A couple of hours wandering in the Chianti hills.

I had a lovely 2 hour plus ride today between errands this morning and high tea with Kate and Viola this afternoon.  The tea, which will be at the 4 seasons was Emily and my birthday present to Viola.  It should be fun.  Emily is staying with Torrio while we go to tea, but she had 3 high teas with her lady friends around Christmas, so I do not feel too guilty.

I decided to do some riding toward Chianti and picked this route without knowing how long it would take, but it ended up just perfect.  I started by going over to Ponte a Ema, then up Via Carota, and wonderful climb on a tiny road with basically no traffic.  After hooking up with the main road, I continued to climb to Osteria Nuova, then turned off and descended to Antella.  You wander around Antella a little and hook up with another little road to climb up and over a small hill to just below Capanuccia.  This starts a bigger climb to a little pass before descending to San Polo in Chianti.  I rode up through the town to find a really nice little bar for a cafe.  It has a great little outdoor seating area which I will keep in mind for clients in the future.

From San Polo, I descended toward Strada, but turned off at the bottom of the descent to climb to the little pass around Castello Ruggero.  This is a beautiful road and climb and although it is a little steep, around 10%, it is short with only around 75 meters of climbing.  A very nice descent back to Capanuccia awaits, and is a fun ride.  From Capanuccia, you book into Grassina, then hook up with the Cinque Vie road then up and over Pian de Giuliari to the Viales then power on back home.  The weather was quite warm and it felt great to be out.  30.5 miles in 2:09 rolling time for an average speed of 13.9 mph with 2208 vertical feet of climbing at a lovely average temperature of 58.  Ciao.

Via Carota, Osteria Nuova, Capanuccia, San Polo, Ruggero, Grassina, Fi by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Not very good light, but another attempt at an iconic

Tuscan view.  

What a beautiful little road on the way to Castello Ruggero.

You have to love climbing roads like this to love the riding here.

On the top of the little hill where Castello Ruggero is located.