Before I update, I am struggling in finding the best way to show the photos on this website template…I apologize, but some are cut off where I would prefer they weren’t!
Firenze (Florence) was a really lovely evening. Having done the usual sites and the Piazza di Michelangelo, we only made it back to the bottom of the hill to a lovely little wine bar for replenishment. Early replenishment became late replenishment and we ended up having dinner there, sharing a 1.5kg T-bone steak. The wine of choice last night was a Toscana (as we are in Tuscany)…a 2018 Macchiole Bolgheri Rosso, excellent once again and, as a wine professional once described, “it drank well into the bottle(s)!”.
Today’s ride was the prettiest and hilliest I have ever done! We started out of the gate with a 19% slope, then a 16% slope and then an 8.5 mile climb for a 1,800 feet elevation change (560m). As you will see later, the total ascent was 7,510 feet (2,275m)….that is definitely a first for me! And all of it at 86F (30C).
The countryside between Florence and Siena was so classically Tuscany, it could have come out of a travel brochure! We rode through the Chianti region and discovered the Black Rooster or Gallo Nero area which is specifically Chianti Classico. The Black Rooster can only be applied to wines in this sub-region. The legend goes that the Sienese and Florentines duelled for the Chianti region by riding as fast as they could from Siena and Florence, respectively, using the first crow of their roosters (black for the Florentines and white for the Sienese) as the starting gun. Where they met would be the line of separation/ownership. The Florentines cheated by causing their black rooster to crow early getting a massive head-start! The Sienese only made it 12km out of Siena!
Siena was the lunch stop and then on to San Giovanni d’Asso for the evening, where we will head to Montalcino for dinner and Brunello and Brunello and Brunello!