Con Squadra - Panzano, Greve, Luiano, San Casciano

Before I get to the ride, I wanted to talk about Friday afternoon with Emily.  Emily is taking a history course here on Thursday mornings, which she has done before, and the teacher is one of those professors that is incredibly good at sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge.  Since I put money into biking gear, I do not partake of the course, but on Friday afternoon, Emily took me on a tour and explained some of what they reviewed in the history course.  They talked about Florence as a Roman town to the early middle ages.  In the process of our tour, I saw an old column from the Roman times, Emily and I went by a church that has a series of Roman columns inside - taken from the same location I saw the one column at - but the church was not open.  We then saw a couple of the remaining towers that were common in Florence before the Guelfs took power and had all the towers reduced in size.  Very interesting.  The pictures below are from Friday afternoon, as when I ride with the team, I typically do not have time for pictures.

I met the team at Tavernuzze this morning, and was early, as the last time I tried to meet them there, I was 7 minutes late and they had gone.  So, I will always be early now, as that is the way I am.  We  had a good size group of around 10, with everyone kitted up in the team outfit - stylin!  I had ridden a number of times with 3 of the guys, but not with the other 6.  Well, to my surprise, I was faster than 5 of the other 6, and one of the 3 and I are very similar in speeds.  I probably would have had time to take some pictures.  We rode out to Greve, then 2 took a break with 8 of us climbed to Ponzano then returned to Greve.  It is a great climb, the weather is really perfect for riding now, and the descent was fast and fun.  It's a miracle - I was the 4th fastest up to Panzano, which includes pulling off for a bathroom break.

After returning to Greve, we rode back down on the same road, but turned off to Luiano, then climbed to the Mercatale road, then rode back through San Casciano, Spedellato, Chiesa, Nuova, and then we split up and part of the group rode down to Scandicci, while 3 of us rode the switchbacks down to Galluzzo.  Another dropped off in Galluzzo, then I bid farewell to the last person before the turn toward the viales.  I went down the fun, curvy road to Porta Romana, then returned home through the Centro.  As always, click the link for more information, but a summary is 58.5 miles in 3:47 rolling time or 15.4 mph, with 3196 vertical feet of climbing.  Ciao.


Con Squadra - Panzano, Greve, Luiano, San Casciano by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

The old Roman column in Piazza Republica

One of the remaining towers from the pre-Guelf times in Florence.  

The top was lopped off when the Guelfs came to power.