AmP Ride Review of “Valpiana – Tuscany” from Rouvy.
A quick overview of what you can expect from this ride and what some of the challenges might be.
Disclaimer: This is opinion and not to be used as medical advice.
Music: https://runrunner.bandcamp.com/
[Music] Hey there chipmunks. Welcome to the AMV cycling ride review series. I am your host, Angry Chipmunk, and today we’re back in Italy riding around Valpiana in Tuscanyany. This route is available on Ruvie. So, let’s get right to it. This is a moderate length route at just over 30 km long, but with a decent amount of elevation for the distance at 403 m. The whole route averages just 1% and peaks at 8%. There are no Strava segments listed on Ruvie and none on Strava itself either. There are however three main hills with another smaller pinch climb in this route. I would say this is typical of Tuskanyany roots, no segments, lots of hills. And there are pretty much two guarantees about a ride in Tuskanyany and those are beautiful mountain backdrop views with countryside villas and vineyards and hills. And we’ve got both. The first hill starts at an indeterminate place. You are on a mildly positive gradient from the start of the route, but it won’t exceed 2 and 12% until about the 2 km mark. The main bit of the hill is only about 660 m long with 32 m of elevation gain. The gradient math tells us that this bit averages 4.8% and it will peak at 7.8%. It has been gradually uphill for the f first 2 km. It just kind of gets steeper in this section, but being so early in the piece does make it a little bit more difficult. If you’re feeling pretty fresh, it’s easy enough to push up this one pretty hard, but it’s also suitable to just spin up at Granny Ring. There’s a nice bit of downhill following it, so either one will be fine. It’s super short, so no real need to pace the climb, but do keep in mind that there are still a few more to go, and don’t burn out too early on this one. Our next main hill is at the 4.4 km mark. It’s 2.1 km long with 78 m of elevation gain. The math tells us this one averages just 3.6% but will peak at 8.1%. This one is basically two hills in one. The start is the steepest for only around 300 m. After that, the gradients back off significantly. You’ll mostly be seeing 3 to 4% with peaks to 5% and dips down to 2 1/2%. If you want to push hard for the start, then it is easy to back off and cruise up the remainder of the hill. There is again a very nice descent following it, so plenty of time to recover for the next hill. And the last big hill starts at about the 8.6 km mark is around 3.8 km long with 182 m of elevation gain, averaging 4.8% and peaking at 7.4%. This one is kind of a strange hill. For about 1 kilometer of it, you’ll be seeing mostly 5 to 7%, but then after that, it backs off quite a bit to mostly 3 to 4%. The darker sections in this bit are around that 5 to 6% range. And once you get out of the darker orange, I consider the hill to be done, but you do actually continue to have a very mild 1 to 2% gradient until you hit the downhill. Because this one is so much longer, I would say to try and pace this one a bit. You do have a very nice along downhill following it, but it’s still over 4 km of climbing. Spin easily through the tougher gradients, and then you’ll have no difficulties getting through the easier part. The downhill here is exceptionally long, and we won’t be seeing any significant gradient again until the 26.9 km mark. There’s a very small pinch here of about 10 m, but it peaks at 8.2%. There’s a nice lead into it and a nice bit of downhill following it, so push this one to make it a non-deal. There are a couple of more ups and down here, but if you use the terrain to your benefit, you won’t have any troubles. And then it’s a nice flat run into the finish. For this ride, I would suggest a pretty decent warm-up of around 10 to 15 minutes. The first climb is relatively early on with not insignificant gradients. There’s not a lot of time in the route to get warm, so you’ll need to be ready from the starting gate. For the cool down, you can definitely cut it a bit shorter if you use some of the route. There’s a lot of downhills and flat at the end, so you if you go easy, 5 minutes should be okay. But if you push hard to the end, definitely bump that up. And as always, I recommend prefueling your rides and including plenty of protein with that. For this ride, it’s a bit of a tricky one to fuel. You don’t have a heap of distance or climbing, but neither are just nothing either. If you’ve prefueled, aim for about 10 to 15 g when it mellows out on that third hill. This is about the halfway point, and the rest of the route is fairly easy. Be careful not to over fuel this one. Almost all of the elevation gain is before the halfway point, so your sugar expenditure will be a lot lower for the second half. Follow this one up with a protein of some sort and a magnesium or banana. The view on this ride is fantastic as always. Everything you’d expect from Tuscanyany. There’s narrow enclosed roads, little villages, vineyards, villas, and distant mountains. The only downside is that the camera was struggling a bit with the glare, so some of the colors did get a bit washed out. And it appears to be spring or fall, so the greens are not as sharp as they could be. It’s likely the best time of year to ride here for real, where it’s not too hot and not too cold. I went at a moderate pace for this one and finished it in 1 hour 15 minutes on 100% difficulty emulation with needing a decent warm-up and cool down. I would suggest to budget anywhere from 1 hour to 1 hour 45 for it. It’s not the quickest route for the distance due to the hills, but it can still be suitable for a moderate time gap. Since there’s no straa segments here at all, you could definitely pause at any point to pick it up again later. I would suggest not pausing on an mid uphill, but rather at the top so your restart isn’t just weird. Overall, this is a fantastic route that I would definitely recommend for the intermediate level ridering up. The hills are not overly tough, but with all three coming in the first half, I think a newer rider might struggle a bit. If you’re looking to up your elevation gains without going full mountain pass, this could be a good stepping stone. This is where the elevation gain split might be useful. You still get the decent hill training, but it has a nice long half route recovery as well. For the more experienced rider, I would put this one in the quickish spin that won’t leave me dead, but still has a challenge bucket. For this route, I give a five out of five. It’s a fantastic loop through Skinny with all the things you expect to see. There’s a good variation of the roads traveled, which keeps it interesting. For the climbs, one and a half out of five. None are overly difficult, but all have a good amount of challenge. The tricky part of them comes from them all being in the first half. For the view, four and a half out of five. Tuscanany always offers great views. The sky is beautiful, the little towns are great, there’s lots of people out, and there isn’t so much traffic as to be off-putting. The only thing I didn’t like was the camera struggles with the colors. An overall five out of five. Definitely put this one in your ride queue. It’s a perfect midweek spin without being too difficult. A full week of rides like this won’t leave you too tired for that big mountain pass or bunch ride on the weekend. It’s perfectly medium. Well, that’s it for this review. So, thanks for watching, chipmunks. Let me know what you think of the Velpiana route in Tuskany if you complete it. I’ll leave you to finish the rest of the ride and I’ll see you again in 2 weeks for another review. Until then, ride on, chipmunks. Ride on. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat up here. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat up [Music] [Applause] [Music] here. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]