Maiano, Vincigliata, Compiobbi, Monteloro, Fiesole, Pian de Mugnone

I spent most of the morning working on some spring clean up chores - I am doing the windows in our apartment which are actually sets of double doors, 8 feet tall, with two sets per opening - and I also helped Em a little with preparing to host some friends for dinner tonight.  We had a super dinner last night with some other new friends at a restaurant called Sostansa.  It was wonderful, and it is one of my favorites.  I had not been there in a number of years and it was a real treat for me.

After doing what I could for tonight's festivities, I got suited and booted for a ride.  I did not even take a skull cap, did not take even the light booties, and wore short finger gloves.  I am believing that spring is here.  I took full gloves and a shell, which I used for the final descent.  Also, it could rain anytime here still, and the forecast was for 60% chance of showers.  I took off through Piazza della Cure, and took the second option to climb to San Domenico.  I hooked up with the main Fiesole road there and climbed to the turn off for Maiano, where I turned off and descended past Maiano to the Chiesa San Martino, where the climb through Vincigliata starts.  It seemed a little harder today for some reason, so I switched the Garmin to the percent slope screen, and it showed a stretch of 15 plus percent.  No wonder it felt hard.  I don't think the steepness has changed, so maybe I just did not have as much energy as normal today.

I watched the percent read out for much of the climb, and before I knew it , the climb was over.  I turned off to the right at the junction eventually hooking up with the road to Compiobbi, which is a pretty steep descent, very curvy, with around 1 kilometer of new pavement toward the bottom.  Fun!  I hooked up with the main road at Compiobbi, then rode out the kilometer or so to Le Falle, then did the Monteloro climb.  This is a great climb, and I took it easy and took some pictures as I climbed.  At the top, I took the road back down to Fiesole, then turned off in Fiesole to descend to Pian de Mugnone.  From Pian de Mugnone, I took Via Faentina back to Piazza della Cure, then over the bridge and back to the apartment.  Another fun ride, making me smile at my good fortune.  Summary:  27.5 miles in 2:25 rolling time for a slow average speed of 11.3, with 3150 vertical feet of climbing (hence the slow speed) at and average temperature of 58.

Lots of up and down close to home. by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

If you just imagine the power lines gone, this becomes a perfect picture of the 

road climbing toward Monteloro.  

Off the side of the road climbing to Monteloro.

The green hills looking toward Molin de Piano from the climb to Monteloro.

Flowers are starting to bloom everywhere, but this tree really caught my eye.