Montescenario climb, new pavement on the descent from Fiesole.

I was babysitting all morning, then had a number of things to catch up on on the computer.  Everything complete, I decided on a ride and felt, for whatever reason, like a climb.  I decided on Montescenario, although you never know once I get started where decisions will take me.  Today, I stayed with the plan, and felt great climbing to the top of the hill.  It is a pretty direct around 3000 vertical from the apartment to the top of this hill where there is a monastery / sanctuario from the 1200's which is still in operation today.  It is a challenging climb with a couple of sections at 10 to 15%, but it seems easier every time I do it.  Today, I just felt good pretty much all the way up.

I have been watching the progress on the repaving of the road to Fiesole, and thought it would be complete, so I decided to descend from Bivigliano to Fiesole, then down into Florence on the main road from Fiesole.  New pavement is such a pleasure and it feels so good to ride it.  The road was getting pretty rough, and descending on a road bike at around 40 plus mph, you really have to watch for the holes.  Not any longer, just relax and let it fly.  Beautiful, perfect pavement, just completed for the course of the world championships here at the end of September.  Every time I ride these newly paved roads, it gets me excited for the upcoming event.

Anyway, great fun ride today in pretty perfect weather, although when not in the trees, I did fight a head wind on the way up.  Most of the way up is in the trees, so no worries.  Ride summary is:  25.5 miles in 1:49 rolling time for an average speed of 14 mph with 2715 vertical feet of climbing at an average sun affected temperature of 77.  What a nice day!

Pratolino, Montescenario, Fiesole, Firenze by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

From a couple of days ago, part of a beautiful rainbow

over Florence in a thunderstorm.

A statue at the top.

The view toward Florence.

One of the views toward Prato from Montescenario.