If you were in Italy right now, chances are a multicolored, undulating snake of a line of bicycles with professional riders is coming to a blocked-off country road near you soon.

It's the Giro d'Italia--where the leader wears pink. Proudly. The Giro started in 1909, and took off some war years, so this is the 100th anniversary for the race. (Find out more from an informative Transparent Language blog post)

The Giro is pretty much at the height of its modern popularity right now with the inclusion of Lance Armstrong in the bunch. Lance probably won't come close to winning the Giro this year, but if you really want to follow vicariously the life of a professional bike rider, you can sign up to twitter and follow @lancearmstrong.

Lance is racing for free, and has over 3/4 of a million people following him as he rides the Giro. He tells great stories of the journey, 140 typed characters at a time.

Yesterday, for example, while peddling along with the peloton, he spotted the owner of a pensione he had stayed in when he won the Settimana Bergamasca in 1991. Mamma Elena was standing by the side of the road watching the race and waving a sign. Later, she visited him in his hotel in Bergamo. She's now a spry 89 years of ago. Lance even left us a picture of her.

Imagine, these days you don't have to rely on traditional media to tell you second hand stories of personalities who tour the globe.

We'll be in the lovely Val Chisone when the gang comes through on Tuesday. You can follow us as we watch and interview some fans of Italian bike racing: @wanderingitaly and in this very blog, of course!