Eve of the Race

Milan, Italy – Today was one of those hot-cold days. Some good, some bad. Nothing really bad or really good, though.

The bad: Somehow I had Chad Beyer NOT riding Vuelta a Catalunya (a race that begins Monday). Instead, I had Marcus Burghardt starting. I think the problem occurred when I was looking at the rider spreadsheet and got my lines transposed. What this meant was having to send a correction. The ultimate blow, though, came from George Hincapie, who told me, "Weide, you're slipping." Yes, not a good thing.

The good: The internet was working great at this hotel. Enough said.

Not much else to report, really. I spent about two hours trying to figure out how to set up e-mail on Jim Ochowicz's ipad. Never did get it working.

News and notes:
- So many hotels and buildings in Europe are built with energy conservation in mind. For example, most hotel rooms don't allow you to turn on (or keep on) the lights without putting your room key in a slot. At this hotel, the lights in the hallways are on motion detectors. The little flashing motion detectors on the ceiling reminded me of something out of "Star Trek."

- Food was good here. For the first time I saw scrambled eggs. Pasta was good (of course), as was some type of rice dish. Meat is awful. Yes, awful. If you want a steak, go to Nebraska.

- A TV in the hotel bar actually had one of the NCAA Tournament games on. That was pretty cool. I was talking to a journalist (on the phone) at the time, so I didn't have time to watch it or pay attention.