I'm back - 2 posts in 2 days means a few days off work.

After some errands this morning, which included a nice muffin with Kate and Viola at Mamma's bakery, I decided that a ride would be more fun than hiding inside, sitting in front of the fan, as the temperature in Firenze is around 100 F.  Good decision.  From watching the weather, it appears the day's high hits around 3 or 4, and stays quite hot until 9 or even later.  So, off around 12:00 on a ride designed to get to what I thought would be one of the coolest places relatively close.  Montesenario is around 800 meters of climbing in around 21 kilometers from the apartment.  Water and head dousing in Fiesole, then the same at the top with lots of water consumption also.  Felt pretty good at the top, then after getting kind of wet with water all over me, the descent was super fresh, at least the first 1/3 of it until I dried off.  The real heat did not return until around 2/3 the way through the descent around Caldine.  Fun ride, felt good even in the hot weather.

Looking back to the east on the beginning of the last part of 

the climb to Montesenario.  You can feel the simmering heat

in the valley below in the picture, or at least I can.

There is Montesenario at the top of the hill.  Only another 200

meters to climb.  

Fresh, cold water at the fountain at Montesenario.  Sweet!

Lots of tours and a special 4th of July

It has been a week, and a busy one at that.  Tours most every day, and when I did not have tours, I had commitments or rode with the team.  I have to admit, when I do not take pictures of the crew I am taking out, I am forgetting names, and often these days, I am simply using client's phones for the pictures.  I need to take my phone out and also get one, but often when I finish with theirs, they are already moving on.  So, a couple of Chianti tours for Florence by Bike, and 4 days of tours for Dominick with one day riding with the team, Saturday.  I needed the team ride, as most client rides are at a totally different pace, and it is nice riding fast, not leading, and not being responsible for everyone.  So, Saturday was a great team ride, and we were out before the heat hit.  In the last week it has also really gotten hot, I think as hot as it has been here in a couple of years.  I know the temperature today hit 104F while we were riding.  Ouch!  Actually with an air conditioned van, it is fine.  I do need to be very careful with the clients, as today a 17 year old, very healthy young man was fine one minute and in a couple of minutes, he was "finished".  Good to have the van in that situation.

The highlight of the week for me was the 4th of July.  I rode with the team in the morning, with only 4 of us showing up, but David back on the bike after a nagging injury kept him out for 5 months.  He only did a part of the tour, but it was nice having him back.  The other 2 were enthusiastic and strong new members of the team.  Both spoke excellent english, so we could communicate without any difficulty.  Fun ride.   After the team ride, Emily and I went to a friend's house in the country for a party for her son's birthday and the 4th of July.  A beautiful spot, and a very nice party.  It was kind of hot, but less warm than Florence.  At the party, Viola had a surprise for me.  She was wearing a beautiful dress that my mother, who passed away a couple of years ago, gave to me when she was cleaning stuff out.  The dress was last worn when my mother was 6 or 7, in the middle 1930's.  Viola was beautiful in it, and it pretty much choked me up.  Sometimes it is great getting old, as it is fine to get chocked up on something like this.  Anyway, a real highlight for me.

All my tours were good, although the heat really makes it a challenge.  Pretty much no one complains, which is nice, and almost everyone hangs in there.  I did have to get a cab for one person who had simply had enough and did not want to ride back to FBB.  This week should be less busy, so perhaps more posts about solo rides for fun.  Saturday, we go to the Dolomites to escape the heat and enjoy the epic riding there.  Ciao a tutti.

Gary and Jesse Robbins on a van supported return tour to Florence from 

Radda.  Gary, the father, made it the whole way without the van.  Here

they are at the Antinori wine facility where we had lunch.  What a beautiful spot.

Viola and Kate after just getting their nails done in red, white, and

blue for the 4th of July.

Viola wearing the dress of my Mother's from the 1930's at the 4th of July 

party.  Super special for me, and I know I am prejudiced, but isn't she as cute as it gets.

The Bastian family at Luiano today on a nice Chianti tour with 

Roby doing super van support.  

Montesenario solo.

Really nice 2 hour ride to Montesenario and back using a loop.  I enjoy all this ride, even if it has a bit of hard climbing.  For me, a nice solo ride, with a fair amount of effort is the best way to recharge the batteries.  3 days in a row of tours coming up, so it was great to get out on my own.  Ciao a tutti.

42.2 kilometers in 2:04 with 920 meters of climbing.

Looking toward the Garfagnana from Montesenario.

Monte Morello from Montesenario.  Super clear day.

The church at Montesenario.  I saw more people there today than all the other

times I have been there, probably around 100 people.  I guess it is a popular 

Sunday destination on a hot Florence summer day.

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.

The Holderman family on Friday at Ponterotto, on the way to

Podere la Capella.

The Montesano family at Podere la Capella after a great tour,

lunch, cellar tour, and chapel tour.  

Great tour with Jean Lu, the selfie education continues.

