After the event

Now, back home after the fun, the travel, the excitement, time to pen one more blog entry.

First of all, to cover off on the days that followed...

We came back to Firenze a little tired but happy. Keith and Julie left fairly early on Friday morning, so it was a relatively early night on Thursday. Marie and I had a nice slow day in Firenze, doing a little shopping, experiencing the "famous" Friday hailstorm and a very nice seafood dinner at Pescheria San Pietro, just across the road from S.M.N. One of the best meals of the trip.

On Saturday we caught the train to Termini then the airport. This was A LOT BETTER than the combination that we had used on the way north via Tiburtina. We didn't have adjacent seats on our tickets for the segment from Firenze to Roma but in fact there were empty seats so we could sit together. Yes at Termini we had to put up with some unwanted attention from teenagers trying to "help" us, but not having to be eternally vigilant about luggage at every stop on the regional train made it a lot easier.

At the airport I had some hassles with carrying CO2 cylinders for my tyre inflater, but once that was sorted all went well. Arriving at Dubai I was whisked through to the hotel and had a good night's sleep before an uneventful leg (exit row upstairs on the A380) from Dubai to Sydney. Arrived home tired but OK.

Next to the credits...

First of all to my good friends Keith, Julie and Marie. The trip would have been much the poorer without each of you. Keith was an enthusiastic and constant cycling companion, never complaining, happy to go or to slow or to stop. Julie helped to organise, to make everything appear sorted, to bring a positive and supporting attitude when it was needed. Marie said "oh wow" a lot and had the energy to push on and experience (and to drink grappa), helping us to see Toscana through fresh eyes. Everyone was full of good humour and we joked and teased our way across Italy.

Second to the supporting cast:

• Giovanni, for taking us under his wing on the first two days, for his incredible generosity in helping us to experience "his" Toscana, showing us Lucca, turning a wet day from a negative into a positive: an unforgettable experience. We will never forget you. Thank you.
• Davide Biordi of Hotel Magda (and our taxi driver in Emilia Romagna) for going out of his way to make our logistics work well, including enlisting family help to make sure our beach trip turned out exactly as we wanted.
• The staff (and extended family) at Casa dei Grilli in Longiano for doing that extra bit to make our visit comfortable, enjoyable and memorable. I won't forget being served la cucina d'Emilia in the garden overlooking that extraordinary view.

Third to the extraordinary events, scenery, wine, food and culture of Toscana, Emilia-Romagna and indeed Italia:

• The Chianti Classico wine festival
• The Palio in Sansepolcro. I love the intensity of passion that Italians can bring to this sort of event and the late night celebratory parade. The drums and trumpets still echo!
• Italian drivers, the best in the world and the great roads that we used. Even just thinking about how as we left Firenze, the traffic on Via Senese was happy to just sit behind us would be impossible to imagine in Australia.
• Hills, olive goves, vineyards, towns and castles on hilltops, a postcard around every corner.
• Tartufi bianco e nero! Both in one day!
• Countless lovely wines, with perhaps the best being the Chianti Classico wines we drank at San Lorenzo markets.
• Climbing for 16km without feeling shattered.

Last to the technology and information that allows us (or at least me) to plan and execute such a fabulous trip from the comfort of my home PC, and the technologies that bring our fabulous bikes through such a trip with zero problems!

Day two a washout

Well the thunderstorms and rain did not let up. Given the route it would have been dangerous. Giovanni very generously turned up with his car and drove us all with bikes back to Florence, along the planned riding route so at least we got to see it,  through the rain and fog. The trip convinced me that it had been the right decision to not ride, with water over the road in some places, heavy rain, cloud and mist: in truth I expect that we would have abandoned even if we had set out.

So thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Giovanni we arrived safely back in Florence looking forward to tomorrow's ride. We took Giovanni to lunch as a small thank you, fairly close to the hotel.

Montecarlo

We had a very satisfying first day of riding. The train worked out well and we were meet at Viareggio Station by Giovanni. After a short tour of the waterfront we headed off for the first of three climbs of the day. It was hot rather than steep but we made it to the top to be rewarded by great views over the coast. The road up had the painted signs from the tiffosi... "Contador" etc. But they were probably a little quicker than I was.

Port at Viareggio

View of Viareggio from the top of the climb

Then it was mostly downhill with one smaller climb. Mostly lovely rural roads. Giovanni's local knowledge really helped. We met up with Julie and Marie for lunch on Lucca.

Ride data to Lucca

Giovanni took us to his late mother's vacant house to wash up then we had lunch: not really inspiring but good fuel, and then after riding one circuit on Lucca's walls it was of to Montecarlo. Once again the final climb was hot but OK. After a refreshing malty beverage or two we walked the small town taking in the great views as the colours changed from golden to blue.

