Last ride of 2014 even with a little snow.

Even though it was quite cold here today, a high around 36, with snow in town and more snow above, I decided I needed to finish 2014 with a ride.  I have certainly ridden more this year than ever before in my life, and wanted to get one more in.  Who knows if or when I will ride this much again.  For the year around 20,400 kilometers in 289 rides with close to 290,000 meters of climbing.  I am thinking of trying for a goal of 1,000,000 vertical feet of climbing next year, which translates to around 304,000 meters.  We shall see.  Anyway, Happy New Year all, and I will start 2015 off with a ride with my young friend Luca in the Chianti countryside.  It is supposed to be cold, but not as cold as today.  The trend is warming to the weekend when it is forecast to be in the low 50's again.  Sweet!  Today's ride was one of my regular close in rides, as my thought of Montesenario was changed when I saw snow on the side of the road just below Pian de San Bartolo.  I went through Cercina and Careggi then back in to Firenze.  25.3 kilometers in 1:21 for an average (slow) of 18.6 kph with 558 meters of climbing.

Yes, there is some snow in the hills.  Today we had some pretty strong flurries for an hour or so in Florence, and I delayed my ride until afterward.  Emily called me from a bar where she meets a friend every Wednesday for a cafe, as today they had fresh doughnuts for the first time this year.  They are made by the pastry chef for one of the city's really good restaurants, and often they are brought out warm.  Emily and Maryland had them warm, but by the time I got there it was room temperature.  I did have one waiting for me, and all the others were gone.

We really did have a little snow here today, and up higher, here above Cercina, some of it even stuck. There were even a few places where the roads were a little snowy and Icy.  Good thing I have around 59 years of experience with lots of snow.  

Monday night I attended the Big Lebowski here in Florence, in Italian.  A good thing I had seen the movie, maybe 10 plus times, as my Italian definitely could not have kept up.  Here is a pictures of the hosts for the "special event" talking about the movie and it's impact before the show.  I understood enough to get most of what they said, in particular how the movie helped start and nourish the "slacker movement"  Interesting.