Veni, vidi, Pattinaggio

Apologies for the absence of posts the past few days, but access to Internet connection has been more challenging then first anticipated, first due to the fact that getting back from the races necessitated late trains, hence late arrivals back to hotels,too late to get online, and second due to the fact that using Internet cafe -when open- required security clearance more intense than applying for top secrete jobs...really! So anyhow, updates will be forthcoming in the next few days:

Dateline: Rome, Italy
To [sort of] paraphrase Julius Caesar's Veni, vidi, Vici, we in turn, came, we saw, we skated....

After a flight that took us over the north pole, and a stopover in Finland we finally landed in Rome, City of La Dolce vita. We are stying here for a couple of days, pretty much at the centre of the city, for a bit of tourist activities before heading off to our first race at Cesenatico on the 15th.
after seeing us with our skates, some locals claimed this is an ancient speed skating arena, but we have our doubts...

Rome historical centre is dominated by the traditional "Seven hills of Rome": the Capitoline, Palatine, Viminal, Quirinal, Esquiline, Caelian, and Aventine hills. The Tiber flows south through Rome, with the city centre located where the midstream Tiber Island facilitated crossing. Large parts of the ancient city walls remain.

According to Wikipedia- though relatively small, the old city center contains about 300 hotels and 300 pensioni, over 200 palaces, 900 churches, eight of Rome's major parks, the residence of the President of the Italian Republic, the houses of the Parliament, offices of the city and city government, and many great and well-known monuments. The old city also contains thousands of workshops, offices, bars, and restaurants.

The metropolitan area has a population of about 4 million. It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian peninsula, where the river Aniene joins the Tiber.














location
41° 54′ 0″ N
12° 30′ 0″ E
Sat image of Rome

instruments check

Well, looks like we are ready...
We took the opportunity this weekend to run a final 'instrument check' on, well, ourselves...

Saturday fronted up to the local GP skate competition, one of a number of events leading up to the state finals. On Sunday, despite initial plans to have a late start and an easy day, we agreed [in a moment of weakness over lunch] to skate a marathon distance along the bayside, where we normally cycle on Sundays.

This turned out to be a magnificent morning's outing, a pleasant skate in a nice cruising pace, mingling with the many bike riders en-route.

Thanks Sue for being a great skaters escort!

Despite the relaxed pace, made it back in time for the usual Sunday coffee get together, and a catch up with some other team members riding bikes.

So, Feeling fit and ready! Special thanks DGee, Bas, and everyone!

Last night the reality of having to get our act together and pack for the trip finally caught up with us, and so, here we are; Just back from a final indoor training session this morning, bags packed, about to head off to the airport. Our flight will take us over the north pole, into Rome.

We'll catch up with the rest of the team in Bologna, on Friday evening, from where you can expect the next posting.

Clear for takeoff.