Rainy Day

Today is Rainy.
We have three leaks in our room. just when we thought it was over... all the leaking in Fiji, it starts up again in Italy. we have two on our bed, and one on our books. We had to put some cups out and a big bucket so that we could leave the apartment. It sucks to have a wet bed no matter how it happens. But I guess water is better than some things.

Usually when it is rainy we ride our bikes on the indoor trainer. It annoys our downstairs neighbor even though its pretty much the quitest trainer on the market. He will come up and complain that we are making too much noise and that its shaking his bedroom. The funny thing is its like 30 minutes every two weeks and its at noon. Maybe if it was midnight we might consider stopping. but we dont really care so we will keep doing it.

This morning we were awakened by the annoying downstairs neighbor with some loud pounding. He was obviously pounding on ceiling of his room with a little hammer. It only made me laugh because his hammer is obviously really small. what a weiner.

More pictures are to come soon... Oh yeah and we got some postcards to send everyone, so if you read this give us your addresses and we can send you some cards.

April 24

Robyn is now 27!!! Happy Birthday Robyn!!!












We just got back from our trip to a place called Lari, which is part of the provence of Pisa. Its about 15 km away from pisa where the leaning tower is found. The race was killer and as were the others, difficult. It was fairly hilly with about five small climbs that were 5-7 km long each and about 10 % in steepness. but the last one was the killer one, it was 9 km long and 13%. very steep and i actually fell off the bike at one point. my legs stopped working and i couldnt go any further, so i just unclipped my feet, then took a load off, and lost some fluids... I had no water left in my bottles and the weather was really hot. But I eventually got up the climb. Coming down the other side i was really worried that I had lost the peloton and would never catch up. I said a little prayer and within minute i had this guy that wasnt in the race and must have been 6 foot 3 at least 230 pounds come up behind me flying and i drafted off him till i caught up with the rest of the pack. It was seriously a miracle cause he just disapeared afterwards. after the climb there was about 15 km to the finish line. I broke away from the pack a few times but the wind kept me coming back to them. then at the finish line we sprinted for the line and amazingly i won my first sprint!!! It felt good and I have my coach to thank for the increased power and speed.
Robyn was at the finish line sceaming for me . it was a good race!!
after the race we watched some parachuters jump and land at the finish line.
Next week I race here in bologna The 10 Mountains of Bologna its called.

dragons and witches

Lady was a strong bike and had taken her owner on many strong and fast rides since that fatefull day when they were hit by a car. R2 was starting to bond to her and had taken excellent care of her. Together this strong duo had logged over 400 miles in there first three weeks together, however there was no preparing her for what would befall her on that fatefull morning of April 2006 in Bologna Italy.

While warming up one morning Robyn had decided to guide lady onto a path specifically designed to handle birds of ladies size. they called it the bike path. she was cruising down the path that had only a few morning walkers here and there. the speed was starting to really pick up maybe 25 or 30 miles an hour (the fasted species of bird in europe is the Lady Carrera hawk). when out of nowhere an old witch of around 100 or 150 years of age let her huge flame throwing dragon off its leash! As most dragons do when freed it ran rite in front of Lady and began to breath fire!!!

Lady was not scared and didnt hesitate to strike him. In fact she flew straight into her at full speed !!! Well what you have to understand is that Lady is but a bird and is no match for Dragons when they have people sitting on them. So in an effort to best the dragon, the rider (Robyn) was thrown off her. Once again a huge accident was the result of Lady trying to be a hero. the dragon ran off crying and whimpering with the old witch and R2 lay on the empty lonely path in pain. She summoned her wizard Dan and he helped to make the pain go away.
Till next time
D and R2

Flight of the bikanator

I thought i would tell you all about Robyns adventures so far here with her bike. As some of you may know her bikes is named Lady Carrera, and they have many adventures.
Once apon a time in a land far away there was a bike named Lady. She was white and blue and had an eagle painted on the side. She was a very pretty bike. one day she went out on a ride with her owner R2 and came apon a busy street. she rode out into it without a care in the world. she loved the street and loved to go fast. but all of a sudden out of the side of her a car came up and smashed into her rider sending them flying over the curb and onto the sidewalk. Lady wanted to fly up and peck at the car, but the rider was still clipped into her pedals and lay on the side of the road in pain. eventually they got up and rode home to their safe nest. stay tuned for their next adventure... which are many.

internet cafe...

once again we are back in the net cafe... our computer should be fixed tomorow. we are both really tired from everything and need to get a new bed to sleep on. cause now we are on a couch and it sucks. Ikea is on the plan for tomorow. also when the computer comes home we will try to put up some new pics...
its sunny and warm here now and we like it alot. i am too tired to write any more...