Wow. What an amazing first few days and a fantastic start to my European Adventure. 

 

Firstly, I would like to say a MASSIVE MASSIVE thank you to everyone for your support – whether it be through your donations, JB driving me to the airport, the lovely ANZ customer service manager who set a new WR for time taken to process a travelers card 78mins before I needed to check in (note to self, try not to leave things to the last minute), my new riding buddies on the Cycling Dreams 2012 La Bella Italia Cycling Tour, and to Kat for picking me up at the airport in Roma (having a friendly face in a non English speaking country made a world of difference; admittedly I was enjoying using sign language with an extremely good looking Italian who worked at the airport…) 

 

So I am currently somewhere in Tuscany.  Words will not do justice to some of the places we have ridden through since Roma. I feel like I need another ten pairs of eyes to take it all in. If anyone has the chance, I highly recommend traveling by bike – it is the perfect speed to take it all plus you have the added advantage of earning a few coffee breaks and gelato! 

 

It hasn’t been all roses, I have definitely been needing my compeed blister packs and have questioned my sanity going up some 16% climbs. 

 

However, I was spoilt when by my Wheelchair Basketball friend Kathleen O’Kelly-Kennedy (who is aiming for London this year – go Kat!) – she learnt how to drive a bus for me so my bike box would fit, took me on a night tour of Roma and other beautiful lakes where I ran into a fellow a Victorian Institute of Sport Cyclist, Eric Sheppard, who is currently training over here. Small world. It was also awesome to see the Aussie Wheelchair Rugby Team playing a match broadcasted on Italian TV. 

 

My first ride in Roma was definitely an ‘experience’. While Kat was off shooting some hoops, I made my way to the base of Tivoli. While the road was littered with potholes, I was blown away by the courtesy shown by cars/buses/motorcycles etc to cyclists. Hopefully Australian Motorists will cotton on soon – one can but hope right?! This next sentence may sound out of place if read on its own….I also had my first experience with Italian Prostitutes. Notice the plural. Here was Hannah riding along, and low and behold, each street corner had its own female. And they were definitely excited – one shouted out ‘Wooo, Ferrari’. Another ‘Andare Scarponi!’ For those not involved in the world of Lycra, both of these are Italian cyclists. It was rather nice to receive some encouragement on my ride, even if the name wasn’t quite right. 

 

Tomorrow we ride into Sienna, and I am told that I will need at least another 14 pairs of eyes but will probably not be receiving the same kind of encouragement as Roma…

 

Till next time, 

Ride safe, ride happy, ride in the moment,

 

Han 

 

Ps – as I am not a technological genius, I cannot figure out how to upload my photos onto my blog using my iPad – apparently it is nit recognizing the pics saved on my computer… Hence please see my twitter updates for visual stories 🙂