Morning ride to Greve with Chris, Ray, and Riccardo

I got a test (they say sms here) asking me to go on a ride this morning with a few friends.  It worked, so I joined in.  We met at the east end of the Cascine, and took off for a nice ride.  I had met Ray a few days ago in the shop, and today was my first ride with him.  He is a nice guy, from San Diego, and a talented and strong cyclist.  I had not ridden with Riccardo for a while, as he joined a different team this spring.  It was fun to ride with both.  We went out on the Viale to Porta Romana, then out the main road to Tavernuzze, and continued in a pretty efficient pace line all the way to Greve.  We stopped in the main piazza in Greve and Chris and I had an espresso.

We climbed up Passo de Sugame, and I surprised myself by staying with Chris and dropping both Riccardo and Ray.  I think Riccardo was simply taking it easy, but the time riding with Roger made me stronger, and I now realize with a little extra effort, I can ride a bigger gear and increase my speed substantially.  We descended from the top to the cut off for La Panca, descending, then climbing to the tiny town.  The real descent starts here, and I led the first part, then followed on the second part.  Fun to ride fast downhill with a small group of good cyclists.  We cut right below Strada in Chianti, and descended to Ferrone.  Just after Ferrone, Chris and I headed up to Luiano, and Riccardo and Ray stayed on the main road back into town.  Riccardo has a 180 k ride with 3000 meters of climbing planned for tomorrow, and Ray is riding to the sea shore with the team, which I will also join in to ride.

Anyway, Chris and I were both up for more climbing and a different route back to town than the one we came out on.  A good climb to Luiano, the across / up / down through San Casciano, Spedellato, Chiesa Nuova to the turn off for Scandicci.  I suggested the little back road I sometimes ride and Chris was game.  It is a fun descent.  From Scandicci, back home on the main roads.  Fun day, good pace, great riding, ragazzi!  The summary is 56.7 miles in 3:22 for an average rolling speed of 16.8 mph with 3200 vertical feet climbed at a perfect average temperature of 72.  Ciao.

Passo de Sugame with Chris, Ricardo, and Ray by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

I love the Irises at the drive to this villa, at the start

of the final descent of the day into Scandicci.