Nice fall recovery ride in unseasonably warm weather.

I had a number of errands this morning, which went well.  I am signed up for more Italian lessons and will start on November 18 repeating level 3, then will take level 4.  Eventually I should be able to speak the language reasonably, but at any rate, I will keep trying.  Probably, I will not speak it very well until Emily and I speak it at home one day a week or something like that.  Perhaps, I will add excursions in the neighborhood where I will only speak Italian.   That would certainly help.  One constant theme on my errands was every Italian that I spoke with mentioned how unseasonably warm it was.  I was thinking perhaps a day off, but with this amazing weather, I took an easy recovery ride instead.  It really is warm, and I was basically dressed like summer with a light short sleeved jersey and shorts.  Nice for late October.

I headed out through the Cascine, then out the back roads to Lastra a Signa.  I did the climb to the little pass around Malmantine, and turned off to ride up to Marliano.  I had not ridden this in quite a while, and it is just a wonderful ride and road.  From Marliano, it only gets better, and you are descending for a while before starting the only real climb of the day, from Vigliano to Santa Maria a Marciola.  Another really fun, excellent road.  From the top it is a very fast descent to Scandicci, then a power ride back home in Firenze.  Excellent ride, I am so happy I got out.  28.9 miles in 2:00 rolling time for an average speed of 14.4 mph with 1663 vertical feet of climbing at an average temperature of 79.

Wonderful 2 hour recovery ride. by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Riding out of town through the Cascine the road was covered

with yellow leaves as fall asserts itself.

A couple of photos showing vineyards and olive trees on the

climb toward Roveta.  Che bella! 

The vines are definitely changing colors.