Sunday, September 9, 2012

Impruneta, Tavernuzze, etc., with Art and Mindy

I had a great first ride today with Art and Mindy, friends / clients from Boulder.  Yesterday, we met at the Residenza, walked to the shop to get bike rentals, and rode back.  Gelato on the way, a little site seeing, and a few pictures of landmarks, etc.  Their friends, Billy and Nancy, had travel trouble and were delayed one day.  So, today's ride was just the three of us.

We rode out of town through Porta Romana, the up the gentle climb / curvy road to the junction with Viale Michaelangelo, where we turned to join the straight route to Poggio Imperiale.  From there, we did the normal route through the outskirts of Galluzzo, the Pozzolattico, Mezzomonte, Monteoriolo, then into the central piazza in Impruneta.  We stopped and had a cafe, pastries, and a small panini.  We rode to the central town park to get more water, and were off again.  I offered two options from there, and they choose the longer, but more fun route.  On the climb to Impruneta, Mindy had only a couple of short stretches where she had to walk the bike, so everyone did very well.  I sometimes forget how steep some of the hills can seem.  We also checked in with Emily and Billy, and heard that they were on the train from Rome arriving around 2:15.  Emily met them at the station, and helped them get settled in at the Residenza.

From Impruneta, we rode back to the turn for Bagnolo, then down to Tavernuzze, where we connected with the main road toward Ferrone.  We turned off that road onto the relatively steep climb to San Andrea, joining the main road just past Spedellato.  Both Art and Mindy did well on this climb, but again, Mindy had a couple of places where walking was best.  My bike computer has a % slope read out, and Mindy only had to walk where we were above 10%, and we hit 12% a few times.  On the main road we were on the route of a big cycling event, the Giro de Tuscana, sponsored by one of the local bike shops, Bicisport.  My teammates on Florence by Bike were riding in the tour, but we did not see them.  We did have many groups of cyclists pass us, and my guests got a chance to see first hand some of what I call the cycling culture here.

We returned through Galluzzo, then took the back road through Cinque Vie, returning to the Residenza through the Altrano part of town, passing the impressive Pitti Palace.  When we returned, Billy, Nancy, and Emily were waiting for us.  We sat for a small amount of time, Emily took off for home, and I went with Billy to pick up bikes for him and Nancy.  Plan is for us all to be riding tomorrow.  Details of the ride are at the link below.


Impruneta, Tavernuzze, etc., with Art and Mindy by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details


Art and Mindy on the way to Impruneta.


Hero shot!


Another hero shot.


Art and Mindy almost done.  The background has a shot 
of the Duomo in Florence, but it is hard to see here.  

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