds like a great trip!
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
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PrinceofClydes posted 5 weeks ago.
Did you sample a lot of wine?
What did the kids think?
I must study your blog, because I really want to bike tour Italy's wine regions(s).
Now I need a GF to do it with.. any offers?
Geoff
"Pain doesn't last, chicks dig scars, glory is forever!"
- Shane Falco.
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jtrimom posted 5 weeks ago.
i'd go with you, but I don't think my husband would approve
Hi all, I said I'd post when we returned from our cycling trip. We got back this week from biking in Italy, which was fantastic. For anyone who loves cycling, Italy is just a great country to go to. We had a terrific time biking with the kids, did 165 miles through Tuscany with them on the tandem bikes, totally self-supporting pulling all of our gear. they are definitely hooked on cycle touring too now!
Italian drivers were incredibly polite to cyclists, and very enthusiastic about us and the tandems as well. We definitely saw some back, back, back roads - got lost more than a couple times too, and ended up walking up a hill or two, pushing the bikes and trailers, Tuscany is not known for its flat roads, that's for sure. I guess they don't call them "hill towns" for nothing.
We stayed in Perugia to unpack the bikes, biked to Asissi, next day around the bottom of Lake Trasimeno and stayed in Castiglione del Lago, then Cortona, Arezzo, San Giovanni Valdarno, Pontessieve, and into Florence where we packed the bikes back up again. We also had a week in Rome, and another week where we visited the Cinque Terra, Florence, and Sienna.
I'm putting my detailed journals and photos up on my non-triathlon blog. It's good to be back, and my great tri news for the year is that my hubby wants to do a triathlon now, so he and I are going to pick a tri weekend next year where he can do an Oly and I can do a HIM. I'm excited to be training with him!
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/