Speaking of which, a nice man called Paulo turned up yesterday with a carbon Trek US Postal bicycle yesterday - full Ultegra groupset, Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels - perfect, apart from the full size chainset...
Now our rural idyll is down a km of track - alternates dirt and tarmac, with some steep bits - so the first section of today's ride was death on a stick. With 28 degree temperatures and baking sun, anything steep was going to be hard work.
Fortunately after the gnarly introduction I had about 10km of downhill. I had planned a route to San Gimignano, going via Certaldo, but unfortunately I've not got the hang of getting a route into my Edge 800 without it changing the route to one it prefers - so on the outskirts of Certaldo it ordered me to turn left up an unsurfaced road. Bog off, thought I, and carried on, reckoning I knew where to go. In Certaldo the Edge got very confused, so I decided to follow my nose and see where that got me.
Nowhere, was the answer... After setting the GPS to take me to San G, after another 5k or so I realised that instead of my planned 30 miler it was going to be nearer 40, so another change of plan saw me heading back towards Barberino val di Elsa, which I knew was on the way home.
Despite the navigational challenges, the scenery was classic Tuscany, with rolling roads, olive groves and vineyards everywhere. The climbs, whilst tough in parts didn't feel that long, although having checked afterwards I was going generally uphill for about 10 miles coming back.
A flick through the local "big city" of Tavarnelle and I was soon heading back down the rough road to our house, with 20 miles on the clock and a far better idea of where to go next time!
San Gimignano or bust, I reckon...
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