WCC - 3 laps.

I had a very nice day today.  Emily and I hosted Kate, Viola, and Torrio for a nice visit playing and having lunch.  We all had a lot of fun, and someday someone will find the fan Emily got for Vittorio which was lost during the visit.  The apartment is not that big, around 1000 sq ft, and we have all searched everywhere.  It will turn up and it will be fun to see where it is.  The weather is predicted to be rainy tomorrow morning, so I may not be able to ride with the team, and I wanted to get out this afternoon.  I am pretty obsessed with the upcoming World Championships here, and although I have ridden all the parts of the course many times, I had never done a full loop.  The pros are scheduled to do 11 laps, and I got in 3 in a little over 2 hours.

It is a very nice loop, and they will have a course a little shorter than mine, as I did not go the wrong way on a stretch of one way.  The loop is around 16.8 kilometers with around 308 meters of climbing.  The real interesting piece will be the Via Salviati climb, which is only around 60 vertical meters, but averages around 20% for 50 of those vertical meters.  My second lap was my fastest in very close to 41 minutes.  Let me think, if they went at my fastest pace, the 11 laps would take around 7-1/2 hours, which does not include the 80 kilometers with a couple of climbs on the way from Lucca to Firenze.  I am guessing they will average closer to 25 minutes per lap, which blows my mind.  Alright, I am almost 60, but I ride alot and am in pretty good shape, so I know they are a number of levels faster and stronger than me, but it will be interesting to see just how fast they complete the laps.  I think the course with the Lucca / Firenze piece included must have around 13000 vertical feet as well.

Enough rambling.  Ride summary is:  31.5 miles in 2:07 rolling time for an average speed of 14.9 mph with 3025 vertical feet of climbing at an average temperature of 89.  I call this fun!

3 Laps of the World Championship Course by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Kate and Viola reading after lunch on a really fun visit today.

Although I was trying to go my fastest, on the third lap I eased off and

found time to take this picture on the way to San Domenico.

What a beautiful course the pros will be riding.