Bikes Part 1, Entertainment

While I was out riding my bike along the seaside bike path yesterday (Sunday) morning, I noticed what appeared to be race wardens taking up positions at various intersections and also encountered groups of racing bikes coming at me and passing me. I guessed this meant there was a bike race scheduled for the morning and I was correct.
We usually go out for coffee about 10:30 as, it seems, does most of Italy. It seems to be the unofficial coffee break time and the caffes are always crowded from about 10:15 to 10:45. Come at 11:15 and you may only find one or two people in a caffe. Sunday is a slight exception as the hour seems to move to 11:00. Our guess is that this is due to the fact that many Italians like to stay up late on Saturday nights and, aided by the siesta, late means 3 or 4 in the morning. So about 11:00 we were walking to our favorite caffe, technically a pasticceria because of its pastry business and lack of alcohol, when at an intersection a race warden raised his stop sign. In a moment the breakaway of about 6 riders shot past us and about 200 meters behind them the dense pack of maybe 200 bikes arrived also at high speed.
Seeing so many bikes, so close together and traveling so fast, is always exciting and more than a little scary. While helmets offer a little protection, the bikers essentially have no protection against falls other than trying to slide. Almost all the riders are age 20 to 30 and I think they probably have to be that young to do something so dangerous for no reason other than to win. Sometimes the pack is talking as it passes but not this day; the only noise was the slight mechanical noise that well adjusted racing bikes make and the rush of wind caused by the pack.
If you have never seen a bicycle road race I highly recommend that you see one once. If possible one run on a circuit course so that you have an opportunity to see several passes. Bike races in our town are usually on a 2 to 3.5 mile (actually 3 to 6 km) course with 15 to 20 laps. In Italy you can stand very close (within a foot) to the passing bikes, making it feel like something more than sitting in a stadium watching a game. You can see the intensity in the riders faces and, at least for me, it is always amazing to feel the strength of the wind of the pack.
We walked on, had coffee and on the way back got to see one of the last passes. Italy never fails to entertain. This morning is market day, a diversion of a different sort.
I plan to write more on bikes, to explain where and what I ride daily and about the night race held in the sometimes dimly lit street of our city last August.