San Gimignano

Made it! Gave up on the stored rides in my Garmin, as it doesn't seem to like following a previously mapped out route - it's a headstrong little bugger. So the idea today was to simply go from village to village on a pre-determined route. Certaldo (know my way there), San Gimi, then back via Ulignano and Barberino.

The climb up from oir house was tough again, but at least this time I knew what was coming, and I was soon on the long descent into Certaldo. This time I knew that I had to keep going into the centre to get across both the railway and the river.

From this point I set the Garmin to find San Gimi, but I also followed road signs when Garmin tried to take me up dirt tracks. There are unclassified roads here in Tuscany that would just be tracks at home, but the Garmin seems to think they're ideal for cycling on - I'm sure they are if you're on 32mm tyres and a touring chainset, but on 53-39 and 23mm tyres they're a no-no.



In the end the main road was fab - perfect road surface, about five miles of steady climbing and stupendous views. Near the top I was passed by three lads with San Gimignano tops on, so I hitched a ride to the roundabout just below the village. I didn't see a convenient caff, so I turned for home straight away after a couple of pictures.




The descent down to Ulignano was stunning, and necessitated several photo stops looking back up to San Gimi.





Back down in the valley they're building a new trunk road from Empoli down to Siena, so the road looks nothing like the map, with new roundabouts and bridges, but eventually I was on the right road. A stiff climb (particularly on 39-26) up to the little village of Vito, then an undulating ride to Barnerino and I was back on home territory.

A final bump down the track to home saw 32 miles on the clock and about 3,100' of climbing - but apart from the track up from home and the graunch into Vito it was nearly all in a continental style, so generally easy angled and great road surfaces. Cracking holiday cycling.

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Tuscany ride number 1

Arrived in Tuscany after the smoothest journey imaginable on Tuesday. The place we're staying is fab - quiet, scenic and lots of room. And wifi! With three ipod touches, two keen facebookers and me in the family it's becoming the next "must have", along with dishwasher, pool, and convenient bike hire.

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...

Pre-holiday week - but at least there's some running!

Bike to work: fail
Bike with the club: fail
Four runs during the week: fail

Never mind - this last week was the last one before holidays, so there was lots to do at work.  Managed a 4 miler up to Halton East, with the legs at least feeling human, then a nearly-6 miler up in Gossie midweek.  Then I did nothing til saturday when young Lils decided she wanted to resurrect her Parkrun career, so despite an afternoon in the Scarboro Taps on Friday we were off to Bradford at 8:15 Saturday.

Lily worked dead hard, and was rewarded with a new PB of 26:00, so I reckon before long she'll be averaging 8 min miles if she puts some training in.

Off to Tuscany tomorrow morning, with a bike organised and four 30-40 mile routes in the Garmin.  If I can manage those plus a couple of runs that'll be probably the most exercise I've done in weeks!

Ciao!

Running! Hurrah!

Well I took the fact that bits of scabby skin had started to fall off my toe as a good sign, so on Thursday I took it out for a little run.  Just four miles along the canal from work, with the HR nice and low but the legs feeling they were being worked pretty hard.

The next day I had intended to get out at lunch, but made my excuses but just as I was about to get in the car and go home for a beer after "one of those days" I saw my bag and gave myself a bit of a talking to and did another four miler.  And my legs again found it hard work.  More needed, I think.

No biking this week, until Lily requested my company on a trip up to the ice-cream place at Halton East, so I pooled up there with her and glowed with pride as she dug in and rode up the hill without getting off for the first time.  Nice one, Lils.

Then today I had volunteered to lead the "B1" ride at Ilkley CC, so I was committed to turning up.  Herb persuaded me to ride from home, and Vic tagged along for the ride too.  A gentle 9 1/2 mile warm up to the old bridge, then we were off with a group of eight, all of whom looked distinctly lithe and fit, and as there was no "A" ride today I was worried that perhaps I'd be lading from the back.

And so it proved - I'd selected a very lumpy route, going up from Askwith, over to West End, then up to Greenhow before dropping into Pateley and climbing up again to Dacre, Menwith Hill and final over Norwood back to Otley.

I was near or at the back on every climb, a stark reminder of just how much I've let myself go this year.  When we get back from hols it's diet, running and exercise needed.

By the time Herb and I got back to Embsay we had 60 miles on the clock, a shedload of ascent and tired legs.  On putting it into Rubitrack, this is my second highest bike mileage month ever with 370, so another couple of those should see my belly reducing and my legs getting stronger.

More running this week, methinks, and another weekend of bike miles before Tuscany and a full size chain set awaits...

