Castellina in Chianti loop

September 15, 2019

Distance: 72.8 km  Elevation: 1.114 m  Moving Time: 3:08

Tuscany day two, a three-hour cycle route to the Tuscan village of Castellina So many long climbs and so many long flowing descents through the hilly Tuscan region littered with vineyards and small hilltop villages.

After the settle-in ride of day 1, A spectacular sunny morning greeted us for our first full day ride of the tour.  After a sumptuous breakfast of pretty much anything we wanted and a couple of espresso’s we all got kitted up in our A’qto riding gear and headed off around 9:30am. 

A pretty cruisy start with a gentle downhill for the first 18km. Then we hit the hills. We were warned that there was a sharp pinch around the 22km mark. It was only short, about 300m but it was certainly sharp kicking up from flat to 15% within a matter of meters into the hill. We were soon in the lowest gear, out of the saddle and pushing hard. This can’t really be called a climb because it was over in a matter of 300m but it was a brutal shock to my legs, lungs, and heart after our gentle warm-up ride.

A banana, recovery drink, and all-round congratulations at the top of the hill put us in good spirits for the next part of our ride.

After we regrouped and gathered our breath off we headed through the up-hill, down-hill back roads of Tuscany with vineyards and olive groves on either side of the road.  Our next stop was for coffee at a great little cafe in Fonterutoli.  This was a just reward for the 5 km climb to reach the town.  Clearly, this cafe was a beacon for cyclists given the old bike hung on the outside cafe wall.

After a quick coffee, double espresso for me, off we headed on a short 5km climb to our lunch destination, the busy, stone cobbled streets of Castellina in Chianti where we all tucked into some delicious pizza.

Fed and refueled we headed off on the final 25km back to our base at Gaiole in Chianti.

This all started pretty sedately with a mostly downhill ride with plenty of photo opportunity stops to take pictures of the beautiful old stone buildings and vine-covered landscapes. But this is Tuscany and hills are part of its DNA so with 12km to go we found ourselves pushing up a category 3 climb – 6km up to the highest peak of the day with an average gradient of 4%, a 1km section at 11% and the final 1.5km at 6%. We were all very relieved to reach the peak and enjoy the next 6km of free-flowing 5-6% downhill cycling.

The downhill fun stopped abruptly when we reached the Chianti village of Gaiole and we slogged up the last hill to our accommodation. It was only a short climb but after seventy-odd kilometers of hills getting up the last 500m at an average grade of 10% was very tough but this final pain couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces.

The beauty of having accommodation up a hill is the superb vista. Lounging around in the swimming pool soon help ease our tired legs sufficiently so as to warrant a walk down to the village in search of a pre-dinner drink.

Gaiole in Chianti is the birthplace of L’Eroico (https://eroica.cc/en/gaiole) a classic cycling event that aims to seek out the authentic roots of cycling. The small village has charm and definite cycling feel about it. Fortunately for us, it also had some excellent alfresco bars and nice cold beer.

Day two finished with a home-cooked four-course pasta meal with local wine at our accommodation. Just what we needed after a tough but very enjoyable day in the saddle.

 Tired bodies slept well that night after a delightful day cycling in Tuscany.

Relive ‘Tuscany Day 2 – Castellina loop’