Giro D’Italia — Stage 21

Cluster F%$k and the real hunting day

What a finish. The Giro is over and I am in Milan. How cool is that. But It is not vacation time as the race just ended and it is total chaos. We take the deviation and park by the bus. Riders finish and get showered on the bus and get a bite to eat. Nick is at the hotel with the truck waiting for us and I see Craig and Sean pull by us. No need for them to stop here, so we send them to the hotel ASAP. So, it is up to me to load the bikes and get the timing chips off the bike and to Lorenzo to take back to the organizer. But Lorenzo hands them to me and asks if I can take them. I have no clue where though and ask. I try riding towards the finish but it is a big cluster F%&k and can barely walk at a normal speed due to the thick crowds trying to get the last glimpse of the Giro stars. I look and look only to see later (15 min later) the sign for “transponders” taped to the back of a car. And an official person waiting for me. ONLY 30 feet from me. I’m a dork!!

Today was the real hunting day. The last day of the Giro and I asked Lorenzo to help me get a (few) souvenirs. Giro signs specifically. And he did not disappoint me. He helped me get quite a few. He would ask “this one” and I would say yes or no. If I said yes, he would stop, I’d get out (with my trusty cutters) and “borrow” the sign from them. Besides, what are they going to do with them? Recycle them? Nope. I’m actually doing the country of Italy a service. For FREE. Cleaning up some of the debris from the Giro. Taking down signs and cleaning up the country. I should get a medal for “removing” these signs for them. The real Hunting Day!!

Time to party with the team and some VIPs (mainly AMD but some others). Time to drink a little and……(text deleted……sorry). You had to be there.