Italy

I traveled to Italy with Brooke because she was racing in the Giro de Italia and would have some time to travel after the race. We flew into Pisa airport and were picked up by Andrew and Chris of USA cycling who took us to the US team house in Lucca, Tuscany. The team housing is a refurbished party hall that's been modernized into several apartments. The party house was built next to an Italian mansion? that is now owned by SRM, the company that manufactures the power meters and computers that all professional cyclists now use. There was a few days before the race started so I had the opportunity to spin around Lucca with the US team as well as olympic Gold medalist Kristen Armstrong (no relation to Lance). Because the US team was a bit short on staff for the race I was invited to come along and help out. The race was 10 stages and took us from Tuscany to Napoli. The US team was successful in taking a 5th place sprint finish and a 2nd place stage win against the worlds best riders. After the race Brooke and I spent a week in Rome before heading back to Lucca for our home base. Here Brooke could train and make day trips to Florence, Pisa, and Cinque Terra. I could have stayed in Italy with B forever. 

The movie is a sample of what the riding in Lucca is like. Brooke is responsible for the lousy camera work.