Riccione

with David Bayley, John and Pamela

Many of the folks staying at our hotel were also planning to do the granfondo. We headed out one day and did one of the climbs on the route, but then most wanted to take it easy leading up to the ride, so the following day we did a nice easy ride along the coast - with a massive amount of climbing! It also got quite warm. It's tough coming from cool New England! Thank goodness for the SPF 40 and 60+ sunscreen!

The next day we headed out toward San Marino for a spin out before the big event. Some headed back after a releatively easy ride out to the base of the climb, but we wanted more practice descending!

The the big event! Up at 3:30 for the bus ride up to Cesenatico, and standing around for hours waiting for the start. With 10,650 riders, it would be a zoo. There were multiple start categories and we were in one that had 4,000 people start in front of us, and most folks wanted to get near the front of it, since it included numbers 4,000 thru 10,000! John carried the camera, but rode so fast, he only got shots of the crowd at the start, one on the road early and some finish line shots, once he recovered!

Somehow our registration info got messed up, and poor John has a new indentity! But boy that Tom fellow is fast!