We went for a shorter ride of just under 50 miles today, through Chianti. We barely stopped for more than a minute, with the exception of traffic lights. It was a nice ride, with our turnaround point down at Greve in Chianti.
Instead of being hot today, it was the wind that was tough. With a nice cool temperature touching up around 90, the overcast skies did open up a little bit but ironically most of the sun was accompanied by rain. We never got too wet and it was nice to cool off a bit, and luckily that aforementioned wind blew at our backs the whole way back north to Firenze. Finally today we passed some other cyclists...a whole lot of them, all on one road. We thought perhaps it was an organized ride but after checking some of the "fly-bys" on Strava, we realized it was just a super popular road to cycle. While we were steadily climbing our way into the wind, they were all chatting-it-up easily cruising downhill with the wind.
Instead of being hot today, it was the wind that was tough. With a nice cool temperature touching up around 90, the overcast skies did open up a little bit but ironically most of the sun was accompanied by rain. We never got too wet and it was nice to cool off a bit, and luckily that aforementioned wind blew at our backs the whole way back north to Firenze. Finally today we passed some other cyclists...a whole lot of them, all on one road. We thought perhaps it was an organized ride but after checking some of the "fly-bys" on Strava, we realized it was just a super popular road to cycle. While we were steadily climbing our way into the wind, they were all chatting-it-up easily cruising downhill with the wind.
After our ride, we returned home. I made the Cavolo Nero (Tuscan Kale) that I bought at the market the other day and we watched La Corse, the women's race in Paris that accompanies the final stage of the Tour. I think we were feeling the effects of the ride and after a short afternoon walk, we came back, watched the final stage and then went to dinner.
Besides our ride, the day was rather uneventful. Chilling out watching bike racing may seem like a silly way to spend time in this great town, but at a certain point, we need to relax a bit. We've been riding and walking ourselves into the ground. We can't wait on any more tourist lines and we can't afford to shop anymore, so the best thing to do is to take it easy. We still have over two weeks here and lots of traveling, so we need not burn out.
Tomorrow we will do one final ride here, before we pack it up and move south on Tuesday. Our final ride will be to the highest point around Firenze. It will be a short ride of 30 miles, but it should be 3000ft of climbing as well, so it might be a tough one. The weather should be much the same as today, perhaps some storms in the afternoon so we better get out early. That said, it's time for bed. I'll try to post something tomorrow, otherwise you won't hear from me until we're settled in down in Santa Maria di Castellabate. Arrivederci.
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