Riding with Cosimo, custom cycling tours in Tuscany: Excellent last ride with Dave and Colorado

A number of things were changed today. Yesterday, there was a general strike in Italy, which meant that no air travel happened until after 5pm. Dave and Colorado, who I had taken out a couple of times last week were scheduled to leave early in the morning, but did not get away. Jen and David Billstrom, who were scheduled to arrive did not get in to town. So, Dave called in the later afternoon to see if he and Colorado could get out for a ride today. Jen and David were planning on a walking tour with Emily, which I was planning on attending. Luckily, I decided to take Dave and Colorado out and simply meet David and Jen later in the day, as they are riding with me on Monday and Tuesday. As it turned out, Jen and David did not get into town until late in the day, and the walking tour with Emily was postponed until Sunday morning.

So, I met Dave and Colorado at the shop Saturday at 11, and we set out for a ride in the Mugello. We had been a couple of other directions from town and I wanted to give them a completely different tour. We headed out through Le Cure then up option number 2 to San Domenico, the continued up to the turn toward Maiano, then down to the start of the Vincigliata climb. I warned them both that it was steep in places, and we started off. Around 1/2 way up the steep part of the climb, Dave started pushing the pace, so I responded and pushed as well. By the time I really looked back, I had dropped him and then I waited at the pretty spot just below Vincigliata. Dave arrived after a couple of minutes and was as blown out as he was all three days. He said he felt really good when he started pushing the pace, but did not expect the grade to continue as steep as it was for as long as it did. The advantages of knowing the terrain are important.

Anyway, he recovered pretty fast and Colorado joined us and we continued up past Vincigliata to the road over toward the Fiesole road. The climbs from after Vincigliata on are all pretty mellow, which was perfect. We enjoyed all the new pavement and the super mellow climb to the crossroads at croce alle vetta, then headed over to Bivigliano. We all really enjoyed the descent to Vaglia, where we stopped for a cafe and pastry. Really good place with excellent pastries which I had not used before. We powered at a pretty fast pace down to San Piero then up to Scarperia turning off for the next fun piece of the ride through San Agata and Galliano. A stop in San Agata for water was good and both Dave and Colorado liked the look of the cafe I usually go to there, but did not want anything additional to eat. We rode down the main road to the turn off to Bosco Ai Frati, and really enjoyed that super fun piece of the ride.

We rode over to the connection to The Via Faentina climb to Croce alle Vetta, and they were getting a little tired. I resolved at the start to ride a pace where we could all stay together, as typically Dave and I were dropping her on climbs. It worked well, and I just had to stifle the urge to push harder at the start of a more difficult section and kept the pace nice and comfortable. It is a pretty long climb but is pretty gentle most of the way. We stopped at the top, then descended down through Olmo, Caldine, Pian de Mugnone, back to Le Cure then to the shop. Overall another great ride. Dave and Colorado were really great to take out as they were very competent riders and were very enthusiastic about the roads and routes, which makes me feel good. 60.6 miles in 4:37 rolling time for an average speed of 13.1 mph with 4718 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 71.

Another great ride with Dave and Colorado - Giro de Mugello by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details