Chianti Tour for Florence by Bike with a group of 11

I did a Chianti Tour for Florence by Bike yesterday.  I heard the night before that it would probably be 9 people and was a little nervous about taking care of such a large group.  It turned out to be 11, and it was fine, but challenging.  In this situation, everyone simply has to have some patience.  Some riders are stronger than others, and with one group from Florida, one from Boston, and one from Australia, a number of different fitness levels were represented.  Some had to walk up the harder climbs (probably around 5 or 6) and some had to wait.  I told everyone this at the start, and it really worked out fine.  I think everyone had a good day, although the young newlyweds expressed a little frustration with people stopping for no reason right in front of them.  I made an announcement, but it did not really work.

We rode out through Piazzale Michaelangelo - photo opportunity - then up to Poggio Imperiale, then down to Galluzzo for a first real break of 20 minutes for a cafe and pastry.  We got back on the bikes and started our real climb of the day to Monteoriolo.  Everyone did fine, although there was a fair amount of walking.  Good spirits prevailed and with a number of rest / view stops all were fine.  We stopped at a villa for a pre-arranged lunch that the shop puts together.  It is at a beautiful villa, put on by three generations of the family that lives there, and is really nice.  After lunch, we took a different route back to the city to avoid as much traffic as possible.  Back via San Gersole, Vacciano, Cinque Vie to Piazza Ferrucci, then to the shop on the bike path on the Viale.  All in all a tiring but good day.

Here is the garmin link for the ride:

Florence by Bike Chianti tour for 10 by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Here is the group of 11 (a couple are not in the picture) for

the Chianti Tour yesterday for Florence by Bike.

The view back toward Florence from Villa Riboia, where we

had a beautiful lunch.