Up, Down, Up, Down - Cercina area

I was planning on the day off today, but I may have to be at the apartment most of the day tomorrow, so with incredible weather I took off for a short ride.  I have found some new roads from the church above Cercina.  Today, I planned on taking a new descent, then climbing the normal descent, then descending on a road I have only ridden down once (I have ridden up it once as well).  It all worked out perfectly.  With temperatures around 75 and sunshine, no knee warmers or arm warmers were needed, just a little sunscreen.  I rode up Via Bolognese, cut over at Pian de San Bartolo through Cercina to the church which marks the high point in the ride.  From there, I took the branch to the right, then at the next option to the left, which was new for me.  Tiny road, beautiful, but a little rough surface in places.

At the bottom, it joins my normal descent from above, where I turned left and climbed this road for the first time.  It is amazing the different things you see and notice when climbing versus descending.  It is a wonderful climb, and I did not succumb to the % o meter, but I think it hits 15% for a couple of short stretches, but it is basically user friendly.  At the church again, I went back the other way through Cercina, and turned right to descend through Canonica, then the back way into Firenze above the Careggi complex.  Really fun, and it is hard to believe there is so much quality riding right out my door, and after all this riding, there is still new stuff to ride.  Check the link if you wish, but it ended up as 19.6 miles, with 2300 vertical of climbing in 1 hour 44 minutes of rolling time, or 11.3 mph.

Up, Down, Up, Down - Cercina area by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

A look across the valley to the church and monastery above Fiesole.

A stretch of new floor and a perfect day on the road from Pian de San Bartolo to Cercina.

The new, tiny road from the top of the hill above Cercina.

This does not show as well as I hoped, but this descent is steep and fun. 

Danger, Will Robinson!

The church at the top of the hill from the climb up the road I normally descend on.