Riding with Cosimo, custom cycling tours in Tuscany: An interesting and busy week.

I guess it has been a while since the last post. I continue to be quite busy and have tours upcoming for 6 of the next 8 days. It is good I like to be busy in my "retirement". It is fun to share my passion for cycling and the countryside with so many people, but it does take some energy. On Wednesday I took the Saligram family out through some of the Chianti countryside. We ended up doing around 55 kilometers with was a little much for them. It is sort of a minimum to get into Chianti and back without lots of very steep hills. All hung in there and had a good time. Good job! Thursday was a needed day off the bike, with an appointment in the afternoon with the Marchese Frescobaldi. I met her at a benefit dinner for Friends of Florence where she was sitting next to me. We had a nice conversation and she suggested we get together to see if I would like to take cycling tours to any of their many facilities. It looks like something will work out, and perhaps even some tours there in a month or two, certainly by next year. I was struck by how many turns life takes as I was meeting with the Marchese of a large, old Italian family with vineyards all over Tuscany. 5 years ago, I would never have thought I would be having this meeting. Interesting.

Friday and Saturday were tours for two different families for Dominick. Both were to Podere la Capella, a very small, family owned and operated vineyard and wine producer. Natasha is an excellent cook, and the food is always amazing. Friday was a family of 7 and Saturday was a family of 5. Everyone on both days did well and enjoyed the tour. Friday, we were stuck in traffic with the highway closed for an accident for over an hour, but only the driver was really bothered. After returning bikes and picking up the others for Saturday, I rushed home to splash some water on myself an was off to a birthday party at the 4 Seasons Hotel, probably the nicest hotel in Florence. Beautiful event. Last night after the tour I had time to relax a little, then we were off to a very nice dinner at a beautiful home on Bellasguardo with friends of Emily's. Very interesting people and a fun dinner. Today, if time allows, I will get out for a quick recharge ride solo, then I have to take my laptop to the applestore here at the only mall in the Florence area. My battery is suddenly dying, and hopefully they will be able to replace while I wait. I hope so, as everything is on this machine. Ciao.

Wednesday tour with the Saligram family. Here we are almost

back to Florence. Great tour everyone.