Today, (April 25th) I took what is probably my last ride in Florence, Chianti, and the Toscana. (Final production is coming up, and it makes sense in my financial situation to sell the bike, rather than to ship it home. The bike really is made for this kind of riding in Italy too.) It started off as a beautiful day as I rode south of Firenze, past Galluzzo, toward Impruneta.
Much of this blog is just photos of what I saw on the way, and decided was photoworthy. (Photo stops also meant I could grab a quick swig of acqua too!) But I can assure you, as pretty as these photos seem, it is 100x better actually being there, andflying down the country roads. (Or struggle-bussing up a huge climb.)
Riding in this region is difficult. There are long steep uphill climbs all over the place. But that effort has its reward, as the downhill runs are so fast, windy, and offer a huge rush of adrenaline.
I stopped to take this photo because it was a great sight. Then I turned around, went back 300 yards, so I can fly through these curves, and get my momentum back. There is a constant struggle between wanting to take photos, of the terrain, and actually experiencing it moving.
Arrival at Impruneta!
After that I rode through Strada in Chianti, Chiocchio (Funny because it's name, I think is pronounced similar to a cuckoo clock, which is funny because all the birds in that area made a distinct cuckoo sound. Must be some kind of pun or something.), Greve in Chianti (My previous furthest ride took me here.). These series of photos were taken on my climb from Greve to Panzano in Chianti.
Same building, much higher up. Gotta love them climbs. It was 4 or 5km uphill from Greve to Panzano. (But the eventual ride down was so epic!)
There is Panzano in Chianti op on that hilltop.
Approaching the town I noticed that there was on odd phenomenon of cars parked well outside the center along the country roads. Apparently there was something going on in this town.
Oh side note it is 36km from Firenze to Panzano in Chianti. (About 22 Miles.)
Walking into the town was like a time machine, taking me back to medieval times. There were red and white flags all over the place.
The town church, with the facade finished in raw stone and brick building materials.
Al around the town they had different areas set up, and old time music playing on a city wide megaphone system. I thought to myself. "Please don't hang me!!"
The crowd in town was pretty big. Many out of town visitors I assume, but they were all Italian.
I heard bugles and drums, and saw this parade, with a huge crowd of people following behind.
They all went into this area, and people lined the walls to watch what was going on.
Drums, bugles, flags, and an archery competition! I am in medieval Italy.
They even covered up the road signs to hide any signs that we are in modern times. (Then I showed up on my bike...)
On my way back, as I was climbing up a huge hill between Greve and Chiocchio, and two Italian guys spot me and say something about yankee. I thought they picked me out as American. (Shoot am I that easy to pick out, even on an old Italian road bike? Though my cycling gear is hardly acceptable, no color coordinated kits or tights for me.) I replied "Si", then they were like No, no, and pointed behind me.
All of a sudden I was in another time loop, this time to 1944, where a mile long American military convoy was making its way to re-take the city of Florence from the axis powers.
It took about five minutes for all of them to pass. So may WWII era American military vehicles, all occupied by people dressed in WWII era American military uniforms. My favorite was this one guy dressed as a general, who was carrying an old pistol and pointing it towards us as they went buy. It made me laugh out loud. I have no idea what this huge convoy was all about. One of the strangest things I had ever seen, and in the Chianti region, one of the most famous wine countries in the world. Quite an oddity.
Once they all passed, I turned the other way, and realized I was gonna get wet...
I made it past Strada in Chianti, but on my way back to Galluzzo, about 20km outside of Firenze, I was caught in the middle of the rain storm. I stopped and chilled against this building for quite awhile, before the weather passed.
yay rain. !
It got worse though. There was a heavy hail storm for about five minutes. Then there was some pretty intense lightning and thunder. (Mostly flashes, no zigzaggitywopwop.) The thunder was so loud and close to where I was that I almost had a slight fear of being outside in it.
After awhile, the main storm passed and only a steady rain was left. I stayed put, but other cyclists caught in the rain began to pass where I was holding out. A couple individuals and a couple pairs passed as I waited. I was sure to give them a smile and a wave as they went along. They deserve it for being awesome and riding in bad weather.
Eventually the rain slowed down enough to where I was ready to move on. (or I was just tired of waiting.) I still got pretty soaked, but it felt good to be out in the rain.
But after a kilometer or two, I hit really bad standstill traffic. I decided to shuffle past them to see what the holdup was. Eventually I saw an ambulance blocking both lanes of traffic. I stayed about 30 yards back, and climbed on the guard rail to get a better view. There was a person being put on to a stretcher and taken into the ambulance, and another person in cycling gear followed them inside the vehicle. I noticed two bikes on the side of the road. As the waiting cars were then allowed to pass the ambulance, I stayed on my perch, and prayed for them.
Since I am posting this blog on the same day as the ride took place, I encourage all to say a prayer of healing for this cyclist who was probably hit by a car. The more prayer the better.
One part that makes this situation additionally sad for me is that, the person and their friend were probably one of the people who I smiled and waved to as they passed me earlier. What probably happened was that a driver had poor visibility due to the heavy rain, and additionally, the incident happened on a relatively tight curve in the road.
Afterwards, I rode with a pretty quick pace back to Florence. My route was different coming back than it was going out, and it followed a valley, slightly downhill most of the way. I finished with a distance of 79km (49mi) over 4hours moving time, about 6.5 hours total, including stops. Quite an eventful last ride.
