Riccione

The last day, and as is traditional of cycling holidays, time to rip the legs off so as to sit on the aircraft home with happy achy legs and a chamois full of memories (hmmm, maybe I should rephrase that). I join the fast road tour guided by Felice, an ex-pro with a chinese whispers palmares that is impressive whichever version you listen to.

It's fair to say we started quite late, over half an hour to be honest, maybe even the full 60 minutes, thanks to some professional fafflage, but we could catch the group ride we should have been on, easy. Our steady pace would soon overhaul their migrating-herd big-group progress with their polite stopping and waiting-at-the-top. We'd have them within the hour.
Tops.

Day 1 – you can always spot 'em

It's Sunday and we're off to the Milan bike show, followed by a few days riding around the Emilia Romagna a few hundred miles to the south. On the plane from Bristol the bloke sitting across the aisle from me has the unmistakeable look of someone that rides a bike for a living. I'm not wrong, David McCann is on his way to to the world championships where he's riding the TT for Ireland, after that he'll be looking for a new team as the Aussie outfit he rode for this season is folding he hopes to find something closer to home.