Jumping for Joy in 2010
It’s beeen another eventful and wonderful year! As we head to Hawaii to stay and play with my dear college pal Linda and her girls, we celebrate a year blessed with excellent health, jumping around the globe, special events galore, Ciclismo Classico goals exceeded, numerous athletic achievements and plenty of fun and games for all. With the wind at our back, our three musketeers, Mauro and I are ready and excited to dive into 2011
Sports Illustrated
Mauro and I kept as active as schedule juggling allows. This year in addition to getting around Boston by bike, I discovered a fun group that rides at 5:45 AM which keeps me in shape and gets me back in time to make pancakes. Mauro, our family chef, runs, skiis and swims whenever possible and we both spend the rest of our time running kids around town. Lorenzo loves to downhill ski, scores regularly on his soccer team and has developed a new love for basketball. He’s anxious to try boxing. Mmmmm? Valentina packs in two sports a season pairing soccer with softball and cross country running and swimming with her favorite: cross country skiing! Her efforts paid off with a 1st place victory at the Craftsbury Marathon and 2nd on the Bill Koche Festival relay team. Luca’s our in-house Boston Sports Fan. Covering his walls are pictures of his favorite Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots players; he fits nicely into the A-town stick and ball scene with a natural affinity for soccer, baseball and hockey. For his b-day he was ecstatic to go to a Bruins game with Natascia and Dustin. We’re proud of his cycling accomplishments too–2nd place in the Mayors’ Cup Kid Bike Race at the annual Hub on Wheels Event in Boston.
Growing Up (too fast!)
It’s official (and hard to believe); we’ve got a teenager in da house! ON March 31st, Lorenzo turned 13 as his height rose (slightly above mom), his feet burst (to a size 11), his mouth filled with silver, his “six pack” developed (considerably), his voice deepened (still crackly) and his humor became drenched in sarcasm. His coming of age experiences consisted of his going to many of his friend’s Bat and Bar Mitzvahs! For Valentina’s 11th B-day and Luca’s 8th, they both chose Co Co Keys, an indoor water park where mayhem with music (and silly arcades) is the draw.
Arts & Entertainment:
For the first time, Lorenzo Valentina and Luca shared the stage in a Watertown Theatre’s production of Tom Sawyer. Valentina was an elegant but spunky Anne Lawrence, Lorenzo had center stage as the Preacher and Luca got to sing, dance and look cute. Thanks to excellent teachers, we are making musical progress on Marathon St. Lorenzo is really diving into the drums and Valentina, inspired by her favorite show GLEE, is singing and playing a new song on the piano weekly. I do my best, with excellent Passim teacher Janet Feld, to carve out time to strum easy Paul Simon songs on the guitar.
(Trying) To Be the Change:
This year for my 20th PMC (third virtual in Italy), my generous sponsors donated over 7K for a 20-year grand total of 100K to this wonderful cause. For the 2nd year I spent two days in Washington at the National Bike Summit where I spoke on a panel that presented the case to better support bike tourism to increase overall participation in bicycling. I was invited to join the board of East Arlington Livable Streets and Mass Bike where hopefully I can play a bigger role in improving our communities through safe and responsible cycling programs and infrastructure. Mauro tries to keep our debating skills alive by raising the political intelligence bar but it’s a tough job in a houseful of comedians! Finally, a small but significant victory for East Arlington: The Hardy School that once opposed cycling to school now has a bike rack!
The Ciclismo World:
Lots of great news to share to wrap up our 20th year of running legendary bicycle tours. First: we exceeded our sales goal thanks to a strong team effort and the addition of Sales Director Christy Mraz and Travel Consultant Lauren Lasky. The League of American Bicyclists awarded us Bronze in their Bicycle Friendly American program. Next year we’re going for gold! At our retreat we envisioned and mapped out bold new directions for CC. We were invited to join the Trusted Adventures Alliance, a partnership of eight distinguished, award-winning travel companies. I was thrilled to hang out, learn and grow from them all at the annual and always exciting Adventure Travel Summit in Aviemore Scotland. Our annual brochure warmed hearts with its bright and lively cover illustrated by Lannie Hart. Fun CC events fill our annual calendar: We launched our first annual Ciclismo Classico Film Festival followed by the 145 mile B2B Harpoon ride from the Harpoon Brewery in Boston to their brewery in Vermont, the PMC in August, the Hub on Wheels in September, Cycle Kids auction in Novemnber and for the 14th year we ended on a high with over 60 costumed, caroling riders in The Jingle Ride.
