Scouting ride for a tour Tuesday in the Chianti hills.

I have a tour through Leif and Dominick on Tuesday in an area I know well, but the destination I did not know at all.  It is good I checked it out, as there were a couple of possibilities and I first took the wrong one.  I ended up on a "jeep" road, that was definitely better suited for a mountain bike.  This involved some walking, as I was happy doing most things on my road bike, but some parts were just too sketchy.  I retraced my route after finding it was definitely wrong, and then pretty easily found the right road.  The correct road just involved turning off one place earlier, and it was a dirt road and did not need a mountain bike.  This all happened in the San Donato in Poggio area finding Podere La Capella, where we will have a tour and lunch on Tuesday.

I left home and rode the viales past Piazzale Michaelangelo, then descended to the road through Galluzzo and climbed through Tavernuzze, staying on the road past Falciani and climbing the real climb to San Casciano.  I am planning on the support vehicle dropping us here, as we have a nice descent to the valley, then ride slightly uphill through the valley to Sambuca, where we start a real climb to San Donato.  By the time we are at this climb, I will know how fit everyone is and decide if we want to use the support van or not.  I found the Podere (see above), then headed off to finish my ride.  I turned off the road to Castellina and descended / climbed / descended through La Piazza to the climb to Panzano.

I started feeling pretty energetic on the Panzano climb, and decided to do the sometimes steep up and down ridge road over to Quattro Strade.  It was a good decision, as the riding was fun, but I was definitely getting tired.  From Quattro Strade I climbed through Mercatale to San Casciano, then contoured through Spedellatto to Chiesa Nuova.  By now I was feeling pretty beat, and took the first road down to Scandicci, then back home on the main roads.  I guess the last 5 days were taking a slight toll on my energy level.  Ride summary is:  62.9 miles in 4:39 rolling time for an average speed of 13.5, which is pretty good when you factor in the very slow exploration around San Donato.  I climbed 4960 vertical feet at and average temperature for the ride of 84 including the effect of the sun.

Tavernuzze, San Casciano, San Donato, Panzano, Quattro Strade - scouting by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Beautiful vineyards in the Panzano area.

I believe that is Radda on the hilltop in the distance.

Vineyards on the climb to Panzano from the Radda side.

Taking the ridge climb to Quattro Strade, I found some water and 

a bench with a nice view.