In July 2019, I did my first bikepacking trip, in Tuscany. Back then I was working in Pistoia, hence why the trip started from there. I am writing this five years after I did this, so the memories have faded slightly, and apparently I cannot find anymore any pictures from that trip. Hopefully I will find them and add them to this page. The trip lasted 4 days, I was very inexperienced, but I planned it the best I could and I remember everything more or less went just fine. I downloaded the Komoot app to plan the trip and bought the map of the world, which I still use; the best and most useful 20 euros I have ever spent in my life, no doubt.
Tuscany is very beautiful and I totally recommend riding there, and also in this case, I suggest avoiding riding in July and August, and in the Mediterranean in general, way too hot.
And this brings me to my first (and only maybe) miscalculation of the trip. I was, and I am, quite passionate about wine, so I figured... this trip was a great opportunity to merge two of my passions together: wine and bikes. Wrong. Do not visit wineries in July during a bikepacking trip. Or if you do, be sure to be prepared to eat and drink plenty (of water afterward). And I was not. I remember quite clearly suffering the first day because I did not drink enough, also I was not used to planning fueling for this type of trip. A lot of lessons learned. On the good side, I surely caught the attention and sympathy of the tour guides in the wineries.
Besides this inconvenience, no big problems. I slept three nights in hostels, which can be easily found in this region. And all the cities (Siena, Firenze, and Arezzo) are amazing, with amazing food.
Few stats from the trip:
334 km
4147 m ↗
16 h
4 days in total
I did this bike trip with my beloved Cannondale Caad 3. I think that I did not change any component for the trip, i.e., in hindsight it was not suited for a bikepacking trip. I probably had a 34 front - 28 back as the easiest gear. I probably had only a 15 L Amazon saddle bag and a top tube bag that could fit a phone for navigating. Quite fun to look back and write these words.
On the first day I visited the Antinori winery, an spectacular winery with modern architecture. Very nice to visit. The 40 degrees after visit were not nice though.
On the second day, I visited the Castiglion del Bosco winery in the Montalcino area. This winery was smaller but a gem on a hill in this beautiful area, surrounded by vineyards.