San Baronto and Quarrata con squadra.

A number of super busy days in a row.  Yesterday, I was up pretty early and off to meet the team for a ride from Illiopesca.  We decided on the San Baronto route, which was great by me, as it is really nice and I had not ridden it in a while.  It was quite cool when we started, around 36, but it warmed up with the sun and turned into a very pleasant day to ride.  We rode out through Montelupo, and it was a totally popular morning for people to be out cycling.  We led a large group, then re-grouped with a couple of stragglers, caught and followed a group of around 40, then let them go in Montelupo.  This scene is one of the fun parts of cycling here with a team.

We pretty much stayed just the 6 of us to Vinci and stayed together pretty well, then broke apart for the climb to San Baronto.  Luca dropped me at the start, then I caught and dropped him, then we came back together, then picked up two guys from another team, and the 4 of us stayed pretty close the entire climb.  The competitive nature of us all kept the pace pretty strong, and I had a second best time going up.  It is a really beautiful climb, quite mellow, and you can really push it.  When we arrived in San Baronto, there must have been 50 cyclists on the street, causing Luca to say, "This looks like a real party".  We waited for a while for the others, and I had a cafe.  After Lorenzo and Allessio arrived, we decided to double back to get the last two and encourage them to the top.  The weather was simply perfect for climbing - calm, cool, but warm enough so you were not at all cold.  I took off my shell at the base of the climb before Vinci.

The descent was super.  The last time I descended on the north side of San Baronto, there was a good 30 mph wind with gusts, so we took it quite easy.  Today, it was calm, dry road, so, a good day to let it go.  Fun!  We regrouped at the bottom and kept it together all the way back into town until people started to break off to return to their own homes.  Super fun day, team.  I love riding with these folks.  62.6 miles in 3:47 rolling time for an average speed of 16.5 mph with 1660 vertical feet climbed at an average temperature of 48.

San Baronto, Quarrata con squadra by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Leaving Vinci, Leonardo's birth place,  the very nice and mellow

climb to San Baronto starts.  Between being passed a few times, and

passing quite a few on the way up, along with the people descending

I must have seen 200 cyclists on the 15 kilometer stretch to San Baronto.

The team in San Baronto at one of the calmer moments we

had up there.  When Luca and I arrived, there must have been 

50 or more cyclists in the street by the bar.  Quite a scene.