Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Fun fast ride in response to the sun giving us a visit.

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.


No comments:

Post a Comment