Catching up

 Catching up?

Long time, no post. The Olympic Games are going on and it's nice to watch 'em on Italian TV where they cover them as a sporting event rather than adding all the political baloney as in the USA. We're not trying to paper-over anything going on in China but the constant drumbeat of how China shouldn't be hosting what is billed as the "world's largest peace festival" is tough to understand from a country still running things like GITMO and (until recently) banning entry to their country to Muslims.

Marco Pantani is back in the news as usual around the month he was found dead in a motel room back in 2004. This time Bicisport has a cover-story about how his over-50% hematocrit finding back in 1999 was an error. Zio sent 'em a letter asking how they explain only "The Pirate" exceeding the limits because the the UCI "vampires" used a poorly-calibrated "entry-level" machine for the tests when half-a-dozen other racers were tested at the same time? None of them exceeded the limits so the machine only gave the wrong reading when Pantani's blood was tested? Really?

Ernesto Colnago turns 90. Heather had a Colnago-branded track bike (one we think was made by Antonio Mondonico) and our friend Mauro Mondonico now works for Ernie. Whatever you think of the bikes now that most of 'em are made in China and the whole thing is owned by some petro-sheiks, Colnago's reputation is mostly for things he made rather than just marketing-mojo. At his birthday party he said: "I've spent my life building bicycles, it's the only thing I know how to do. History can not be bought, it is made with love." 

Bravo Colnago e buoncompleanno!

Covid-19 Update: Italy currently has almost 90% of its eligible population fully vaccinated. The masks-outside requirement will be discontinued next week, though masks-inside rules continue. “Already in spring, between April and May 2022, we will reasonably be out of the pandemic,” Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Genoa, told Rai Radio1 on Wednesday.

Click HERE for the latest information on entering Italy from elsewhere.

We hope things are improving where you live as well!!!

Finally, there's another in the "Is it April 1st already?" collection. For some reason Chris Froome believes there's a market for $95 t-shirts. Why there's an Italian tricolore stripe on this stuff is another mystery as neither he nor the "designer" of this stuff is Italian, but what do we know? 

What's next, one of those NFT things? Will these guys take crypto-currency as payment?