Climbing out of the fog to enjoy the Strada Sette Pont

I was up relatively early and out to meet the team for a ride this morning.  I did not really expect many to show, and was not surprised when a few minutes past the meeting time it was only me.  I waited until 5 minutes past the time, and Terenzio showed up to ride, which made two of us.  It is Christmas and I know that many of the regulars this time of year were either off to their parent's houses on home with a fever.  Terenzio was fine with the tour I wanted to do, although he said he might be slow as he was tired and had not ridden much lately.

We took off on the main road to Pontesieve and traded the lead reasonably, making ok time.  We continued over through Carbonile, San Ellero, Lecchio, and turned off toward Matassino, the up to Castelfranco.  I am not sure if Terenzio had done this tour before, and he was a lttle behind me on the climb to Castelfranco.  We enjoyed the sette ponte road over to Reggello, which is a real classic ride.  A little up, a little down, and a very curvy, sinuous road with a nice smooth surface.  We also climbed out of fog in Castelfranco, and suddenly the weather turned from reasonable to very, very nice for riding anytime, but particularly for late December.  We stopped for a cafe and some food in Reggello, then Terenzio was fine with deciding to continue up to Donnini, then the climb to Tosi.

From Tosi, the road was mostly dry to Pelago, so I could let the speed go a little.  Nice ride over to Pelago, and the push into the town is the last real climb of the day.  From there, a great descent over to the main road, then down to Pontesieve.  From Pontesieve, simply a power crank on home.  All in all, a very nice day and a great ride.  65 miles in 4:08 rolling time for an average speed of 15.7 (not bad for an old man leading 90% of the time) with 3648 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 52.  What a great ride on a great day.

Pontesieve, Castelfranco, Reggello, Pelago, Firenze by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Looking toward Rignano, the fog in the flats makes for nice light.

On the way to Mattissino, still in the fog.  

The gate / tower at Castelfranco as we came out of the fog.

Terenzio finishing the climb to Castelfranco coming out of the fog.

Blue skies above while on the strada sette ponte.

And even a little more blue a couple kilometers farther.

A line of cypress trees on the climb to Tosi, the last real climb of the day.