San Donato, Figline, Dudda, Strada 9-13-12

Tomorrow, I am slated to babysit much of the day, as it is a work day for Kate, Shannon is getting married in less than a week, and Emily has an appointment to finally pick up her permesso de sogiorno.  So, that leaves me, which will be fun.  It will be the two guys - Torrio and I - until Emily brings Viola home from school around 4:30.  Anyway, today I took a fairly long-ish ride, around 45 miles in 3 hours 15 minutes or so.  The actuals are available with maps, elevation gain, etc. at the link below.  The weather was quite blustery, but there were not that many really open places, so I was mostly protected by trees and buildings in towns.  The temperatures were fantastic, as the summer weather finally seems to be over.  The temperatures during the ride are also recorded at the Garmin site.

I picked up my repaired rear wheel at the shop, and was back together with the whole new set up, which really felt great.  My shoes are starting to squeak though, but I tried moving the cleats to a different setting, which seemed to solve the problem.  My favorite parts of the ride are the descent from San Donato in Collina down to Incisa, the really beautiful climb from Figline up to Dudda, then up to La Panca, then the descent from La Panca down to Strada is simply special.  It is one of those grades where you are on the edge of needing to use your brakes, but it is not really necessary.  It depends on how you feel going into and through the many, many curves on the descent.  Super fun ride for me.  I may use it for clients coming next week.  Ciao.

San Donato, Figline, Dudda, Strada by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

I am into taking photos while riding now, and I at least, 

think I am getting better at it.  This is on the way up to San Donato.

I liked the line of cypress trees on the short climb to Palazzuolo.

As I was riding up the climb to Dudda, it seemed the lines of the 

vineyards were in sync with the cypress trees on the ridge.

Beautiful gate framed by trees on the way up to Dudda.

The view back across the valley from La Panca.