Nice after Santa ride in the close in hills around Fiesole.

Busy day yesterday with class followed by babysitting, then I had to go to a Christmas festival / market where they have German sausages with sour kraut, which I love.  This morning, I was Santa for a group here in Florence of Ex-pat Moms.  Moms, kids (around 55) and Dads were all there and it was a very fun time.  I was thinking it would not leave me time for a ride, but I got out of there an hour or so earlier than I expected, and the weather was much nicer than I thought as well.  I suited up and changed my mind about what ride I would do in the elevator going down to street level.

I decided on going up to Pian de Mugnone, then climbing to Fiesole.  I don't do this climb often, and I enjoyed it last week, so I did it again today.  The road is part of the world championship course, so the pavement is new and perfect.  It really makes a difference on climbing as well as descending.  From Fiesole, I climbed to the road over toward Montebeni and turned off to descend through Vincigliata.  I climb this road all the time, and rarely descend here.  It is a really awesome descent and it was super fun today.  At the bottom of the descent, I decided to climb up through Maiano to the main Fiesole road, which I also ride all the time in reverse.  Roads are really different climbing versus descending.  Anyway, good climb followed by a very fast descent on the main road though San Domenico to Le Cure, then home.  14.6 miles in 1:08 Rolling time for an average speed of 12.9 mph with 1644 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 53.  Ciao.

Pian de Mugnone, Fiesole, Vincigliata, Maiano, San Domenico, Firenze by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

A couple of views climbing toward Fiesole from Pian

de Mugnone.  What a beautiful day for December.

This is looking back toward Settignano from the start

of the day's last climb toward Maiano.