After Nina and Gregor (January), Thomas (March), and Sabrina and Rainer (March too) entered Mallorca in order to train, Sveny and Jörn of the Pirate triathlon team were finally also off to bike and train, for 10 days in bella Italia…

The trip to our hotel in Casal Velino di Marina in the south of Italy was hell... We drove to the airport in Cologne, took a plane to Naples, took a bus to the bus depot and then walked (!!!) to the train station with our bags, backpacks and bikes in boxes, where we argued with the conductor for 5min (he in Italian-we in English) about whether or not we and the bikes could come along...! Okay, finally we were on the train and rode in the baggage compartment for 2h, all the way to Ascea!... We had pretty much had it when the hotel DJ picked us up in an A4 notchback and planned to transport 2 Pirates, 4 bags and 2 Cannondale boxes….

Finally we made it to the hotel with a great view!!!!!! The sky was still kind of cloudy and there seemed to be mountains all arouns us! ummm... Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Our first time in shorts this year. We hoped that the long journey would be worth it, just because of this aspect! The weather was great and it got hotter and hotter, up to 90°F/32°C at the coast!

Our reward was a big gelato after every tour, which Sveny would never give up and would defend to the death against the landlubbers!! By the way, the cappuccino in the mountains and the gelato at the harbor were the highlights of the vacation!!!

The tours of the following days were really tough! We rode vertical foot after vertical foot with a minimal basis, due to a long winter and the belief that some of the terrain would be flat here. For the first time ever, we had a day of rest during a training camp!!!

Part of the artistry of biking on the good streets of the Cilento mountains every day, was not to run over the lizards!! Unfortunately, the one in the picture is dead already, but it wasn't us! There were an insane amount of lizards and snakes there!!!

After a while, we got pretty tired of mountains and would have really enjoyed taking the Fiat Bambino uphill! It even had a roof rack...

We also saw this great sign at the harbor...
We interpreted it like this:
Jumping in off the side is prohibited for automobiles
Sightseers will be towed immediately
From the left side
Piss of to the right, only in an emergency
Other ideas???!!!???

That's it. 9 days on our bikes, 3 of which for less than 3.5 hours and about 621.4m/1000km at almost 45923 vertical ft/14000hm, were definitely enough! Luckily it's fricken flat here! Just the wind and the cold are still extremely annoying!!!!!!!!!!

Attack 2006 - Sveny and Captain Jörn Klotz - Pirate Triathlon Team