Rolling Roads in Tuscany....
Some of them white

Tuscany surely needs no introduction either from a cycling or cultural/historical perspective. A region of Italy well known for its scenic beauty characterised by rolling hills, cypress trees, medieval hilltop towns and blue sky. Its towns and cities were the political, economic and cultural centre of Middle Ages Europe.

The region's cycling heritage is also deep: the home of post war legend Gino Bartali, a crucial battleground in the Giro d'Italia, birthplace of the "Eroica" movement and home to (the 6th Monument?) Strade Bianche.

We planned a 2 week fixed base trip in September 2024.

A good base for a couple of week's cycling...

The classic area associated with the famous "strade bianche" can be divided into two: north and south of Siena.

A bit of research suggested that the northern area, Chianti, is much busier and more touristy than the south. Cycling and travel websites rave about the Val d'Orcia and Crete Senesi areas and this is where we headed.

This is my annotated map. The blue dots show the routes of "L'Eroica".

We rented an apartment in the hamlet of La Befa.

The nearest town was Buonconvento. This would make a fantastic base:

Very attractive & historic
Bars and restaurants
Accommodation options
Easily accessible
Not a tourist honeypot so feels very Italian

A misty morning in La Befa...and a strip of tarmac to nowhere!

The location of La Befa/ Buonconvento is particularly good for cyclists as it is the crossover point of the figure-of-eight route of the Strade Bianche race.

It is also on the original L'Eroica route AND very close to the town of Montalcino which is the start/finish of the "Eroica Montalcino" spin-off event.

La Befa is not as great a base as it's a tiny hamlet with absolutely no facilities (not such a problem for us as we were in our car) AND it's about 3km down a rough and very steep gravel road. Each of our days started with a couple of 15% ramps and ended with a hairy descent (more on that later!)

Buonconvento - Eroica central!

The riding

Route finding/plotting

I always like to start with a paper map. This gives an overview of the area and can be annotated (see above).

My favourite route planning tool is "dynamicWatch". In Tuscany this is best used in conjunction with Google street view in order to check out whether a road is surfaced or not - the map is not strictly accurate in this respect. One day we did a road route according to the map but a few long stretches turned out to be (fantastic) gravel which I later noted are on the Strade Bianche race route!

According to the map this is a tarmac road!

Beware apps which supposedly do all the route plotting for you:

We chatted to a German guy who was trying to ride the Strade Bianche race route in 2 days. He was completely fed up with the routing he'd got from "Route You" which sent him through farmers' fields and upto dead ends.
We saw a bikepacker arrive in town, looking intently at his phone screen, with tyres caked in mud and looking pretty cheesed off!

Highlights

Attractive and authentic towns

Stunning scenery

Riding in a real cycling heartland

A brilliant, cycling friendly cafe culture: plenty of cafes with great coffee and snacky food.

Pretty perfect cycling terrain and great weather in early Autumn

Easily accessible cultural sites. We visited Siena by train and Pienza and Montalcino by bike.

World-beating food and wine

Things to be aware of...

I think this area is pretty close to being cycling paradise.

However nothing's perfect and there are a few areas of concern when planning a cycling holiday here:

Although the secondary roads are wonderfully traffic-free, they are quite degraded in places. They are generally much smoother than our horrible chipseal surfaces but there can be quite a lot of cracking where the nearside wheels of vehicles run.
In general Italian drivers want to get where they're going as quickly as possible. They're quite respectful of cyclists but don't expect to have to give a wide birth as we avoid degraded bits of road. Very different from Spain!
If you're hoping to stick to tarmac, you have to be quite careful when route planning (see above).
We were feasted on by a variety of insects so pack repellent.
This is not an easy place to get to:
- The nearest airport with regular budget flights is Pisa, about 150km away
- Suitable car hire for 2 bike boxes is very expensive
- One way minibus taxi fare quoted on-line is about £500
- Trains are a possibility: about 12 Euros from Pisa Central to Buonconvento with one change.

Our journey

We had about 4 weeks for this holiday and so planned to spend 2 weeks in Tuscany and then one week in Switzerland on the way home.

It was a 3 day drive from the north west of England via channel tunnel, Reims, Basel, San Gotthard tunnel and Milan.

Bikes and kit

When the pros race the Strade Bianche they use their usual race bikes, perhaps with specific tyres.

In a couple of videos, GCN conclude that for a mixed surface ride a race bike is quicker....BUT a gravel bike is far more comfortable.

We took our gravel bikes.

Link

A quick summary:

Custom titanium frames
Carbon forks
700c wheels
Shimano 105 groupset, except chainset
Chainrings 44/28, cassette 11-30 & 32

I changed the tyres to something a little narrower and faster rolling than I use in the UK.
I got a great deal on Teravail Washburn Light & Supple.
They're badged 38mm but I knew they measured a perfect 35mm on our 19mm rims.
They have a smooth centre section for speed on tarmac and side tread for the gravel.
They were perfect for the job.

We used off-road SPD style shoes for ease of walking around towns and in case we couldn't ride some sections of gravel.

We used bottles with covers for the top to keep out dust.

I was a bit concerned about getting access to water and so packed Camelbaks just in case. They weren't necessary as most villages had a water fountain or a small shop.

In summary...

This area of Tuscany was even better than I expected.

I think it is one of the best places I have ever ridden a bike. It was all going so well...until Claire lost concentration on the steep track back to our apartment and fell!

Lots of severe bruising & gravel rash, a nasty gash on her arm and a fractured collar bone.

We headed home.

BUT we had such a fantastic time that we're already thinking about a return.

Rather than the long drive again, we're thinking about flying to Pisa, spending 3 days or so riding a scenic route to Buonconvento, two weeks based there and then heading back to the airport.

I hope this section helps inspire anyone reading to give Tuscany a go - it's fabulous!