Wonderful morning ride with the team to San Baronto.

I had a really nice ride with the team this morning.  We met at Illiopesca, and had a pretty big group, around 14, and set off to San Baronto.  For the first time since early June, I had arm warmers on and enjoyed the relatively cool weather.  The group was pretty strong, and we have some new members and some visitors joining us.  We rode out the normal route through Lastra a Signa to Montelupo, then over toward Empoli, turning off for Vinci, then climbing to San Baronto.  I have gotten used to being one of the strongest climbers lately, but today, it was not the case.  A group of 4 dropped me around 1/2 the way up, and continued to ride strong and hard all the way.  Another group of 4 caught me, but we all hung pretty much together for the remainder of the climb.  We were pretty fast, as we waited at the top for around 15 minutes for the remaining 6 to join us.

It is really quite a cycling scene at the top in the little town of San Baronto.  Cyclists are coming and going all the time, and the bar, where I had an espresso, had around 15 cyclists inside having cafe.  A great Italian scene, and really fun for this Americano to be a part of.  We all got back together and descended through Lamporecchio on new pavement as it is part of the world championship course from Lucca.  A really fun descent.  We continued with the slight uphill to Cerreto Guidi, then the descent to the valley and the 10 kilometer run in to Montelupo.  We regrouped again in Montelupo, and decided on the route through Cerbia, which I was happy about.  A nice fast ride up the valley to Cerbia, and then a real fast climb to Chiesa Nuova.  We finished by going down to Scandicci, then eventually all broke off in different directions to return to our homes.

A great fast ride today.  I have client tours tomorrow and Monday, so it was great to push it a little today.  Ride summary is:  73.4 miles in 4:12 rolling time for an average speed of 17.5 mph with 2520 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 71.

San Baronto and Lamporecchio con squadra by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

A couple of pictures in San Baronto, one with most of the team today, and

the other just trying to capture the scene there on a Saturday morning.