Woke up this morning and headed down to breakfast. We had already packed last night so we could eat, say our (almost) final goodbyes, and still get an early start on the ride. We were all riding to Figline where we would then drop off our bikes and take a train into Florence.
We saw John, Brain, Jan, Rick, Zhen, Catherine, and Marcus, who had just dropped Leslie off at the train station as she had an early flight out. Unfortunately, we missed Jeannie and didn’t get a chance to tell her how great it was to have met her and how much we enjoyed spending time with her and John. Said goodbye to Rick and Zhen and wished them all the best. Catherine, Jan, and Brian we were going to see in Florence as we were all staying in the same hotel there.
Before riding off we had one more pic by John and said ciao. So now we’re four as we teamed up with Jan and Brian for the very last leg of the journey. It was a relatively short ride, but a good one…6 k uphill and most of the rest downhill and we practically coasted into Figline.
So, here we are nearing the top of the 6 k hill and I’m just beat…I’m ahead of Jan and Damon, and Brian is in front of me. I get to the 6 k marker and the road is still going up...it was one of those “I only have enough in me to make it to 6 k….not 7 k, or 6.5 k….it’s the last day and I’ve got nothing to prove…I’m going to stop and take a break…”
Just as I’m about to pull over and hop off the bike, I looked over my left shoulder and saw someone across the road jogging up the hill—at about twice the speed I was pedaling up it. OK, so apparently I did have something to prove…I wasn’t going to let some jogger pass me up. I haven’t been busting my butt up hills for two weeks to let some jogger leave me in the dust… I’m a cyclist now….I’m in better shape now….I’m…I’m… tired…I think my chest is going to explode. I’ll just wait till the jogger gets around the corner…
When I realized the road is still going up and I now really have nothing to prove, I hopped off my bike for a water break. Jan and Damon came riding up behind me and stopped. I immediately asked, “Did you guys, ah, see the jogger pass me?” Damon said, “Yeah, he passed us…twice.” Twice? Hmmm, I felt a little better.
At this point Marcus joined us for the last leg of the ride into Figline. What a great way to end our last ride—downhill for lots of k’s. We rode to the train station in Figline and saw the Blue Marble van. This was it…this was where we got off our bikes for the last time. We kind of got a little sad.
The four of us went for a quick pizza lunch while Catherine and Marcus prepped the bikes for the next trip (the Italian Lakes!). An hour later we were on a train heading to Florence. Catherine joined us as she was staying there a night before her train to the next ride.
Ahhhhhhh, Florence….what a great city. We dumped our stuff in the hotel room and went right back out to see more touristy stuff and find a restaurant for our—definitely this time—last meal with the rest of the group.
After a rediculously overpriced cappuccino and snack at the Ponte
Vecchio, we headed to the Piazza Michelangelo across the Arno and up the hill (more hills!). The views from there were spectac...ah, used that word a lot...amazin….hmmm, that one 
too....breathtaking, yeah...the views were breathtaking (and spectacular and amazing).
For dinner we met Brian and Jan at a fantastic restaurant Damon and I found there two years ago…a place called Golden View / Open Bar. It’s right along the Arno just off the Ponte Vecchio. We had reserved the table in the afternoon, so we had window seats…the views were perfect and the food was just as good (maybe even better) than we remembered.
Icing on the cake…Catherine stopped by and sat with us for a bit. It was a fitting way to end the trip. But wait! We have one more day/night on our own…in the morning we were taking the train to Rome for a whirlwind tour of the City of Ruins (or something like that)...we even get really high—details in tomorrow’s post :-)
Day 15 Stats:
- Ride Sheet - Lucarelli to Florence/Figline (23 - 29 k)
- Actual Ride - 29 k
- Lunch - Figline
- To Remember - last hill up, coasting to Figline, Views from Piazza Michelangelo, perfect last dinner, sunset on the Arno
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