A Word About Road Conditions in Tuscany

During our bicycle trip through Tuscany this summer, we were mostly on secondary roads, 99% of which were in excellent condition. We had aluminim bicycles with carbon fiber forks and skinny race tires, and it was almost never "bumpy." So you really don't need a hybrid unless you're going to be riding on dirt roads.

Cicloposse

Cicloposse is the name of the family-owned Italian company we did our recent self-guided bicycle tour of Tuscany.

Two words about self-guided tours: they're great! Self-guided means that Cicloposse gave us maps, bicycles, hotel reservations and line-by-line directions. It was just my husband and I, not a full group. Especially for romantic Tuscany, a self-guided bicycle tour was the way to go.

About Cicloposse: a husband-and-wife team run the business and I would recommend them. The bicycles we received were aluminum with carbon fiber forks, so they were light and were geared low for the steep Tuscan hills. Giuliana and Marco were friendly and helpful. We didn't have any problems. If you're trying to decide which bicycle company to go with on your bicycle trip to Tuscany, we were very pleased with Cicloposse, based near Pienza.

Difficulty of Bicycle Riding in Tuscany

My husband Richard and I just returned from a bicycle tour of Tuscany. We spent a few days in Rome on the front end, and a few days in Florence on the back end, with one week of bicycling in between.

Tuscany is just gorgeous, and I highly recommend seeing it via bicycle, but only if you're a pretty serious bicyclist. We live in Denver and trained in the foothills, and it was still difficult, even for my husband at times, who is a much better rider than I am. At times the grades on Tuscan roads are 12 to 18%, so unless you're in shape, you'll probably make it, but you're going to be miserable. We got advice from Mark at Campus Cycles on Evans in Denver to train in the mountains to prepare. Thanks, Mark!

There are stretches up both up hill and down at 5-8 miles at a time. We were riding from hill town to hill town, so the end of the day is always uphill. We were there in late June, and it was hot and humid. So this is challenging and rewarding riding with breathtaking scenery at every turn.

It seems as if you're either going uphill and down. There was VERY little flat terrain. In 7 days, we rode about 250 miles (just under 40 miles a day), and I swear only about 20 of those miles were flat. So you have to get comfortable going fast downhill also, which, if you don't relax your body, can be scary if you're not used to it.