San Donato, Troghi, Figline, Castelfranco, Regello, Donnini, Pontesieve, Firenze 9-7

I went for a relatively long ride today, riding around 4 hours and getting close to 60 miles.  Lots of climbing / descending, lots of fun.  I had in mind doing the streach of road that locals call the strada de sete ponte, or the road of 7 bridges.  I rode it on the first day I rode with the team when we went to see the Giro in May, but had not done the entire piece since.  It was as good as I remembered it.  Around 20 kilometers of curving, basically contouring road, with many ups and downs, but very few places steeper than 7%.  I have developed a noise in my wheel, which was driving me crazy, so I stopped at a shop on the ride.  The mechanic said that it was probably something in the connection between one set of 3 spokes and the rim, as that was definitely where the noise was coming from.  He said it was not dangerous to use, although it truly drives me nuts.  I will switch the wheel with the wheel from the DeRosa, and take the ailing wheel into my mechanic here at the shop.  We shall see what it needs.

On the assumption that anyone interested can check out the route by clicking on the link, I will not do my normal description of the route.  It is one of my favorites, with a couple of major climbs, great views and some great fast descents.  I descended from Donnini to San Ellero today rather than climbing to Tosi then going over to Pelago, as was my original plan.  I am picking up my granddaughter at school at 4 and needed to be home.  Anyway, I have done the climb from San Ellero to Donnini many times, but doing it reverse was great.  Super fast, curvy road, with really well engineered turns where you can get into your line and just follow until you come up to reverse the curve and lean of the bike for the next curve.  As Fred Flinstone would say, "Yabba Dabba Dooo!"

San Donato, Troghi, Figline, Castelfranco, Regello, Donnini, Pontesieve by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

A castle on the hill on the east side of the Arno, 

on the way toward Figline.

The castle, I think, approaching Castelfranco.

The church and small piazza at Pian di Sco.