Routes in Tuscany

rc856

Hi folks,

A mate is heading to Tuscany with his bike, staying near to Larniano.
Does anyone know of good routes, particularly hills, in or around that area?

Also, any bike shops or good cafés:)

Cheers

ugo.santalucia

The Eroica, obviously. It is a permanently signposted 200 Km circular route that takes you through the Chianti and Crete regions. Half of it is on gravel roads (Strade Bianche)... it is a marvellous route, but it is quite an ambitious day out, maybe best split into two days.

You need 25 mm or bigger tyres

briantrumpet

There's someone on here or Cycle Chat who's built up their own website from their own riding around Italy. If I can dig up a reference to it I'll put the link here.

EDIT: here you are: http://italy-cycling-guide.info/toscana/

rc856

Cheers

andymiller

Thanks very much for that Brian.

RC856 providing you stay away from the Via Cassia (SR2) and SR68 (and even these are OK in places and limited doses) it's fairly hard to go wrong.

I've not used them, but dfbike in Siena looked good.

briantrumpet

andymiller wrote:

Thanks very much for that Brian.

RC856 providing you stay away from the Via Cassia (SR2) and SR68 (and even these are OK in places and limited doses) it's fairly hard to go wrong.

I've not used them, but dfbike in Siena looked good.

Also http://www.biciclettepoli.com/ in Lucca. The owner, a fascinating character and ex-cyxlist (now in his 70s, I'd guess) is the son of someone who rode alongside Coppi in pre-war Tours de France (you'll see the photos in the shop). We ended up in the shop needing a bike for our Paris to Rome trip when one of our team had a major mechanical. Half the shop is filled with bikes 'not for sale' - all the ones the owner used to ride, and which now are hung from the ceiling, or anywhere else he can find space.

I was happy to remember where you'd put the link, Andy, as it's always helpful to find knowledge from someone who knows an area well.