More ups and downs close to home - stormy day

I started my new language classes this morning, after showing up yesterday to have an exam to place me level wise.  I am a little advanced for level 2, but would probably be lost in level 3, so I started level 2 this morning.  The class seems great.  There are 7 students and one teacher, and the next oldest is 30, so I have a little seniority.  Everyone seems nice and many nationalities are represented in the class - Japan, Australia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, and the US.  I am certainly glad I did not try level 3 as it was difficult enough to stay with everything the teacher was saying.  There is no English at all in the class, which is good for me.  It appears that much of what we will cover is review, I don't really remember the material in a way that I can use it as second nature.  I think it will be great.

After class, I met Emily at home after some errands, and we went to lunch at a place where the husband of a good friend of Kate's cooks a couple of times a year - real Southern Fried Chicken.  It was really good, but the cuts were Italian, so a combination of cultures.

I thought it might clear, but no, so I took off to ride close to home on some favorite climbs.  Since I discovered the 2 or 3 new routes around Cercina, it has opened up a lot of riding right here.  I climbed up Via Bolognese to Pian de San Bartolo, then contoured over to Cercina, then up to the Chiesa above Cercina, then descending on the far right option to Firenze.  It is just a block left, then you are climbing back up to the Chiesa on the "main" route from Cercina.  At the church, I kept straight and retraced my riding back to a ridge closer to Via Bolognese, turning right there and descending back to Firenze.  I am using the back way into town above Carriege, then turning off to have a little additional climbing on basically back roads almost straight home.  It is fun.  It was quite dark today and even with my yellow lenses, it was dark.  The summary is 21.2 miles in 1 hour 53 minutes rolling time for an 11.2 mph average with around 2500 vertical feet of climbing.  Check the link below for more information.  Ciao!

More ups and downs close to home - stormy day by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Looking back toward Cercina - yes it really was that dark out.  

The final descent is on the ridge above to the left.