Close in Mugello hills with Kate.

I guess every day can't be perfect, but they can all be good days.  My daughter, Kate, asked me a week or so ago if we could ride and picked today, with my schedule becoming quite full this Friday.  Well, it is the only day in a while where the weather wasn't basically perfect, but she was fine going out anyway and we waited until the worst of the heavy rain was over and left for a ride.  I changed my planned route so we could stay relatively close, so if the heavy rain returned we could return easily.  We really only encountered light rain on around 2/3 of the ride, and it was reasonably warm, so it turned out fine.

We rode through Le Cure then up Via Faentina to Olmo.  Kate runs quite a bit, and has done a number of races this season, but has some physical pieces that are acting up, hence the bike ride.  She was much stronger than I expected, and the climb to Olmo is pretty long, and she did really well.  At Vetta alle Croce, we had a decision, and she choose to go farther - atta girl.  We rode over to Pratolino, then down to Pian de San Bartolo, then did the Cercina route to Careggi and home.  She has lived here 13 years now, and she had never been in the Cercina area, which she enjoyed.  It really is a wonderful area to ride and I am so fortunate to have it basically in my back yard.  After descending to the Carreggi area, we took the detour home I like, and as we rode past a facility called Chronos, she told me it was the facility that her sister in law now owns as her father passed away last April.  I had ridden by it a number of times and had no idea.

Anyway, great ride Kate, and I hope we can do it again soon.  Here is the garmin link:

Faentina, Olmo, Pratolino, Cercina, Firenze with Kate by ridingwithcosimo at Garmin Connect - Details

Kate riding up Faentina toward Olmo.  Good job!

Kate stopping for a picture after the skies had actually brightened up

a bit.  If you look hard you can see some of the view in the background,

on the way toward Bivigliano.