Day 3 was better...

We woke this morning to a better forecast. Both Il Meteo and AccuWeather haf it pretty clear after 10am even though it was raining. The forecast was correct though: no rain! Actually we were a bit lucky as in several places the road was freshly wet as there were occasional passing showers.

View back towards Firenze

Leaving Firenze on the busy road through Porto Romano was fine. The drivers just sit and wait until it is safe to overtake. The back roads we used to get to Impruneta were good if a little steep in places. At Impruneta we stopped for cafe and cornetti. Easy mostly downhill from there to Strada in Chianti, then another climb before a very nice downhill to Greve.

Ride data

We checked in, had lunch and waited for those unavoidably detained by shopping in Firenze :-) The view out over the piazza was the promise of what was to come, with all the stalls built but not occupied.

At 5pm the Chianti Classico wine festival kicked off with typical Italian pomp including the brass band. Wines from 99 producers, probably 250 wines in total, all from the Chianti Classico region were available for tasting. On addition there were many olive oil producers.

We tasted some lovely wines and had a great time! The arrangement for tasting is that you get a tasting glass and a punchcard of seven tastes for €10. In truth though there is little incentive for the wine makes to punch your card, so if you don't offer it they often don't care. After all they are there to have you taste their product! All of the stalls were from Chianti Classico, some also showing other wines (Super Tuscans, whites, Vin Santo), some also with olive oil and some with grappa.

For dinner we went back to the hotel (not far as you can see) for a pretty nice dinner on the balcony again.

Day one ride photos

Montecarlo

View at Montecarlo

Lucca's walls

View from top of first climb

Viareggio harbour

Dress rehearsal

I travelled by plane to spend Easter with my parents. As well as being about seeing them it was also a dress rehearsal for the Italy trip.

• My touring bike in the Evoc case travelled safely, and even including helmet, shoes and cycling clothing in the bag it was 22Kg.
• The route was plane to Brisbane and then train to the Gold Coast, very similar to the luggage handling I'll have to do via FCO. Coming back there was track work and so we had to change to bus from South Brisbane to Roma Street... no problem.
• The bike case wheels pretty well.
• I rode three days in a row, and the first two days were pretty similar in profile and distance to the first two days from Viareggio to Greve in Chianti. I felt pretty good after each day's ride.
• The camera coped well, especially in terms of battery life. I can easily get two days of moderate use out of a battery, so with two fully charged I'll be in good shape.
• On thing I will have to take to Italy is the charger cable for my Pebble. Not needed for five days but certainly required for two weeks!

All in all a successful trial run. Now I just have to stay in some sort of condition over the winter.

At least I have a few events planned for May and June, the NSW Discovery weekend at Bateman's Bay and Melburn Roobaix and another trip to the Gold Coast in August.

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!

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!