Race Day

Some pics getting biked checked in and ready for the race.....




Race morning

Wow, what a day and so much to write about. Will have to come back later and put some words on paper

Getting Nervous Now

View from our place

We live across the road from a big pig, lol. Out on the course with the Tri Travel team

The expo....

My new bike, it is a Cervelo...

Lisa's new bike, it is blue...

Getting registered

The finish line

Having been so long between races for both of us, the period leading up to the race is really tough. The usual feelings of confidence are replaced with feelings of self doubt, dreams that end in disaster, illusions of a poor day and cold sweats when your at the supermarket getting supplies.

It is interesting to take a step back in these situations but the time between ironman's mustn't allow you to perform this self reflection as we both struggled to act cool and calm before the race. Both registration and also packing of our gear bags was tough to stay focussed and we were really showing the stress of the upcoming event.

Roth- Here we are

Arrived in Roth after a monster trip from Munich. The speedo said we only went 200 odd k's but it took forever. In saying that we made a stop at the Concentration Camp at Dachau, which was a real eye opener.
Really brings home the sacrifices made on our behalf during World War II and what we have that we should be thankful for.
You could easily spend a whole day going through the museum and the information available at the site it has that much to offer. Where they slept. Camp designed for 6,000 people, when liberated had 32,000 occupants...

Gas Chamber......

Ended the say settled into our B&B in Spalt, which is just outside of Roth. We booked this Tri Travel and met up with the group that night, which was good to see some familiar faces. This place is a little over 20 minutes from Roth, but due to the number of people doing the race and the facilities available, this is the best option for our week leading up to the race.

A quick view from the top of the world before heading to Germany

Been slow with updates sorry, as haven't had access to the internet till now.....
Before heading off to Munich we took the opportunity to take the cable car out of downtown Innsbruk and head straight up to 2200m where they ski in the winter. Made for some awesome photo's.

Quick Update from Innsbruck

Our last day in Florence and spent it walking around town and seeing the major sights. Way to many tourists in this part of the world and have to be ready to combat major crowds if you plan on making a visit here. We decided against going into the major museums, as they generally looked like 1 - 2 hour lines for each of them.
Got on the road yesterday and travelled from Florence to Innsbruck, via Verona. Would highly recommend Verona to anyone travelling in these parts as it was like a postcard wherever you looked.
Likewise the drive from Verona through the mountains to Innsbruck was amazing countryside. Unfortunately hard to capture on the camera.
Had a quick ride around Innsbruck this morning and about to venture out for a look, and to walk breakfast off.....
Inside one of the Palace's

Street performer in front of the Uffizi Museum
Pont Vecchio - where all the Goldsmiths sit
Verona

Juliets Wall in Verona

Verona to Innsbruck - the mountains just spring out of the valleyOne of the many castles sitting atop the mountains and cliffs on the drive from Verona into Austria

Florence has ended our riding drought

Just back from an early morning ride, from Florence out towards a place called Chianti.

Inspired with the Tour de France starting yesterday and with Cadel 2nd with a big gap on the main GC threats, we braved our first ride in Europe.

After the initial terror of cobblestoned streets and one way alleys, we then took a wrong turn and ended up on a highway. Several toots from passing motorists suggested we get off asap. Once off, we then found a wonderfull little country ride that made the effort worthwhile. The turnaround point culminated in a climb that gave some great morning pictures of the country side.

Italy

So today ended our French visit and off to Italy we headed.

What a journey. Am learning to hate driving in Europe, but that is the price you have to pay for the sites and experiences.

I thought yesterdays drive was good, but today's took the cake. Heading North East out of Nice into Italy the road along the coastline and through the mountains is unbelievable. Maybe not so much from an outright view perspective, but the height of the road and the actual effort that has gone into building the road is amazing. Pictures from the car won't do it justice, was just incredible and I have nick named it the "skyway".

Arrive at Pisa and that is a pretty cool place to visit as most have always heard about the leaning tower. To see it in person was worthwhile and seems to defy logic that it is still standing. One thing that I learnt today, was that they took a couple of breaks while building it, The first break being a 100 years or so, the second less, but in total they took 200 odd years to build that sucker. and they continued to build it even though it was leaning> Call me crazy, but that seems weird.

From there we headed to Florence and well, we thought the trip into Paris was tough, getting to our hotel here was a mission. Tired now, so will update with more tomorrow.

Lisa and her 'Nice' beach rocks (wonder whether we can pull off a Leanne....)

Morning run in Nice
The Skyway

Pisa

Bike racked ready to race in Florence (I am getting sick of carrying these around btw)




Ponte Vecchio, while having dinner

David, not the blake kind, he is bigger....