I awoke today to some pretty hard rain, and decided I would not be riding today. Emily was babysitting all day, and called to see if I wanted to join her and Torrio at a place called the Speccola. I had never been there, and said yes. I did a couple of errands, then took some buses to meet them. They were already in the Speccola, which is a kind of museum with pretty much every kind of animal / reptile / fish / bird / etc. you can think of stuffed and put on display. It was actually pretty neat, and it is simply perfect for a 2 plus year old to run around and look at the displays. We had a real fun time. I dropped them off and took buses home, stopping at the butcher on the way for tonight's dinner. The sun had come out, the roads were drying rapidly, and I decided on a ride. I really needed to clean and lube the bike and had to pick up Viola at school to take her home, so I only had an hour and one half to make it work.
I did what has become a pretty standard short ride, but it was great as always. Just a thin wool base layer t-shirt and a long sleeved jersey, as when the sun comes out now it provides some real warmth. I rode through Piazza della Cure then up one of my back ways to San Domenico, then up the Fiesole road to the turn for Maiano. On the way I stopped to take a couple of the pictures below, and a rider stopped to ask me about my jersey, which was from the gran fondo a week and one half ago. It turned out he was one of the prime organizers of the event, and I rode and talked with him until the turn for Maiano, where I said goodbye or ciao. I descended past Maiano to the Chiesa San Martino, then did the Vincligliata climb, which is steep, but I love it. Around 2/3 of the way up the climb, I saw the same rider coming down and we said hi. At the connection with the road at the top, I turned toward Fiesole, then descended though Fiesole, turning off to continue my descent to Pian de Mugnone. Here I joined Via Faentina, and rode the 8 or so kilometers of gradual descent back through Piazza della Cure then home to the apartment. Loved it.
Check the link for all the info, but the summary is: 14.6 miles in 1:13 rolling time for an average of 11.9 with 1650 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 59. Ciao!
A couple of views of Florence from the road to Fiesole / Maiano.
The pretty road below Vincigliata.
Looking across the valley toward Montorsoli from just above Fiesole.
A view of the road above Vincigliata.
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