Really great morning ride with the team today. We met at Tavernuzze at 8:45 to start at 9 am. The weather has definitely cooled off, and everyone but me had the winter jersey today. It did warm up during the ride, but long sleeves are in order. It was a little below 50 when I left home and when we started. We had 9 but did not stay together very long. Daniele and Luca started off ahead, and then accelerated to catch a person who passed us. I thought I would wait for the rest, but I slowed and David and Massimo passed me immediately. With 5 of us present, I decided to just go with the lead group. Good decision. We all got together pretty soon, with David pulling us to Daniele and Luca. David can really pull on this slightly uphill road, and he did most of the work, but we all took turns in front. We averaged around 40 plus after we all got together which is pretty quick. It is a popular route, and we passed 5 or 6 groups on the way to Greve. We waited a bit in Greve, then rode back to catch the other 4, then all rode into Greve together and stopped for cafe. We split up after that - Daniele and Luca going longer to Castellina, Barbara and Rossano going to Panzano and back, and Massimo, Nicola (a new participant), Leif, David, and I going to Sugame, La Panca, and San Polo.
A great tour and fun to have a new participant. She is from Canada, so I asked where, and it turned out she is from Revelstoke, where a number of my backcountry hut ski trips were based from. Our super guide, Jim Bay, is a friend of hers, and it was fun to talk. Taste treats? It is kind of hard to come up with something everyday, but Emily and I had great Pizza last night at a favorite spot, La Bussola. The cafe (espresso) on the road is always good, and with a new person from North America commenting on how amazing it is to have this kind of cafe normale, it reinforces how good it really is. Really fun tour, with 84.3 km (51.4 miles) in 3:03 for an average speed of 27.5 kph (16.9 mph) with 891 meters (2923 feet) climbed. Such a nice ride that I am planning another day with the team tomorrow.
Countdown to 20,000 - 16,990 km ridden leaving 3,010 to ride in the next 8-3/4 weeks. Ciao!
Massimo out ahead on the start of the climb to La Panca. I slowed to
let everyone pass to take a photo, but he was already ahead.
Three of the five of us climbing toward La Panca.
I thought the light on the vineyard on the slope above was amazing, so I took a picture.
What a beautiful day to be riding again.
No comments:
Post a Comment