Three Guys wandering around Italy from Florence to Rome on Bike Friday folding bikes…
Three sixty-something guys went cycling for eight days through Italy, more or less Florence to Rome. The trip turned out to be much more of an athletic event than expected, with some of the steepest hills I have ever cycled. Also, I had heard that Tuscany was over-touristed. Could we, on bicycles, discover the real Tuscany?
This trip began as a vague idea. Lyman and I had been searching for the next big bike ride in Europe, preferably Italy, Spain, or southern France. Lyman’s friend (now also my friend) Randy Greenberg, a computer professional, taught Lyman some tricks when searching online for airfares. We needed a low price to anywhere.
I live in Chapel Hill NC. The closest airport is Raleigh/Durham. Lyman and Randy live in Austin TX. Using Randy’s suggested apps we found roundtrip on American Airlines RDU airport to Rome airport in early April for only $ 533.00!! A short flight to Charlotte NC, then nonstop to Rome!! Only $633.00 round trip Austin TX to Charlotte to Rome!! Lyman and I could go most of the way on the same airplane!!
These deals were too good to pass up. As it turned out, these prices were only available for a few days. Lyman and I agreed to fly to Rome in early April. A few days later Randy agreed to join us. We hurriedly bought the tickets while the price was still low. We could work later on the details.
The flights going over had issues. There were thunderstorms in Charlotte that delayed me twenty-four hours. Due to that same weather, Lyman and Randy were transferred by American Airlines to British Airways who subsequently lost Lyman’s luggage (i.e. bicycle) for an even longer amount of time. We were two days behind schedule when at 12:45 PM on a Thursday we stepped off the high-speed rail line at Santa Maria Novella station in central Firenze (Florence). It had taken us from central Rome to Florence in under two hours.
In the Florence train station, we put together our folding bicycles, all Bike Friday brand. We would make a good commercial for them.
The “click here” didn’t take me to Tuscany, it took me to three articles about urban rides.
I would have loved to read about the Tuscan ride as I have driven huge sections of the route, since my wife is a Tuscan archaeologist, but have never had an opportunity to ride it.
This summer I managed a few day rides around Lund, Sweden, where I was marooned after my credit cards were compromised. Last summer I got from Lund to the northernmost point of Denmark (Skagen) and part way back. Got COVID in Frederikshavn, and after a week of quarantine set off again into the teeth of nasty weather and COVID aftereffects, so took the train to Germany, ferry to England, and rode a big chunk of England and then the Isle of Man, then back to Harwich and from Hook of Holland to the German border. Last trip before COVID was from Thessalonika to Corfu then up the Adriatic Coast to Rijeka. But at the age of 81 that sort of ride on my New World Tourer is getting strenuous! Next spring I have tentative plans to ride from Lund to Genoa, ferry Genoa (or perhaps Naples) to Sicily, ride Sicily, then ferry to Tunisia, see northern Tunisia then back to Lund somehow, depending on time available.
That link is to the author’s blog, which includes 68 pages of rides (with about three articles per page), including the one in question. You just have to find it. Luckily, I found it for you:
https://citybiketrips.com/2019/05/05/tuscan-hill-towns-april-10-18-2019/