We will see if you can teach an old dog new tricks, as some of the younger members (I guess that is everyone) of the squadra are tutoring me on the selfie.  Jean Lu is in town for a week and we are getting together to ride when it works.  We got out today, and had a great tour.  Out through Ponte a Ema, then up Via Carota to Osteria Nuova, then up and over to Cellai, then to Bombone on the fun road there.  Bombone to Rosano, then a surprise request from Jean Lu to add in Monteloro.

Fun day, and Jean was on form and feeling strong, dropping me on 2 of 3 climbs.  His english is kind of like my Italian, and he asked if I was angry he went ahead.  I said of course not, I love to see people work themselves and go to make themselves happy.  Eventually we got the idea across.  Jean responded with a great compliment, saying I was his model and that I seemed to have Nature and Sport working in harmony.   Anyway, a really nice ride which I needed after a frustrating morning.  Ciao a tutti!

The selfie education continues.  Here are Jean Lu and I in Bombone

today on a great tour.  Rebecca told Jean to make me take one and to help.

Giro de Mugello plus Giogo with the team.

Great tour this morning with the team.  It had been a while for me, as I have been a little overly busy of late.  Up early, but just a very nice ride with some great folks.  We started with 8, lost two who were not feeling their best by Dicomano, around 45 kilometers out.  Lost another in Dicomano, then one more at the turn to go to Giogo.  We ended up with 4 of us climbing this pass and really enjoyed our day.  Marco has become quite a bit stronger in the last year and for the first time dropped me on a climb.  Jean Lu was tired and both Marco and I waiting a bit at the top for Jean Lu and Rebecca.  I gave Rebecca a high five for having to wait for Jean Lu, who is usually quite competitive.  Excellent crostata albicocca at the bar at the pass, then a good return ride.  Really enjoyed the day, thanks everyone.  A prossima!

Marco's record photo at Passo del Giogo for the team's Brevetto

de Firenze competition.  He has one pass to go with 4 completed.

Marco, Jean Lu, and Rebecca at the Passo del Giogo.

My best selfie to date.  All the others were pretty bad.  Just shows what

a little coaching from the young people can do.  

A little bit of everything from the last week.

Hi blog readers.  Yes, I have been getting a little lazy regarding this blog.  I have been quite busy, mostly with work, so have not been posting as I usually do.  I mostly do this blog to promote my guiding business, which thankfully has been so busy as of late that I don't have time to post most days.  Perhaps it has worked.  Regardless, I am back, at least for today, and will post as the spirit moves me in the future.  Many posts may be similar to this one in that it is a mish mash of different things that meant something to me.  Of course, much involves cycling, as I am cycling most days and cycling is what I call work when it involves sharing it with others at many different levels.  So, I caption the pictures below and they will tell the story of my last week or so.

Missing from the pictures is my day Thursday when along with Rebecca I took 10 people on a great tour to Panzano from Florence.  In Panzano there is a famous butcher who has a restaurant that we all had a huge lunch at.  Seriously, 5 courses of only meat then other courses afterward.  Somehow all but one person hung in there for the ride back to Firenze on the bikes.  We had arranged for a van to take bikes and people who did not want to cycle back.  Dario Cecchini is the butcher and the food was wonderful and it was a very fun outing.  Ciao.

After a number of days without a solo ride when I could go as fast or

slow as I wish, today I had an excellent ride on a favorite route through

Bacheretto.  This picture is on the way to Bacheretto.  So beautiful to ride

here.  As a definite introvert, I recharge in solo situations.  Also as an introvert,

one of the hardest things for me with tours is being social all the time.  I do like

it and almost always enjoy the people I meet, it just takes energy.

Monday night, we had the honor of attending a dinner to benefit the

"Friends of Florence" which raises funds for art restoration.  It is amazing

just to be eating a 5 course dinner at the feet of the David, perhaps the most

famous sculpture in the world, sitting next to a marchesa, whose family has

been in the Florence area for over 500 years.  

Yesterday, I enjoyed the company of these 6 beautiful ladies on a cycling

tour with Van support and a wonderful lunch at Podere la Capella.  These

women had fun and cycled around 15 kilometers on a beautiful day in Tuscany.

Fun to share the cycling with a group with ages from 24 to 74.

Last night after the tour with the 6 ladies, I arrived home to hear of 

an invitation to a dinner at a friend's restaurant.  Alessandro Gargani, 

the owner / chef is involved in a pilot of a possible TV show on cooking

and the culture in Tuscany.  My son in law, Nicco, on the right, was 

featured as they did a tour through the gold leaf factory that is his family

business.  We had a wonderful dinner, gratis, and were filmed on and off

as we ate and enjoyed.  The dessert was a chocolate dense cake with edible

gold leaf on it.  For dessert, the bright lights came out.  Here, Ale is preparing

to interview Nicco with an old family friend in the background.

On Wednesday, I enjoyed a day at the beach in Forte dei Marmi with

Kate and the kids.  The beach is such a great place for kids, as they can 

really do most anything without worrying about getting hurt or doing 

something they are not supposed to.  A super fun but tiring day.  It is 

a 1-1/2 hour drive each way in a small car with 3 children age 6 and under.