I am sitting in the lobby of my small hotel (Lido di Camaiore) pirating the wifi internet from our neighbor cabinieri station.  I am surrounded by friends! 

Racing but not really racing.

I am sitting in the lobby of my small hotel (Lido di Camaiore) pirating the wifi internet from our neighbor carabinieri station.  I am surrounded by friends!  My teammate Linda has named this area the ‘internetlobby’ since there always seems to be somebody from the US National team or my team down here emailing or surfing.  It’s kind of funny.  We are in this old hotel without any phones in the rooms yet we have access to wifi!!!  Of course we are only doing the minimal surfing and emailing… only enough to keep us connected to the outside world.

The Giro Toscana started on Tuesday evening with a very short prologue in the town center of Pescia.  My teammate Mirjam won and Susanne was 3^rd!!!  My ride was good for the first two minutes, and then it was time to be cautious in the corners.  I didn’t want to take any risks.  I’m also here for training, so I have no interests in personal results.  (I think Mirjam was here to do the same, but all of a sudden she ended up in pink!)  I spoke with my director, Jean – Paul, a few weeks ago about using this race for preparation only, and he was ok with it, so I have some freedom to float.  However, it’s a very different feeling to be in a race to prepare vs to race.  I am doing what I can to help Mir and Susanne in the overall; however I am not going full gas all the time.  The others are riding well, and I think that Susanne is motivated so I like her chances.

Tomorrow (Thursday,) we only have one stage.  It’s a difficult one!  It should be good for Susanne and Mirjam if she chooses. I really want to go hard, but I need to take it extremely easy.  I will do what I can before the big climbs at the end, and then enjoy the laughing group.  And since we are staying a few hundred meters from the beach, I may go for a cold soak with some willing compatriots and teammates later… we will see.  TBD.

Ciao,

Amber