Best plans Part 2

 The best plans continue not working-out as planned..

We tried, we really did! We'd finally got down to Tuscany to ride the entire Eroica 200+ kilometer signposted route, helped by Anima Toscana. Here's the itinerary.

We'd booked this for 2025 but Zio Lorenzo's heart issues postponed it until this year. Despite the weather forecast, we were going! No luggage to haul, the Anima Toscana folks would haul that to each night's lodging for us. What luxury, right? The first stage was from Siena to Montalcino and we departed under cloudy skies.

Our luggage needed to be ready by 9 AM each morning, making Zio Lorenzo get used to having breakfast in his cycling gear even if we weren't leaving for a few hours. But off we went on day 1 of 5, though Zio had his e-bike charged only to 77%, figuring that would be more than enough for the day's ride. It never rained on us much but skies were cloudy and climbs were steep. We were happy it wasn't hot, though Zio and his bike's energy were still gone with a few meters still to go on the final climb. The 77% battery charge level + what he'd eaten for breakfast just wasn't enough.

But just like the real heroes, there was no reason he couldn't get off and push, right? Luckily the top of the climb wasn't far off and it was downhill the rest of the way into Montalcino where we quickly found a place to enjoy some real Tuscan pici to replace all the energy burned. The bikes were plugged in once we arrived at the hotel - no pici for them but they were charged to the max!

You don't realize how high Montalcino is until you look down from the hotel bathroom window OR ride up there the way we did. Zio thinks it's the same route used in the Giro back in 2010? But they had MUD! We're not fans of riding in those conditions but if you're already out there, what can you do? But we'd not go out into weather like that unless there was no other choice.

With Anima Toscana we had a choice, but the weather got better, though the forecast for later in the week still wasn't good.

Montalcino, on our way to Pienza

This might be the most famous region of Tuscany for cyclists? The ride to Pienza was fantastic, we beat the rain to our hotel despite a long lunch at La Buca delle Fate. The following day we rode to Asciano, taking a shorter route since both of us had stomach issues that morning, almost deciding to call for a ride. Perhaps we overdid things at lunch?

We both felt better once we got going and were happy we didn't bail out.

Lunch in Asciano had us again with one eye on the sky, hoping we could get to our lodging before the skies opened up. We made it, but the weather forecast just got worse.

Sadly, we called for a bail-out, skipping the final two stages...probably the best ones, but we just didn't want to go out into driving rain and Anima Toscana really wanted to know the night before rather than in the morning if we needed help.

So they kindly picked us up along with bikes and luggage and hauled us (not too far but farther than we'd want to ride in the rain for sure!) back to Siena where we loaded up the rental car and headed back to Piedmont. We'll come back and ride the final two stages sooner rather than later. 

Mille Grazie to everyone at Anima Toscana!!

Next up - the rest of the adventure.