I spent most of the day picking up my packet for the gran fondo tomorrow and exploring the exhibitions at the first annual Bicifi - Bike festival of Florence. It was fun checking everything out. I had many occasions to use my mediocre at best Italian asking multiple questions of many different people to try to understand exactly how and where the race tomorrow will start and wind through town. Overall, it was very fun. Lots of cool bikes, some great exhibitions of past champions, vintage bike clothing, and many other things. I picked up a new long sleeved jersey with the logo and theme of bicifi. It is a light weight jersey for long sleeves and will hopefully come in handy soon without other clothing added.
I returned home, and wore the new jersey on a short ride to make sure everything - the bike, my body, and my mind were ready for the long race / tour tomorrow. I picked up a chip and am registered, so it is kind of a race. I am not in the "race category" as that requires a blood test when you do your annual physical. Hopefully, no one in this event will be so serious that any enhancement will be going on. I am about 2/3 of the way through Tyler Hamilton's book, The Secret Race, and actually, I imagine there are some people participating that will be enhanced. That is kind of scary, but apparently the way life is these days. I rode up Via Bolognese to the turn off for Cercina in San Bartolo, cut across / climbed past Cercina to the church above the town, then did the descent option #4, which is really nice. I feel great and ready for tomorrow. Let's hope I feel the same way after the ride tomorrow. The summary for today is: 13.7 miles in 1:07 rolling time for an average of 12.2 mph with 1520 vertical feet of climbing at an average temperature of 52. The garmin link is below. Ciao.
Old townies at one of the exhibition halls.
Fiorenzo Magni's bike from the 1959 Giro and Tour.
Fashionistas in bike kits with at least 6" heels - you gotta love Italy.
A gardening sculpture outside one of the exhibition halls.
More old townies - cool.
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