Almost done Day 4

I'm sitting on a stone wall above a nice bend in the road above Lucarelli.  I've got one more climb and one decent to Greve in Chianti, where I plan to spend the night.

Francesco in the bar in Lucarelli was a sponsored rider but he had two wrecks in the last two years and he's giving up the sport.   We had a great chat about riding though, and he told me its 2 hours to florence, 1.5 in a pace line.  Since I'm weighed down, its certainly too much for me to reach tonight. So one more night on the trip.  I will finish the last hill and steep descent tonight though, that way even if its raining tomorrow it should be an easy ride to Florence in the morning.

Speaking of climbs, its was 45 min of straight up after lunch.  I found a rhythm and kept at it, but it was a relief when it ended.  Then 20 min of bliss giving up that altitude (and some extra), with gradients not intimidating so I barely needed to touch the breaks.

The scenery has changed, more wooded, its cooler, in fact it seems much more like New England.  Ok, on to greve.