PS Oh, and Bob - if you want a gnarly local climb get your arse up Ellers Rd out of Sutton - gnarliest of the gnarly.

Still no running...

Another week of no running last week - had the stitches out of my poorly foot, which improved things somewhat, but then me and Herb's rainy lumpfest last Sunday left me with soggy bits of dead skin everywhere and a still-sore toe.

So - bike it was again.  This week's fun was an after-work ride with Adam, Sue and Rich - on his new Cube carbon steed.  Down the old roads to Crosshills, up the Lothersdale road (where Adam tried to give us a bit of pain and failed), then down to Cononley, up over to Silsden and a climb up Holden Lane, where Sue gave us lots of pain without really trying.

Then Saturday we were off to York for Angry's 40th celebrations, so I decided to cycle.  I chose quiet, but mainly flat roads, and had a lovely pootle through Ilkley, Otley, Wetherby and all sorts of little villages.  50 miles done with very little effort in well under 3 hours, so respectable pace and a good work out before drinking beer and winning (well, Karen winning) some money.

The foot does seem to be about fixed now, so i think some running will have to be done - probably a month off now, so it'll be like starting from scratch again.

lumps 'n' bumps

After failing to get my second bike to work in on Friday, the stage was set for a decent Saturday ride. Despite horrid forecast Herb and I decided that something must be done, so we set off in dismal looking, but dry, conditions over Halton Heights.

We'd decided to do a longer version of last Sunday's ride, so it was up to App'trick then the climb up to the Greenhow road. It seems ages since we've been out in the proper wet, and my new brake shoes on the back were less than confidence inspiring, so I descended gingerly into Pateley, but not so gingerly I could actually turn off at the right place.

The climb up towards Dacre is new to us, but the number of chevrons on the road suggested it was going to be hard work. In the end it was steep bits interspersed with easier sections, but by this time we were pretty cold and wet so it became pretty tough as we climbed past Darley towards Menwith Hill.

We crossed the A59, and then turned left, away from home, which felt illogical with the weather so crap. We skirted Harrogate, then dropped down past Almscliff and turned for home at last. The return journey was easier than the first half, but a climb over Langbar the "easy" way kept us interested.

A last pull up through Halton East saw us home wet, cold and a bit knackered, with 55 hilly miles on the clock and 4 hours of non-stop cycling under our belts. Sure it'll do us good later in the summer, but it certainly felt like hard work at times.

Shorter but lumpier

Look at the lumps on that...

Bonus bike ride with l'Herb today - K is in London seeing The Take Thats, so I am on child duty for the weekend.  M, with her astounding social life, disappeared to Harrogate yesterday with one of her mates then stayed over for a sleepover, so it was just me and the Lilster.  We watched Gulliver's Travels (quite funny) and drank pop, and in the middle of it a delightful offer from Mrs l'Herb to have both our kids this morning.  A quick text to Maisie and we were sorted.

Herb arrived about 10, and he'd had an idea about doing something vaguely Pateley.  I wasn't sure if we'd manage that in the alloted two hours, but we headed over Halton Heights and Barden toward App'trick.  We turned right instead of our usual left and rode up the lane towards the Pateley Bridge road - which I've been driving along quite a lot recently as the A59's been shut for repairs.  I was expecting quite a tussle, but it was pretty reasonable, albeit very pretty.

Herb above Appletreewick

We were debating whether it was feasible to get to Pateley, but even though we hit the main road with only about ten miles on the clock, we'd taken about 50 mins to get there.  We decided to turn right at Greenhow, then see where our noses took us.

The road to Greenhow had a couple of cheeky little climbs on it, and we were glad to turn right towards Blubberhouses.  We decided that we didn't have time to get all thew way over to Askwith, although that'd be a good longer ride for sometime, so we tirned right again towards West End.

This had a tough little ascent on it too, and this took us to the right turn that avoids the gnarly bit of the Kex Gill road.

The climb going towards West End

Just before you hit the A59 there's a nice stretch of paved bridleway that desposits you at the top of the descent - but unfortunately the contractors have used the last 400m of it as a dumping ground for waste tarmac:

Waste tarmac - can they do that?

We debated flogging through the long grass to the side, but in the end turned round and rode an extra half mile of horrid A59.  I'm no expert on rights of way, but I'd have thought dumping hundreds of tons of crap on a bridleway has to be against the rules.  I feel a letter coming on...

Anyway, a whizz down the A59, a quick brew in Bolton Abbey and we were soon home, having burned significantly more than our two hour passout but having put nearly 30 miles and 1,000 metres of climbing into our legs.