All I can say is WOW!!

We left the campground from the resort town of Rapallo and headed towards the mountains along the coast. We stocked up on water, because it was a hot day and there were several climbs ahead. We took it easy along some beautiful roads for the first 20K or so, but then after a wonderful lunch at a supermarket (you can make a GREAT sandwich for 3-4 euros, by the way), we headed onto the Giro's time trial course (the one they'll be doing today)...

But nothing could prepare us for the beauty of the ride that we were about to do. There will be more pictures coming, but it can't be captured in photos anyway. The road ranged from 500-700 meters above the sea and looked out over the Mediterranean Sea and down onto several small towns. The core of the ride was through five specific towns, for which the area (Cinqueterre or "five towns") is named.

It was a difficult and incredible journey. Juan and I completed the course in roughly three hours. The majority of the riders today will complete the same course in an incredible 1 hr. 40 minutes. It was incredibly beautiful, and incredibly hot! Having learned my lesson earlier, I was drinking a TON of water. I'm sure of at least 180 oz. of water during the day - maybe more! But the ride was incredible.

We've arrived at Angelo's house. He treated us to an incredible seafood dinner last night - easily the best food we've had since we've been here - and we settled in at his beautiful home. Today, we'll rent a car and get ready for the second half of our journey... We'll pick up a few of Angelo's friends today and begin our journey tomorrow across the country. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday look to be the hardest three days that we've had so far. Should be fun!