This time it was a mountain bike ride. 18 miles with 50% going up hill!! Blimey it was hard. Ok you could argue ‘what about the downhill’ but believe me this was not pleasant as it was on gravel, stoney roads and I was slipping and sliding down most of it. Taking my past into account (having accidents and breaking limbs) this was nerve raking and in a word frightening. However, I conquered and triumphed and got back in one piece, exhausted but jubilant. I love Strava so below is my route and statistics.
No energy to cook and out we go the Radicondoli, with the dogs in tow and to a restaurant called Agriteca. We often sit in the Piazza on one of their tables drinking Aperol Spritz, a traditional Italian drink made with Aperol mixed with Prosecco and soda water. To eat, I had Gnocchi with wild meat sausage and Graham had Tagliatelle with homemade basil Pesto, the most wonderful food, drinks and company.
It is worth me mentioning Graham, being a much better cyclist than I am, is doing some independent rides. In other words, not being held back by a girl! A typical ride he is doing is 28 miles, 2600 ft of elevation in just over 2 hrs, burning 1300 calories. I hate to gloat, well I love it actually, Graham has just received a Local Legend Strava Award for the most segment effort in the last 90 days for the Montecastelli hill.
Our next planned road bike ride is to village called Chiusdino, an out and back ride, of 26 miles in total. Elevation gain will be 2800 ft …. what the !!!! Well good luck to me for this ride.
What a ride I powered through and was so determined to climb and descend well and being big headed I did well. I even obtained a Strava legend award for the Vittorio Emanuele li climb (1.64km 107m evaluation) – check me out 🙂
When riding you need to be focused and have no negative thoughts. Be determined and committed and you will get through the session. Concentrate on your breathing, it is the most important element of your ability. On difficult sections I count to 10 and concentrate on my style from the ankle to the hip making sure I have the full cycle revolution equally on both legs.
Travel adventures 