I had a nice ride guiding Randy today on our 3rd of 4 days. He is relatively new to the area, and I am guiding him for 4 days, one day in each direction. Today was to the west and we made it to Pinone through Carmignano, which is my favorite way. The descent through Castra was great as always, then in Montelupo, we decided to do the short of my planned routes home. A pinch flat and some extra time fixing it, as Randy did not have his little repair bag on the bike to his surprise, which left us with what I had. I had everything needed, but his wheels need a high profile tube and the one I had was a mid profile tube. After a little wrestling, we were able to make it work, but it took at least 20 minutes to do the repair.
I chose to return using the little road on the east side of the highway up to Vigliano, then over and up to Santa Maria a Marciano. Randy was pretty beat by the time we were up there, and we took a break and had some food to avoid a bonk. All was good, and we returned to Florence via Scandicci. He was around 1/2 hour late home, but the flat and extra rest accounted to the tardiness. Anyway, he was not upset and enjoyed the ride, which is what a client ride is all about.
79.6 k (48.8 miles) in 3:45 rolling time for an average speed of 20.8 kph (13.0 mph) with 932 meters climbed (3058 vertical feet). Only 1782 km left for my 20,000 goal. It is looking good unless the weather really turns, and if it does, we will see how important the goal is. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate. Ciao.
A brief respite from the fog just before Carmignano.
Just coming out of the fog above Carmignano.
Spooky fog and sun ahead.
Randy climbing toward Pinone and into the sun.
I don't really like the power lines, but the picture really shows the fog and sun that was what today's ride had for weather. Nice to see a villa with a tower in the picture as well.
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