Impruneta, Luiano, Quattro Strade, Sambuca, Romita, San Pancrazio, Cerbia, Chiesa Nuova, Firenze.

A great, slightly tiring ride today.  We had Torrio this morning for a couple of hours, so I did not get away until around 1:00.  The weather is really beautiful right now.  Highs around 82 to 85, sunny, and cooling off at night for good sleeping.  Just a year ago, I would have thought this was hot, but after this summer it seems we are adjusting to a new climate.  I have the next round of clients coming tomorrow afternoon, so I did a relatively long ride alone today.  Around 52 miles with 4000 plus vertical feet of climbing.  I had a couple of pieces of road in mind planning the ride, and it worked out well.  I wanted to go out through Impruneta, climbing the old road to Pozzolattico, which was great.  I planned on water in Impruneta, which I picked up, and it routed me down a different road toward Ferrone.  It was a new road for me and was really fun and beautiful.  Sometimes it is amazing that no matter how many times you try new roads, they just keep satisfying.

The road dropped me less than a kilometer from the turn to Luiano, which was the second piece of road in my brain.  As always, great climb, and today, no - zero - traffic.  Nice.  This takes you close to Mercatale, where I turned left over to Quattro Strade, then the wonderful up and down, quite steep in both directions at times, over to the turn off to go toward Romita.  New road down, and again, a really fun descent.  At the base I turned left, which set me up for the climb to Tavernelle, which I could have missed with a right, but it was all great.  From Tavernelle, the route over to Romita is relatively quick, and the road from Romita to Montagnana was the last piece of road I had in mind.  Simply one of the best ridge rides around here.  Slightly downhill over around 12 kilometers, great views off both sides of the ridge, just super fun.  Then the super fast descent into Cerbia, the fun climb to Chiesa Nuova, then back into Firenze via Galluzzo and Cinque Vie.  The link has a map and all the information anyone could want to know.

Impruneta, Luiano, Quattro Strade, Sambuca, Romita, etc. by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Here are a couple of shots of the truly beautiful road / climb

to, then through Luiano.

A small pocket of vineyard on the climb above Luiano.

On the way over toward Montefioralle, the light on the vineyards changed 

and I felt I had to get it on camera.  I thought it might be clouds, but the 

leaves on the vineyards are just starting to turn.  Beautiful.