Fattman
Active Member
- Location
- Roydon, Essex
Hope this is the correct neck of the woods for sharing this sort of thing... Not advice or a guide, just wanted to share a great cycling experience.
Just got back from a very satisfactory couple of weeks with the family and another spent in a villa near Greve in Chianti - about 30 miles south of Florence. That would be all very nice but not relevant to Cycle Chat except that we hired a couple of Wilier CF road bikes in Siena and made fairly good use of them.
The Bikes:
A pair of, I believe, Wilier Mortirolo Mirages (similar to this) with Fulcrum 7 wheels and Campag Mirage. They were pretty lively - in my mate Charlie's much more skilled hands his would descend like a rocket (mine like a soggy pair of pants from a badly pegged washingline), and they were solid at speed. I'm a Shimano guy historically, but I liked the very definite shifting of the Campag even though I kept pressing the wrong bits at the wrong times! Overall the bikes were not super-light, but they were certainly good fast steeds. Got them from DF Bikes in Siena, a very pleasant experience ('Mr DF' has got a *lot* of trophies gathering dust on his shelves!).
The Rides:
Gotta like hills! A typical 30mile (see 'The Deal' below) loop would contain ~1100m climb, in three or 4 hills and no flat whatsoever. Fantastic rides, though; long steady climbs @4-7 percent, then long swooshy descents similar, mixed in with 10-15% on smaller roads with more technical hairpin descents (I am rubbish at these!)(though better than I was!). All the while being distracted by excruciatingly gorgeous views of vineyards, olive groves, terracotta & cream villas and cypress-spotted forests all bathed in golden Tuscan sunlight. Serious wow at every turn! Longest trip was a 60mile loop that took in a fabulous 20km continuous climb from Poggibonsi to Castellini in Chianti. Ridiculously beautiful.
The Deal:
So we're there for a two-week family holiday including lots of recovery time for us poor over-worked chaps - there was me & the Mrs & two small kids, same for Charlie & his. Mrs Fattman is a keen rider who can fit the same frame as me, so we ended up cutting a deal where we would get up early (6am - still a bit dark) and punch in the ride returning before breakfast is fully underway. While this was not totally conducive to the leisurely coffee-shop-punctuated ride I might ideally have hoped for, it meant that the impact on the family was minimised, and it fed the bike-addiction! Because there were two bikes and 3 riders, a 2-days-on-1-day-off rota formed, enabling proper Chianti/Peroni sampling. A major plus was that certainly in the first week it was minging hot; peaking at 36C+ meant that after 10am it was proper roasting and not massive fun.
The Summary:
Since there was no great point to this except to share a happy experience there's not great summary except maybe that it is possible to have a proper relaxing family holiday in the sun while hooning round at speed on fast bikes. Fingers crossed that all holidays can work out so well!
Oh, and one last thing; we did our 60mile ride on a Sunday, took about 3:45 - we must have seen upwards of 200 riders out in their finery, and at no point did we get hassled by drivers.
Happy riding!
Matt
Just got back from a very satisfactory couple of weeks with the family and another spent in a villa near Greve in Chianti - about 30 miles south of Florence. That would be all very nice but not relevant to Cycle Chat except that we hired a couple of Wilier CF road bikes in Siena and made fairly good use of them.
The Bikes:
A pair of, I believe, Wilier Mortirolo Mirages (similar to this) with Fulcrum 7 wheels and Campag Mirage. They were pretty lively - in my mate Charlie's much more skilled hands his would descend like a rocket (mine like a soggy pair of pants from a badly pegged washingline), and they were solid at speed. I'm a Shimano guy historically, but I liked the very definite shifting of the Campag even though I kept pressing the wrong bits at the wrong times! Overall the bikes were not super-light, but they were certainly good fast steeds. Got them from DF Bikes in Siena, a very pleasant experience ('Mr DF' has got a *lot* of trophies gathering dust on his shelves!).
The Rides:
Gotta like hills! A typical 30mile (see 'The Deal' below) loop would contain ~1100m climb, in three or 4 hills and no flat whatsoever. Fantastic rides, though; long steady climbs @4-7 percent, then long swooshy descents similar, mixed in with 10-15% on smaller roads with more technical hairpin descents (I am rubbish at these!)(though better than I was!). All the while being distracted by excruciatingly gorgeous views of vineyards, olive groves, terracotta & cream villas and cypress-spotted forests all bathed in golden Tuscan sunlight. Serious wow at every turn! Longest trip was a 60mile loop that took in a fabulous 20km continuous climb from Poggibonsi to Castellini in Chianti. Ridiculously beautiful.
The Deal:
So we're there for a two-week family holiday including lots of recovery time for us poor over-worked chaps - there was me & the Mrs & two small kids, same for Charlie & his. Mrs Fattman is a keen rider who can fit the same frame as me, so we ended up cutting a deal where we would get up early (6am - still a bit dark) and punch in the ride returning before breakfast is fully underway. While this was not totally conducive to the leisurely coffee-shop-punctuated ride I might ideally have hoped for, it meant that the impact on the family was minimised, and it fed the bike-addiction! Because there were two bikes and 3 riders, a 2-days-on-1-day-off rota formed, enabling proper Chianti/Peroni sampling. A major plus was that certainly in the first week it was minging hot; peaking at 36C+ meant that after 10am it was proper roasting and not massive fun.
The Summary:
Since there was no great point to this except to share a happy experience there's not great summary except maybe that it is possible to have a proper relaxing family holiday in the sun while hooning round at speed on fast bikes. Fingers crossed that all holidays can work out so well!
Oh, and one last thing; we did our 60mile ride on a Sunday, took about 3:45 - we must have seen upwards of 200 riders out in their finery, and at no point did we get hassled by drivers.
Happy riding!
Matt
