Miffy Galloway’s Giro Donne Diary – Stage 2

By Miffy Galloway (Twitter ? @MiffyG) Giro Diaries Stage 2: TT in Rome An unusually early wake up for a tour saw us leave our accommodation at 6:30am, destination Rome. Waking up to the sound of an alarm is a somewhat strange feeling for me. Back home I’m up with the sun, or the people upstairs, and I’m often awake by 6:30am – totally not Euro. On tour however, I miraculously obtain the power of sleep and am often seen passing out at the dinner table and am more often than not rudely awaken by my screaming phone. Today’s stage was a rather short 7km time trial in the center of Rome. Given my exceptional capabilities as a timetrialist, I’m not one to complain!! On tour you often visit a lot of famous places but are not able to see the sights as you’re too busy focusing on the road ahead. I have been to multiple historically famous towns across Europe but God knows?I can’t even begin to bluff my way through describing any recognizable landmarks. I can tell you however what their roads looked like, what the quality of the asphalt was and how many potholes there were. The road quality today was far from perfect, had only a couple of significant potholes, a cobbled section which was smoothest straight through the middle and only a couple of corners which were probably best to take off the aero bars. After hauling my corpse to the finish yesterday, I was granted the privilege of being one of the first riders off in the time trial. No one likes to sit daringly close to carrying ‘la lantern rouge’ but starting off in the first handful of riders was something I later saw as a privilege as the temperature continued to creep up and warm ups were shortened by team domestiques in favor of retreating to the shade to avoid certain internal combustion. The time trial saw us loop around a colosseum but there was no time to play tourist as we hit a long cobbled section in the approach. I finished, stayed up right and didn’t get caught. Given my current disappointing form, I’ve had to lower my expectations for the tour and so the former seen to me as accomplishments in themselves. As the temperature continued to rise, I took shelter in the shade as my team killed in out on course. My Canberra blood would be good if I had to race in the arctic circle, however it has definitely not prepared me for racing in these circumstances. I sincerely hope it cools down over the next few days otherwise I’m genuinely concerned that my blood will start boiling out my eyeballs. After the stage we crammed our sweaty bodies into the team cars and started the 380km transfer to our next hotel. Recovery post race is super important on tour as you slowly start chipping away at your body’s will to live. Those little 1%ers become 10%ers and can mean the difference between making it to the tour’s end in Bergamo by bike, or by car. Luck generally plays no major role in winning a tour, professionalism and dedication to what you do is rewarded and that is one of the reasons I love tour racing. Motivation in the team is high and the girls are in good spirits heading into the first mountain stage. We have a great group of girls here on tour and we are getting to know each others personalities and strengths better each time we race. I’m sure I’ve got my climbing legs packed in my swag somewhere, which is lucky considering Fabiana’s distinctive mountain pins are looking as ripped as ever and I’ll definitely be needing them if I am to have any hope of helping her on the climb!! Think lean, underfed Spanish climber thoughts for me. Miffy xx