Raduno with the team and other teams.

Up early this morning to meet a group at the Cascine, then proceed to the start of a Raduno, which is a hosted ride by one of the local teams where other teams register and join in the tour.  We started with 9, but it started sprinkling, and Lorenzo was trying to get over the flu, so he went home.  We were also riding with some other guys from another team to find the starting point, so there were around 15 of us. We did some definite wandering, and I would never have found the starting point, but eventually, we all did.  We registered, paid the small fee, then started.  We rode over to Signa, the Lastra a Signa, then out to Montelupo.  Between Lastra and Montelupo, we were really rolling, averaging around 45 kph in a pretty god sized group.

Some of the group peeled off in Montelupo, as they were not participating  in the Raduno, and most ended up doing the short course, which also diverted in Montelupo.  After re-grouping, figuring who on our team was doing the long versus short course, 4 of us took off for the long course.  We rode over to Samonnata, then Villanuova, and turned on the road to Ortimo, then climbed up through Ortimo to Montespertoli.  On this climb, a team car was following two relatively young riders on the team, and with a speaker, delivering instructions as they rode.  They were not going much quicker than I and two of the four of us stayed with them the whole climb.  Interesting.  In Montespertoli, we checked in with a control person to record that we did the long course, then descended to Bacciano, then climbed to Montagnana, then descended to Cerbia.

We rode toward Montelupo, but decided to turn off to complete a loop climbing from Ginestra to Malmantine, then descending to Lastra a Signa.  From Lastra, we followed the same roads back to the starting point, where they had some pastries, soda, and bottles of wine for each of us to take.  It is the first time for me to ride with a bottle of wine in one of my pockets.  We rode the 10 to 15 k back into Florence, with people peeling off where needed to return home.  For the squadra, "a prossima", or next time.  Always fun to get out and enjoy experiencing and being part of the cycling culture here.  Ciao.  The summary is:  65.7 miles in 4:14 rolling time for an average of 15.5 mph with 2350 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 60.

Raduno - Lastra, Montelupo, Montespertoli, etc. by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

On the last real climb of the day, Alessandro mentioned that he liked a photo I took behind me while riding last week.  I thought he was right behind me, but he had dropped off to help pull Terenzio up the hill.  Anyway, a slightly crooked photo, but not bad, capturing all three of my co-riders on the long course of the Raduno today.