I decided with Erik to ride Tuscany Trail in 2018. Β He rode last year through some parts of this area when he was riding home from Rom.I haven’t yet been there, so time for some easy spinning. Our plan was to spend six days for 530k’s, 9000 meters altitude and have delicious food for lunch and diner πŸ™‚ Enjoying the whole ride.

This time i seperate the story in the essencials: Eat, Sleep, Ride, People, Brain

Eat (Drink):

We drove directly to the finish line with the car and stayed one night a lovely country inn, there we had an awesome breakfast with many selfmade cakes, fruits of the garden. For diner we took the bikes and went uphill to Capalbio and found the restaurant La Porta with local food, many boar. Mhh… At the startline we met Andrew of Karlsruhe and Eike of Zurich and we went for having a pizza in small pizzeria. During the days we wanted to have lunch and fine diner, with diner it worked out but for a good lunch we forgot about the first two days. Or there was nothing… The most memorable story is: After we met Iris and Mathis and we decided to ride together and passed a river and planned to stay there for the night. Now, what about diner? Mathis and me went 3k’s back because there where some houses. We hoped to find a delivery service for food to bring it there. We asked at one house, the woman was looking very confused about our question. Mhh, maybe on the country side they don’t have something like that… The house was a vinery, so we tasted and bought wine πŸ™‚ have part of diner ready. The woman told us that in the next village is a pizzeria, Google told us that it’s closed… But we saw another restaurant and went on the road. It was longer and steeper than expected. We met a couple and asked them where to go. Both restaurants where closed. But she called the pizzeria and told them our circumstances… And they opened just for us. We got two big bowls of finest pasta and some Fanta and beer. When we arrived at the river where Iris and Erik spotted the sleeping spot we could tell our story and have the best diner πŸ™‚

Sleep:

We had three night on campsites and two in the wild. On the campsites we met a group of english team of a company who made this as team building event. One other night outside was supercool, we found a cool spot, bought some wine before in a restaurant and bought some wine. It already started to get dark when we build the tarps. In the morning it was raining at 7 a.m. and we kept on sleeping till the sun came out to burn us. πŸ˜‰

The river spot with Iris and Mathis war awesome! The last night we arrived shortly before midnight at a campsite and we got a discount πŸ™‚ After the tour we had another night at the country inn and on the way back a family campsite at the end of Tuscany. That was weird…

Ride:

AWESOME! For some parts i wished to have my MTB πŸ˜‰Β  Take a look on the pictures …

People:

Tuscany Trail had 750 inscriptions. Huge! The day before the start we me got connected to Andrew of Karlsruhe with a prober Gravel bike (never seen him before, why??) and Eike who lives in Zurich. The funny part is that we rode the last 2 1/2 with two people sleeping beside us in the stadium before the start πŸ™‚ The badest message is that one guy died because he didn’t saw a chain on a downhill, crashed and died. Horrible. Me met several people more times, also a group of a english working team who made this trip for teambuilding. Cool guys! And A cool girl πŸ™‚

I have to thank Iris, Mathis and Erik (and the rest) for this awesome journey! In the end i had the same pace like Mathis and Erik could ride with Iris. I already met Andrew before he went on Transgermany with Morgan. Small world πŸ™‚

Brain:

More than 20% uphill on gravel… A travel partner which is more fit than you. ….Iris and Mathis changed this game πŸ˜‰ Non rideable parts with my skills. Forgetting about a confluent eating. Ibb the end… AWESOME! I really love my Merida Silex and the thermal water in Tuscany!