Today we got out for our first real ride. Yesterday's warm-up ride was just to test the bikes and get Kristen acquainted with the city traffic, paving stones, and pedestrians everywhere, so she wouldn't have to have that anxiety before heading out for some real hills.
Our ride took us first to Fiesole, up the main climb used in the World Championships in 2013. From there we descended a somewhat technical descent on a nicely paved road back down to the Arno River. After crossing the river, we began to climb again, this time the longest climb of the day. Once we got to the top, the craziest descent I've done maybe ever awaited us. I've done this ride before, but in the last three years the pavement really went. Just a single lane (barely even that) of split-up asphalt mixed with some large gravel strewn about. And boy was it steep; some spots we were grabbing full brakes just trying to make the turns! For you cyclists from Bucks/ Hunterdon, think descending Uhlerstown if it were ten times the distance. That's the best way to describe it. The remainder of the ride featured some nice climbs and much more favorable road conditions.
Cycling took up most of the day. Honestly we did sleep in quite a bit, and we did make yet another trip to the Conad. Lots of technical difficulties with our GPS site and the washing machine kept us up way too late last night. As I write this now, it's 1AM, which means I'm going to write one more paragraph and it's off to bed.
Besides cycling, we did some good eating. That's the great thing about cycling; you burn enough calories that you can eat completely guilt free. Today's post ride snack consisted of some pane Toscano, some Pecorino Toscano, some Pecorino Vecchio Cacio di Pienza, and Kristen had some Salumi Toscano and Culatello di Zibello, finished off with some good dark chocolate. That was just the antipasto. Dinner featured porcini mushrooms and black truffles and we finished the day with some wonderful gelato at Grom.
Tomorrow is Kristen's birthday. As a celebration, we will ride a marathon, as in a shorter ride that measures 26.2 miles on RideWithGPS. The ride is to the Convento Monte Senario. Situated at 2600ft, the Convent was built in the 15th Century. We won't be able to go inside in our cycling clothes, but it should be beautiful to climb up there, then it's downhill all the way home! After that, we're going shopping. Surely tomorrow's blog post will be about all the wonderful things Kristen buys herself for her birthday hahaha!
Alright, I'll catch up with you all tomorrow.
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