Ride data to Montecarlo

We dined at the Osteria which was very good.

Day one ride photos

Montecarlo

View at Montecarlo

Lucca's walls

View from top of first climb

Viareggio harbour

Rimini to Firenze

If the bicycles are not in bags then they (and the cyclists) must travel on i treni Regionali.
The way to do this is to change in Faenza.

Here are some potential solutions:

13:00 Rimini Regionale 11536 13:37 Faenza
14:20 Faenza Regionale 23570 16:11 Firenze SMN.

14:44 Rimini Regionale Veloce 6564 15:35 Faenza
16:16 Faenza Regionale 21480  18:11 Firenze SMN

By contrast if the bikes are in bags then the Freccia trains run about every half hour and take about two hours for the journey. For example,

14:19 Rimini Frecciabianca 9818 15:15 Bologna Centrale
15:35 Bologna Centrale Frecciarossa 9569 16:10 Firenze SMN.

Bagging the bike at Rimini and unbagging at Firenze adds about 30 minutes (assuming only dropping one wheel and seat post out).

I'm routed!

I had made the decision to move the "master" copy of the routes from Garmin Basecamp to GPSies.com because of the better routing capabilities. The issue with Basecamp is that a route can only have a single mode of travel (such as car or bike) and the routing algorithm makes it impossible to (for example) hop from a road to the parallel cycle path, or go the wrong way down a one-way street which although it would be hazardous in many situations is perfectly normal inside the "old town" area of many cities such as Arezzo and Florence.

Having decided that I was happy with the GPSies routing, the next question was how well it would transfer into sensible turn by turn navigation on the Garmin GPS, so today I tested it out. I went to GPSies and laid down a route that used streets, footpath, cycle lanes, shared path etc., moved the GPX route to the Garmin and it worked perfectly!

I have also this weekend completed the task of updating the wiki to refer to all the new (routed) maps that are in GPSies. They can be downloaded from the wiki but just in case I will retrieve all of them and store them in Google Drive as well. I've included waypoints for a couple of places where lunch looks likely along the cycle routes. Some days I expect us to have lunch at our destination, it depends on the distance, the amount of climb and the dawdle-to-take-photos factor.

Small optimisations

I've spent a little time this weekend optimising the last two days of riding. In particular I managed to take some back-tracking out of the route through Monte Leone. This has also reduced the distance and the amount of climbing by a small amount.

For the last day I have changed the route to connect up with the cycleway that runs from Novafeltria down to Rimini because it gives us a much easier run into town following the river. This has in fact made the route slightly longer but it should take about the same time.

I've also cross-posted the wiki to the Facebook pages of each of the hotels just in case they are interested and to remind them that we are coming!

On-bike luggage

First there is the stuff I need every day which is mounted on the bike:

• Bidon
• GPS
• Pump
• Tail light
• Saddlebag with tube and tools
• Phone in waterproof mount

or will be in the handlebar bag:

• Map case with cue cards
• Camera
• Wallet
• Bike lock
• Sunscreen
• GoPuck and cable

Depending on the forecast:

• Arm warmers
• Jacket
• Cap
• Sandals

Blare of trumpets!

I have sent the email invitations to participate to the first group of people. 

Luggage transfers?

Just in case... I have sent out feelers to several companies that might be in the business of offering luggage transportation services. I have had a couple of "no sorry" replies, and only one positive one, who want to charge €2400 for the eight transfers, approximately twice what I'd see as reasonable. Not that I think that we need this service anyway, but when the group is finally confirmed it would be good to be able to offer the choice. I have also asked Andrea of Vinarium (who we used on our last trip to Tuscany) for pricing and he has quoted €1750.

Also, thinking that the Emilia Romagna transfers might be costly coming from Firenze, I have asked Davide who has the taxi service in Novafeltria. His prices like quite reasonable, so given that some of the other sectors are quite short (via the main road), I am encouraged to think that the entire trip's transfers could be organised for significantly less than €100 per day, using only three taxi services (Firenze, Arezzo and Novafeltria). This is what I have found:

As yet unidentified:

• From Firenze to Montecarlo
• From Montecarlo to Firenze

For this two it is only one night away, we should be able to carry one night's requirements without panniers. I'd use handlebar bag + under seat and that should cover it. The other possibility is to get the train from Firenze to Montecarlo, drop off the luggage there (the station is still 2Km from our hotel), then ride the 5Km down to Altopascio and catch the train onwards from there. This still leaves the issue of how to get it back to Firenze on the 10th. I have asked the hotel in Montecarlo for some advice...

