Well, there was this particular day in September 2017 on which the stars aligned and made it memorable: nice riding weather, a lovely woman, a newly-built bike that had turned out rather well, a challenging route, beautiful scenery and excellent food.
Mrs non-fixie (the lovely woman) and I were in the
Crete Senesi, preparing mentally and physically for the next week's L'Eroica. That day we'd planned a trip to Buonconvento.
It started off the way rides in Tuscany should: decent roads and beautiful views ...
... a nice photo opportunity for the aforementioned well-turned out bike ...
... and more beautiful scenery:
Somewhere along the way we apparently got off our planned route, and - being modern citizens - asked Google Maps for assistance. We clicked on the bike symbol, it promptly showed us what looked like a solution and off we went. A nice strada bianca followed ...
... which became somewhat challenging ...
... and more challenging. It looks dry, but below that crust was thick, sticky mud:
The reason I got to take this artsy picture was that I had to walk back down and assist The Lovely Lady with getting her bike up there:
The ride down wasn't much easier:
And oh yes, the food. We'd missed lunch on account of our getting lost, so dinner was important. It started with one of the best dishes I ever had (I would order the exact same dish the next day), a deconstructed version of the
crostini neri toscani:
A little over 30 miles and about 3,000 feet of climbing. It was a most satisfying day.