Family and Friends:
Active reunions with friends and family filled the year. For the 11th year our MLK ski weekend in Craftsbury is a reunion of Vermont and Mass ski buddies. In February, we headed to Bretton woods where dozens of Eastern Mass cross-country skiers landed to enjoy its gorgeous trail system at the base of Mount Washington. In May we were reunited for the 13th year with our friends at the Tyler Place. With its delicious food, charming accommodations, plethora of activities for all and its idyllic location, it’s the way life should be. The year’s highlight was the June wedding of Ciclismo guide, Marcello Bonini’s and his lovely bride Cleide (with their two adorable babes at the their side) in the little village of Casole Val D’Elsa. It was a non-stop festa with a dozen CC guides and their young families singing, playing and of course non-stop intake of Italian delicacies and gallons of home-made Lambrusco. Our Italian grand finale was spent with Mauro’s large wonderful extended family on the beach and at the table in Cittadella Del Capo. Each weekend in August we packed in visits to friends and family: bonfires and boogey boarding at Salisbury Beach with Carol Shumans and her 8 year old son Sam, boating, camping and barbecues with our cousins in CT, pond floating in Peacedale, RI with Windsor Mountain friends and a summer grand finale beach party with Tyler Place Pals, the Foggles & Mcelhoes
The (Incurable) Travel Bug:
Some people get a high on the holidays or cuddling by the fire, I get my Christmas wish and feel incredibly blessed every time we embark on a family adventure. This year our air miles and passports got plenty of use as we literally jumped all over Europe and the USA (and I could not have been happier). We wrapped up 2009 with a jam-packed trip to San Francisco where we were hosted by with ex-Ciclismo tour guide, Angiolino Sandri, wife April and daughter Beatrice. The world’s greatest urban (on and off bike) tour guides was 20 year pal, CC alumn and resident San Fran Native: “Pazzo” Dale Butler who is best balanced and considerably bettered by his talented wife, Tina. Dale’s passion, love and knowledge for this great city is addictive. Dale’s infectious insanity perfectly suited and entertained our wild and crazy children and Dale offered to adopt them all (“never all three at once”). With Dale in the lead, we biked and walked everywhere and everyday was an incredible urban adventure (not counting when Valentina “accidentally“ deleted all 400 pictures of our trip off my camera). In April we returned to Disney World this time to show Luca, who missed out on Mickey, Minnie and Goofy in 2004, our favorite parks and rides. We topped off our Florida tour with a visit to Universal Studios and the Kennedy Space Center.
In July my family made me so happy (and proud) by embracing bicycle touring and covering over 300 miles, three countries and causing havoc all along the way. We pedaled our Lovely Lofoten Family trip with the Pohl family from San Francisco--it was even better the second time around! From Norway it was onto Ireland, where we rode our 8 day, 200 mile Ciclismo Western Ireland route that zig zags through the Burren, the Aran Island and along the incredibly scenic Connemara coastline. I had scouted and led this tour 14 years ago while pregnant with Lorenzo. The treat on this trip was a reunion with my high energy; super co-guide June Boulger who hosted our family for lunch. Our Irish routine was simple: big breakfast followed by hours of gorgeous riding (and photo ops) topped with hours in the pub eating and listening to music. We can’t wait to go back. Who wants to come? Seriously we are seeking other cycling loving families to join us in Donegal in July 2011. Whose in?
After Ireland it was onto Italy to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the town of Lucca where we rented bikes and explored this lovely medieveal city fo churches. We timed Luca as he road his bike fast around Lucca’s famous wall that encircles the town for a Luca vs. Lucca time trial to mimic the famous Francesco Moser time trial race there in 1984. The result: 4KM in 10 minutes. Luca won!
The Grand Finale of our cycling & travel adventures was a 10-day stay with the wonderful Harnish Family in Barcelona, Spain. This is one crazy city and they are one exceptionally crazy family. Surprise: We get along beautifully! As part of our long-term family goal to cycle all the major European cities, we rented bikes, took a 3-hour tour and then kept the heavy-duty clunkers for the week to get around this bustling city. We loved the squares, the street life (crazy La Rambla and beyond) the Picasso museum, the markets and the incredible array of architectural styles.
It’s been a wonderful year! We wish you peace and happiness in 2011 and hope you’ll drop by our Marathon home or office soon
Lauren, Mauro, Lorenzo, Valentina, Luca and Jim (Gimpa)