• From Firenze to Greve in Chianti (this one should be easy by taxi)

From Arezzo taxi:

• From Greve in Chianti to Arezzo €132
• From Arezzo to Anghiari €50

From Novafeltria taxi:

• From Anghiari to Novafeltria cost €90
• From Novafeltria to Longiano cost €50
• From Longiano to Rimini cost €50

Still more rework of Day 2

Instead of dropping down south of the Arno at San Miniato as originally planned, I've settled on a more northerly route that doesn't hit the Arno until Signa or perhaps even closer to Firenze. This route is somewhat shorter and has less traffic, and passes through some beautiful countryside. Down along the Arno it is somewhat more industrial, probably because of proximity to railway lines and plentiful water and the traffic density is correspondingly higher. I had originally been keen to use as much of the Via Francigena as was practical, but given that for this area it is entirely notional, with no dedicated path, there isn't much point.

The terrain is mostly gently rolling hills with lots of grapes. Along the way we pass the Padule di Fucecchio, which is the largest remaining swampland in Italy. We'll get a good view of the area from the road as we pass through the village of Massarella. There are some pretty towns as well, Cerreto Guidi, and Vinci (as in Leonardo da-) where there is the inevitable museum and bars with evocative names. After Vinci the road through Vitolini and Camignano climbs over the Tuscan hills and back to the Arno at Signa or even later. It is around 400m of climb, but that is only 200m more than going the other way.

The wiki has been updated.

Personal decision - I'll take my bike

G. has provided me with feedback on the route for the second day and I will heed his advice.  From San Miniato to Empoli I'll choose a slightly longer but considerably quieter route. It is all pretty flat on the Arno plain. I only noticed yesterday that just before we get to Empoli the route crosses the Elsa river. Last time we rode in Toscana we crossed the river in Colle Di Val D'Elsa. Another arm flows through Poggibonsi.

So I've been thinking... rent or carry? I've decided on carry. Given that it would cost around E400 to rent something decent it makes more sense to take my touring bike which  I know is perfectly set up for the task. The only downside is the cheap Torpedo 7 bike bag which provides OK protection but which sucks for wheeling the bike in bag from airport to train or train to hotel. So for less money than hiring a bike I can buy one of the Evoc bags from Wiggle which will be much easier to handle. Based on the design of the Evoc I may make some modifications to the Torpedo 7 bag to make it more rigid and easier to wheel. So I'll pack the Evoc to close to 30Kg and take only a backpack and handlebar bag as other luggage. Of course I've still got plenty of time to change my mind again before then.

Update

My Evoc bag has arrived and looks very good. Now I'll have to test it on a domestic trip somewhere!

Local help

I have luckily made contact with another cyclist who lives not far from Lucca who has explored much of the territory that we will be riding on days one and two. We met via an Italian cycling forum http://www.piste-ciclabili.com. His English and my Italian seem about on a par so Google Translate is helping our email conversation :-)

G. has suggested a couple of improvements to the first day's route, but all in all he has given me confidence that the overall route is suitable. We are even talking about him joining us on part of the ride if timing suits next year. He points out the obvious: that Lucca is worth more than a lunchtime stop, but that's the way it is unless we add more days to the trip.

I should also report that the somewhat vigorous discussion that I reported in the previous posting (with a gentleman from a bike hire place) has been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. We have sorted out various small misunderstandings and I know now that very suitable bikes are available for hire from his company! The price is a little more than I wanted to pay but nevertheless it remains an option.

More lessons in listening to the customer

So I've been trying to have an email conversation with another potential provider of hire bikes. An initial email ignored, a followup ignored, another followup... then this conversation:

I still have not had a reply to my email below. I sent a followup via Google+ but still nothing. Are you still in this business?

We are in business but honestly is too early talk about September 2014.
I suggest to contact me again in december or when you have detailed list of cyclists and rental dates (from/to).

The dates are pick up on 8th September, return on 19th September, both Firenze. There are three adult male riders.

Do you kjow their height please ?

Sorry, does that affect the price? Or whether you have drop bar touring bikes with racks?
I don't want to make a booking, just to understand what sorts of bikes you have at what rough charges.

Yes, because every model have different features.
I sugget to contact me again in december when we use to make rates for new season.

Mi dispiace I didn't mean to cause you any problems, I'll find a company that is better set up to answer le mie domande. Forse Florence By Bike? You obviously have your way of doing business that is not set up to handle customers like me.

No Patrick. The problem is that we don't have rates for the 2014.
For me in this moment is impossibile give you an answer, is our corporate policy. I'm sorry. Feel free to ride with florece by bike. (Corporate policy, this from the CEO).

