
Field Marshal Turkish von Turkenstein (commander, 1st Feline Home Defense Regiment), rousted me out of a warm bed at dark-thirty this morning, thinking I needed to be earning my keep by following Milan-San Remo.
I explained that I no longer work for a racing magazine, but he simply yawned and replied: “It was time you got up anyway. Wake me when lunch is ready.”

A beautiful day here in Sicily. Sleep in a bit, enjoy leisurely breakfast, then hop on the bikes for a couple of hours. Stop just outside the town and pick up sliced, fire-roasted pork for panini and a nice, thick “fiorentina” steak for Sunday. Get home in time to shower, pick up some beer and enjoy the panini before tuning in MSR around 2 PM. As they say here, “la vita e bella.”
Lots of asphalt-surfing in the finale, hey? Sagan and Mr. Fab had to do some fancy dancing to keep the rubber side down.
Yes, not a stellar version of MSR unless you’re French. When they wait until the end to do much of anything and then start crashing and having mechanical issues, it’s kind of a dud. But all the top guys seem to be in great form so we can hope for better races at Flanders and Roubaix.
Just back from a Brown Canyon ranch run on the mountain bikes. Fresh salmon filets from the farmer’s market, along with mashed rutabagas, sometimes known as swedes in Europe, with spinach salad. If I may ask Larry, what kind and brand of beer? We like the Birra Meretti La Rossa.
Beer? Cheap and cold. Heather likes the red ones while Nastro Azzurro is just fine for me to wash down a porchetta panino or a pizza. I save my more sophisticated taste buds for wine so craft beers, which are pretty popular here are mostly wasted on me. Heather’s grandmother was a Peroni while her sister was a Moretti (two different fathers) so I nicknamed them the “sorelle di birra” (beer sisters) which was only mildly amusing to them.
RIP Nonna Lea & Zia Lucia and Buona Domenica to all!
Find more on Italian beer here
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/03/best-italian-craft-beer-baladin-del-borgo-pausa-cafe.html
Pat, are you telling me you didn’t motor north to catch Ronald McDonald Trump in action in Fountain Hills? Looks like I picked the right time to visit the place, as in long before the orange clown came to town.
No, damn it. I missed it. And to think I could have seen Sheriff Joe as well, and maybe even Jan Brewer. Sheriff Joe lives in Fountain Hills. That sheriff gig must pay pretty good. There was a protest group blocking the road to the venue, so I guess I will have to check the “news.”
Don’t worry. The Arizona Daily Star says there are still plenty of seats for the Tucson stop of the Not-So-Great Pumpkin’s Arizona tour.
I just watched “The Big Short.” BOHICA in 2016.