Nice two hour ride in the hills to the North.

I have been in the process of doing some required upgrading on my computer, and it all came together today.  I bought the new, bigger RAM cards and had them installed in the computer, bought a back up system, then took a break with many other errands.  I then fought Apple a little due to address variations versus credit cards, simply to access a free download, and finally got to the download for the new Mavericks operating system.  It started and looking at some comments, it appeared it was going to take 3 hours to download.  I had not planned on riding today, just to take some time off, but plans changed.

I decided on a fun 2 hour ride with a fair amount of climbing.  Up through Le Cure to Via Faentina, then all the way up to Croce alle Vetta.  I took the turn toward Bivigliano, then turned off to descend to Pratolino.  In Pratolino, I took the branch to the West and hooked up with the climb to Monte Morello.  I turned off this road to do the tiny road to descend to the church above Cercina.  From there, it was a normal descent #4 to the Careggi area, then my new standard up and around to Piazza Georgina, then back home.  Sweet two hours of riding.

Faentina, Olmo, Pratolino, toward MonteMorello, Cercina, Firenze by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

On the way toward Bivigliano, a great view of the city below 

and lots of yellow flowers just going off.

There really are lots of yellow flowers in bloom here.

The road from Olmo to Bivigliano.

Via della Rampa in Pratolino, one of my favorite water spots.

On the descent to the Careggi area on this tiny road,

as you come over a hill the road drops and there

is a view of the city below.