"Florence by Bike" is quite a nice little shop near the heart of the city, with a retail shop on one side of the street where you can buy anything that's bicycle + Italian, and the workshop across the street rents almost anything you'd want to ride - from scooters to city bikes to mountainbikes to full-Campy racing bikes.
Once Massimo set me up on a Bianchi, I was ready to go - maneuvering through the city traffic was like racing a criterium on cobblestones, keeping pace with Vespas and Fiats and SmartCars - the best workout I've had in a long time...
Once out of the city I followed the roadsigns into the Tuscan countryside, and I have to tell ya: If there's anything more fun than getting lost in a foreign country, it's getting lost in a foreign counrty on a bicycle...
Climbing hills up the wrong roads...
Accidentally entering the on-ramp to the Autostrada...
Wandering aimlessly until you end up at the end of the day in Sienna, exhausted and having to take the train back to Florence...
Not unlike "Smilin' Bob Cartwright" back home at Old Town Bicycle, doing an accidental Century out past Horseshoe Lake - just substitute vineyards and olive groves for pine trees, and a train ride home instead of a long solo slog up Bethel-Burley Road...
Plus, my post-workout rountine has an added dimension...
Returning to Florence, I've got an endless array of post-workout carbs to chose from!
Ciao!
SPB
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