Had quite a full weekend. Friday night our Italian neighbor Gary and his family came over for dinner. We made Mexican food which was new to them but they seemed to enjoy it. Especially the tacos. Gary has his own vines and makes wine each year. He brought a couple bottles over and they went down fine. Most of the Italians out here in the country make their own and take great pride in it. He told me to stop by whenever we need more, so now we have the wine hookup!
Sunday I finally got out and did my first Meschio club ride of the year. Meschio is the bike club Marianne and I ride with here. They are very old school but one of the oldest and more prestigious clubs in the area. We are the only Americans in the club and with our poor Italian and them not speaking English it's always an experience. The fog was so thick in the morning I was soaked just riding to the start, but the sun came out and turned into a beautiful sunny day. Had about 50 riders show up. It was good to be out with these guys again. We rode up in the hills west of here in a region famous for prosecco wine. I hung tough for the first few hours but got dumped off the back coming back into Vittorio Veneto. The group was whittled down pretty good by then so I felt okay about my "winter legs" Everyone meets at a local bar afterwards for bread, cheese, salami, wine and heavy bullshitting. It makes me laugh to hear them go on. The decibel level is amazing. I actually got the table laughing with my lousy Italian by asking someone to pass the "Meschio Gator-aid" (wine). Marianne met us there then she pulled me and my wrecked legs home.