BAC Green Roads Of Tuscany 2009

Florence - Fountain at the Pitti Palace

The following is the description of the ride on the BAC website.

The Green Roads of Tuscany Tour – May 2009

OVERVIEW: Arrive on Sunday, May 10, 2009 and depart on Monday, May 25, 2009 in Florence. The tour offers 15 nights of lodging, all breakfast and 8 group dinners. Min 18/Max 26. Trip rated 2A! will average 39 miles/day and 3,500 feet of climbing with 2 long days of 55 miles.

SUMMARY: If you look at a travel map, you will see roads highlighted in green to indicate “scenic roads”. Most of this tour follows these green roads. To get the views you have to climb so be prepared for hilly roads. The average day registers over 3,000 feet of climbing. Except in and out of Florence, you will cycle country roads with slower traffic and unbelievable views. This tour combines a circle route with 3 locations of multiple night stays. The tour winds south to the Chianti region with a stay in Castellina in Chianti where we repose in a 4-star villa. Then travel through the traditional Tuscan landscape to San Gimignano, for a 3 day stay with loop rides from our hotel. We then continue south-east through the Crete Senesi, the most photographed region of Italy. On the way we stay in Buonconvento, a walled-village where a wild game dinner is prepared in a local trattoria. For our rest day in San Rocco a Pilli we take a bus into Siena for a walking tour. Our furthest point south from Florence is San Quirico d’Orcia where we stay for 3 days. There you can opt for a variety of loop rides with a hotel perfectly situated to offer elegant views and tranquil sleep. Loop rides are possible to Montalcino, Montepulciano, Pienza and BagnoVignoni. This area offers some of the most scenic rides of the tour. We visit an Etruscan Museum on the way back to Castellina in Chianti. There we have a 4 star final dinner before we say, not good-bye but, arrivaderci in Florence.

LOGISTICS Fly in and out of Florence. Bike boxes stored at the hotel. Bike rentals available at: Florence By Bike . Included in price is 15 nights lodging, all breakfasts and 8 group dinners, luggage van & driver, a bus transport to Siena and a guided tour, a cooking demonstration, olive oil factory tour and tasting. Estimated cost is $ 2,600 based on an exchange rate of $1.65 = Euro 1.00. The tour pays for 15 nights of lodging with breakfasts and 8 group dinners. Fourth year tour is offered by leaders Tom and Julie. BAC members may contact the ride leaders by "clicking" the name at the top of this Ride Description. A deposit of $ 600 assures your place on the tour. Send your check and signed Ride Release and Application forms to: Tom Leever.

DATES for TOUR: May 10-Arrival Day in-Florence; May 11-Site-seeing & Group Dinner; May 12-Bike out of Florence; May 24-Bike back into Florence; May 25-Departure Day

CANCELLATION POLICY: Any refunds, after the $50 BAC fee and $25 administrative fee, are dependent on our finding a replacement. .If we can fill your position immediately you will get your refund less the $75. If we are not able to fill your position, any refund will be based on the principle that costs not be increased for those who are completing the tour. This means that your share of fixed costs like the luggage van and your share of the leader and van driver costs will be deducted from your eventual refund. Whatever we can recover, you will get back after the tour is completed and the final accounting takes place.

REGISTER: To register for this ride, use the sign-up links just below the Ride Description. Following your acceptance, you will receive an email message requesting you to submit your initial deposit of $ 600 (which includes the $75 non-refundable cancellation fee) made out to, Tom Leever (not BAC). When your deposit is received, your name(s) will be added to the Participant List. BAC members with questions may contact the Ride Director by "clicking" the name at the top of this Ride Description.

Here is a copy of the welcome letter sent by the Leever's.

Below are links to lodging, Garmin GPS files, Google Earth files, Google Map files and elevation profiles. If you have Garmin's Mapsource software installed on your computer, you can open the Garmin GPS files with it. If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can open the Google Earth files with it. If you click on a mileage, a new window will open showing the route in Google Map format. If you click on one of the links under "Profile", you will see an elevation profile.

Google Earth will give you a better view of the topography, etc. If you have the latest Google Earth, you can use your mouse to highlight the day's track and play the tour (Tools/Play Tour).

Please be aware that all routes and maps shown on this web site are not 100% accurate. The GPS software used to create them could not recognize bicycle trails or some of the waypoints described on the route sheets.

The table below is for pre-ride planning. The actual maps, profiles etc. will be supplied by the ride leaders.