First, sorry, no pictures today. When I tried my first photo, the camera said to charge the battery. Oh well, believe me, it was a beautiful day and after yesterday afternoon's rain and wind, the air was crystalline. Hey, it sounds better than my photography skills anyway. Yesterday, I spent the day traveling to the coast south of Livorno, then previewing a ride, finding a vineyard, setting up a vineyard tour and tasting, etc., with Dominick, who owns the tour company I will do the tour for. I did not include that ride in the blog, as I stopped the riding part of the preview in some pretty heavy rain, and did not stop the garmin, so the return trip in the car was recorded. I thought about posting it, but I am nowhere near that fast, and did not think it was right to do it. When I do the tour on July 6, I will post from the tour. It was a good day, I got to know Dominick better, I understand how he wants the tours run, and as a guide, I really need to know where I am going before I take others there. I think we have a super tour planned for the people on the 6th now. I will be learning how to use a support vehicle, and will be able to incorporate one into my own tours by collaborating with Dom from the other direction in the future.
Yesterday afternoon, when we had pretty much figured everything out, I got a call from Florence by Bike, needing a guide for a tour today for a private group. They also would have a support vehicle. I said yes, as at this point, I need all the work and exposure I can get. Monica called back, and said she had to set some things up, and would get back to me to verify. For whatever reason, I received no call back, and was assuming that the tour was not happening. I decided to be at the shop at 9 anyway, just in case, and ride from there solo if there was not tour. No tour, but hopefully some brownie points by being there on time, and perhaps more tours for them in the future.
I took off from the shop, and came back by the apartment, then up the pallazzuolo road to San Domenico, then up the new pavement toward Fiesole, turning to descend through Maiano to San Martino, then did the Vincigliata climb, always a favorite of mine. I went left at the top of the climb, and connected to the road to Croce alla Vetta, and enjoyed that scenic and gentle climb. I decided on the way up to descend on the main road to Sieci, as I rarely do this, and it was super fun. I almost took the road from Molin de Piano up to Doccia, but decided to take the climb from Sieci to Molino de Vento, as this is one of my old favorites which I rarely climb anymore. Super fun today, and I enjoyed the spectacular weather. Sunny, relatively cool, with little to no wind. Wow.
I descended to Rufina, got some water in the bottle, and climbed another of my favorites to Diacetto. Descending from Diacetto to Pelago is always great, and I now seem to stop at the same bar there for a cafe. I ordered a slice of pizza today, and cafe normale (a single shot espresso) instead of my usual machiato. Nice break in the shade of an umbrella on their terrace. I then rode over to the Consuma road, and picked up a riding partner on the way. He passed me slowly, and of course, I hung on. We descended to Pontesieve together, then he went toward Rufina, and I went back to Firenze through Pontesieve, Sieci, Le Falle, etc. What a great ride on a great day. I am loving it here. The summary is: 51.7 miles in 3:53 rolling time for an average speed of 13.3 mph with 4780 vertical feet climbed at a sun affected average temperature of 78. Ciao.
Vincigliata, Vetta, Sieci, Molino de Vento, Rufina, Diacetto by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details
No comments:
Post a Comment