The Gazzetta live coverage had another call-in from Mario Cipollini. The commentators must need a long break once in a while during slow moments. So Cipo fills the gap nicely especially when questions cover topics about “the sprint trains of today vs your time”.

Followed by the Si Gira program that is basically a Giro talk show.

And the nightly summary show T Giro

Highlights in broken English.

via Pedal consumption

It did not help that Cav crashed on the gravel ascent of the Capella climb.

OMG! Bernie unzipped…thanks for posting, Greg! RT @Greghenderson1 please explain @MarkCavendish Passo della Cappella. twitpic.com/9jux8d

— Melissa (@melissagerman) May 11, 2012

Teaching my Daughter to ride without training wheels was tough. I started with the typical approach. Give her a bike with training wheels to ride and have fun. Once she feels like it is time, remove the training wheels and through trial and error have her ride a two wheeler. This approach looked to be somewhat successful last year in the late summer/early fall. My Daughter ditched the training wheels and was learning to ride. The problem was that she could get going for a short amount of time, but then lose balance, could not turn or stop. Taking my Daughter to Onondaga Lake Park with a long paved road that is used only for bikes and joggers seemed like a great place. Just a straight road for here to get balance. However, I found myself running next to her ready to catch her as soon as she lost her balance or would have to brake or turn. While my Daughter did learn to ride a bit, it was not totally successful.

This spring she took to trying to ride her bike again, but we seemed to be starting at zero once again. Obviously she did forget to ride a bike though technically she actually never did learn. She just did not crash as much after a while.

So I decided to take a new approach. This time I removed the pedals and lowered the seat to simulate the all wood balance bikes. The problem my daughter had was that she never really learned to balance. When she would finally get going on our previous attempts she was upright because of speed. Once she slowed down she fell over. She lacked the knowledge of micro adjustments that need to be made to keep the bike upright especially at low speeds.

My Daughter was hesitant at first, but with a bit of encouragement she hopped on the bike with no pedals and scooted around the block. Within an hour she was scooting with her feet off the ground coasting along and turning. She was learning to balance and was getting very excited about finally being able to ride. Finally she was ready to move up and insisted that I add the pedals back and raise the seat. This was only after an hour of riding, but I could tell she was really pumped about finally getting to ride without the frustration of crashing.

I pulled out the pedal wrench and put the pedals back on the bike. My Daughter quickly got on the bike and started riding away. No help was needed, she was free to ride around the neighborhood and had all the confidence that was missing before.

Here is a nice pdf to help your child learn to ride a bike. Parent Instructions for kids riding two wheelers from sfbike.com

Here is a great story from Salon about training wheels.

Some more Jens.

One feature of the Giro is the hidden brutal climbs that shatter the fields. Today’s stage was a perfect example. The stage does not typically look threatening. But the steep climbs and heat took a toll on the peloton.

This is the proper way to hold a box of delicious Italian pastries. Make sure the box is balanced and you have a free hand to give to other riders.

Don’t go for the whole tray of treats while riding at full speed as this rider shows. Dumping a whole tray of tasty delicacies to the road just because he was too hungry. Sure he rides for a French team, but this is an Italian rider and should know better.

Today’s Giro stage saw Taylor Phinney lose the Maglia Rosa. Taylor fought valiantly with an injured ankle and that won him lots of fans in Italy. The BMC team was trying desperately to keep Tyler in the lead and took this turn a bit too fast, but Phinney was able to save it and keep going while picking up some grass in the rear derailleur.

I love you as much as I love biking. And trust me that’s a lot.

The Farnese Vini video editors must have retina burn from the kits. Plus they get to use every possible filter when showing footage of the riders. Farnese have big aspirations for the Giro with Oscar Gatto and Fillipo Pozzato. So far the full hi-viz kits have been getting attention.

Antonio could use a few tips from Euro-pros. Lower the stem, wear a helmet and don’t be afraid to wear your cycling shorts.

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