Hill Towns and good wine: Tuscany part 3

From our spontaneous agritourismo stay in Buonconvento we awoke to blustery winds and rain. We packed up slowly and ended up waiting long enough for the rain to quit, it was still windy though, and on the first exposed section of roadway on our climb up to Montelcino we both had to lean into the wind and work hard to stay on the edge of the road. Which brings up an interesting point and that is that the roads we have seen so far have had no shoulders or bike lanes, in fact, most of the roads are very narrow, often flanked with old stone walls. For the most part the road surface has been pretty good, and cars (most of which are very small) are courteous. The occasional close pass by large trucks gets our attention for sure, but this is not unique to Italy.

Anyhow, after a 12 kilometer climb we opted to find accommodations to wait out the weather, the forecast was for milder wind and partly sunny skies for the next day. This was a record for us, shortest day of bike touring ever! We explored Montelcino, enjoyed the local wine (Brunello), and relaxed in our hotel. Waiting out the weather turned out to be a good call and we enjoyed warmer, and dryer conditions the next day. We were locked into a reservation in Castel del Piano, only 30km away (our second shortest day of bicycle touring ever), so we took our time and enjoyed the rolling terrain through southern Tuscany.

On our final climb into town a spoke popped on my rear wheel (I know, the power in these legs). I opted to ride gingerly on in hopes of finding a bike shop to fix it (it was a drive side spoke which required removal of the cassette, having not brought the tools for that I needed a shop and it was mid-afternoon on a Saturday). The shop in Castel del Piano wasn't open on Saturdays, but the host at the B & B we were staying at took care of us by driving me and my bike to the next town over. The older Italian mechanic cut, threaded, and replaced two spokes, trued the wheel and adjusted the deraileur hanger in less than 30 minutes; cost 10€. I learned my lesson, my bike had been shifting poorly since reassembling after the flight, I figured it was just an adjustment issue, even though I wasn't comfortable with it, I procrastinated fixing it. I think I got off lucky as it turned out the slightly bent hanger had caused the chain to shift off the top of the cassettes mangling the spokes that needed replacing - it could have been much worse. Anyhow thanks to the kindness of strangers we were all set to ride again.

The next day was a great 60km up and around Monte Penna. Some awesome hills, great roads, beautiful vistas. Spring had not really set in up high (we're talking ~2500 feet elevation), but as we descended the lush greens of spring popped. Evening found us in Pitigliano, an awesome town built atop a volcanic promontory. The main piazza was full of Ferraris, which made it feel that much more Italian. At night the lit up town was awesome.

Our final day of riding in Tuscany had us descending to the coast through large vineyards, groves, and grassy, sheep filled fields. We logged a respectable 90+ km today on the way into Orbetello, and found a campground to stay in. Great to see the sea again. The weather has turned, we are now seeing more sun than clouds, and despite the less than stellar bicycle touring conditions, Tuscany was awesome. Next stop Sardinia...