Well that's probably about enough for this conversation, but for the future, for other customers, maybe an answer like... "Well we don't set our rates for next year until around December, but to give you some idea, the rates for this year are...xxx. We don't specifically have touring bikes like you seem interested in, but perhaps we will for next year. If you contact us again in December I will know for sure. I'd love to be able to offer you exactly what you need."...would be worth thinking about?
I know, most potential customers would have just walked away but I find it difficult. For my job I am a coach of businesses about delivery of good customer service, it is 8pm on a Friday and still I am working. For you. For free :-)

I wilk make discount for this.
This afternoon italian time i will send you categories and 2013 rates, 

So do you think I should persist? I'm thinking no. 

To carry or to hire?

One significant unanswered question is what bike to ride. If I take a bike should it be my road bike or my touring bike? The same question applies to hire bikes although I have yet to see a "light touring" bike like mine for rent.

The road bike's advantages are that it is lighter, has better brakes and a smaller "Q" factor. The Touring bike is more robust (cro-mo instead of carbon), takes a rack and hence panniers and has wider gearing. On the balance I think the touring bike is more likely. I can mix and match wheels and tyres as I see fit, with the 28mm Continental 4 Seasons a likely choice. They survived Melburn-Roobaix just fine. I'm willing to risk the road bike so long as I can carry enough stuff. Maybe I'll do a trial pack into the largest Ortlieb underseat bag and the largest handlebar bag to see whether that feels like three days' worth.

Hire or carry?

The other consideration, probably more important is to leave my bikes at home and hire in Firenze, but that depends on whether I can get exactly what I want from a hire company. In general they do not seem to be very flexible but I guess I have a year to negotiate :-) Because it makes the logistics so much easier this would be my preference, but I'm not riding 400km on a bike I don't trust and enjoy.

Almost every day I am exchanging emails with Lia at http://www.florencebybike.it/index.php?lang=en and we are slowly coming to an understanding.

Our heavy touring bikes are what you need.
You can't fit Ortlieb handlebar bags to our road bikes.
Our road bikes only come with 23mm tyres.

We'll get there maybe!

One thing led to another

There was no overseas trip planned for 2014 and now there is. How did this happen?

It all started, as these things often do, with me looking at a map of Italy. I was noticing the way the Apennines curve as they switch from near the west coast at the Gulf of Genoa to almost on the east coast as they wrap around Tuscany. I was reminded of the couple of times that we have driven over the mountains, once from Firenze to Ravenna and the other from Montepulciano to Ancona. So I got to thinking about riding in the mountains and wondering how hard it would be to traverse the range.

So here is the "method" that gets me from basic idea to a finished plan.

1. Integrate the planning of arrival and departure... there is the matter of logistics, getting bikes and luggage to the starting point and all together again at the end. This resulted in the Bologna-Bologna concept which then dictated the overall shape of the route.
2. Using the OSM cycle map in Garmin Basecamp, explore routes, keeping an eye on distance and altitude gain. Use Google to find out about the towns and regions. In this instance, looking at Anghiari alerted me to the "orange flag" towns which I used for later stages of planning.
3. Open prospective routes in Google Earth to do a more detailed check on elevation changes and to "fly" the route in some areas. This resulted in some changes to the route to make the climbing more manageable.
4. Once the set of routes and hence days of riding is known it is time to start capturing all this information, so off to PBWorks to create yet another Wiki as the knowledge repository with the front page and one page for each riding day with the general description and route profile.
5. With the basic structure captured, the ride can be publicised, and the last details can be added afterwards.
6. Research the overnight towns using TripAdvisor, or where that fails an "accommodation" search on Google Maps. For likely prospects, use their web site to get more information. For example this caused me to reject one B&B because the owners have dogs and cats. Put the hotel information into the wiki and also into a planning spreadsheet to hold booking status eventually. Add restaurant recommendations where they exist.
7. Check out suitable towns as lunch stops on the mountain sections to ensure that food and water will be available. To find lunch stops the easiest thing is to cruise the town or village in Google street view.
8. Choose dates. The general time of year (September) is driven by weather considerations, but exact timing can take advantage of local events, fairs, festivals etc. In this case the Chianti Wine Festival was too good an opportunity to miss! The rest days and riding days were sequenced to make 3,2,3 chunks of riding.
9. Go back and tidy up the Wiki, add maps and photos. Drop the weather widget on the page for each day.
10. Research flight schedules to make sure that getting from Canberra to Bologna and back fits with the dates chosen with little dead time. To take a touring bike means that 20Kg luggage may not be sufficient, so Emirates/QANTAS or Etihad/Virgin with their 30Kg limits are the go! Capture all this in a spreadsheet too.
11. Initiate contact with those overnight hotels that might be problematic (where there may be little or no choice or demand may be high). Bookings will wait until after flights are booked.
12. Create this blog with the same name as the Wiki, just to be tidy.
13. Wait for September so that flights can be priced and booked.
14. Then it is just a year of waiting, dreaming and hopefully some training :-)