Le Dolce Vita

Italy...Ok in the time it takes for my internet use to expire I'll try and give you some sense of what the last couple of days have been like. I've 11 mins 40 secs left so this is going to be brief. 3 days across the plains of Lombardy entailed lots of flat straight roads with traffic for company. The only inclines were the hump-backed bridges over the irrigation drains. Enough said.

We reached Assisi today. 8 cyclists and 5 support crew make it all so much more interesting. If there was only 3 of us then I think we'd have run out of things to say long ago. Assisi is a medieval town with lots of narrow stone streets and of course plenty of churches - a very quiet and peaceful spot...a bit like Knock!

None of us were prepared for the Apennines. Some serious hills but with that comes fantastic scenery. Yesterday was a major baptism of fire for our new recruits - Rachel, Diarmuid and Gilly. Over 2,400m climbed in 110km...the most climbing by far on the trip. The scenery was breathtaking too. One of the most scenic days so far.

Today was no different. A monumental or just plain mental climb greeted us at 5 to 9 this morning. When my back wheel began to spin on a bit of loose gravel I knew we had a toughie on our hands, or legs! A minimum of 20% gradient in sections - I'm not kidding. Gilly reckoned that the hill had to be illegal. We christened it "Col de Prego"...our own interpretation of "prego" is not what you'll find in the dictionary by the way.

Niall McGee burst on the scene today. He's a runner by trade but there was no holding him back on the hills. Glad he was on a big brute of a bike which slowed him down somewhat.

We've 2 days left, all be it long days. Can't believe we're so close to Roma. Saw our first sign for it today too. Getting exciting now. 54 secs left, better post quickly.

GC