Great ride and the Mille Migla!

I had a really fun, relatively hard ride this morning with the team.  I left the apartment around 7:30, which for me means getting up around 6 to leave time for yoga and eating.  We met in Tavernuzze at 8, and 8 of us took off.  We altered the published route for the day, and went through Greve to Panzano, where 3 of the 8 turned around for a much smaller tour.  5 of us kept going and descended from Panzano to the road to Radda.  I had not ridden up this road in many years, and it was simply wonderful.  Very nice road surface, almost no traffic, and a very reasonable grade.  We were in Radda before we knew it.  We re-grouped in Radda, then climbed over on the ridge road to Castellina.  another truly great piece of road.

We took a break in Castellina after re-grouping, Then headed to Poggibonsi.  I had not ridden down this road in around 10 years, and it is another spectacular ride.  Around 18 k, it is a very gentle descent, fast, and fun in a group of 5.  Luca led the way, and rides this route fairly often.  In Poggibonsi, we turned and headed up to Barberino in Val d'Elsa.  A famous European road race / tour for all kinds of sports cars, vintage to brand new Ferraris, was going through Tuscany today, and we joined the route here.  There is room for all, and some of the spectators that lined the road even clapped and cheered for our team as we rode up the relatively steep hill.

From Barberino, we rode through Tavernelle, then rode over to the turn-off for Romita, San Pancrazio, San Quirico.  This is one of my favorite ridge roads, and today it was perfect.  After San Quirico, we turned off to go through La Ripa, as the regular road is closed soon after San Quirico.  Down through La Ripa, then hooking up with the road to Cerbia just before the town.  In Cerbia, we re-grouped, an Luca turned off for Ginestra, then home.  The remaining 4 of us climbed to Chiesa Nuova, then over to the turn off for Scandicci.  3 of us took the road down to Scandicci, and one turned off in Scandicci.  Two of us continued back to Firenze, and finished our tour.  Really great day, and I felt good.  The summary is:  83.3 miles in 5:13 for an average speed of 16 mph with 5400 vertical feet of climbing at a sun affected temperature of 68.  Great ride.

Big ride with the team - Radda, Castellina, Pobbibonsi, Tavernelle by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

The road from Panzano to Radda.  Beautiful, not too

steep, and almost no traffic.  Nice.

Looking toward the old center of Radda.

A couple of pictures of some old cars in the Mille Migla,

a big car race / tour in Europe.  The pictures are taken 

from the terrace of our apartment after returning from this morning's ride.