Thinking of doing the Tuscany Trail in 2017, so looking at flights.

For people that have ridden before, how many days did you take?

Thanks.

2 days 4 hours, but that wasn't the norm. Most were 4-5

Steve isn't normal, the rest of the slackers that finished on here were about 6 days iirc

On this topic, is there a way of getting hold of the GPX track for the route, in order to ride it at a different time (i.e. not participating in the race)? I emailed them to ask, but haven't had any response.

Could you get the route from this
https://ridewithgps.com/find#search/0/s ... ort_by%5D=
or this may be it -
http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=13319923

Pm me your email and I'll send over the gpx

Are there firm dates for the 2017 event yet?

2nd June 2017

http://www.tuscanytrail.it/en/tuscany-trail

Can't decide what day to book the return flight.
Tuesday or Thursday.
Flight is silly late back to Manchester

The majority of us did a 7 day trip last year..

Is it EasyJet from Manc you're looking at?
Are the flights available for June next year already?

Wotsits wrote:The majority of us did a 7 day trip last year..

Is it EasyJet from Manc you're looking at?
Are the flights available for June next year already?

Yup, easy jet from Manchester to Pisa.
Okay, so fly back Thursday.
Hmmm
Ponderment

If you wait until all interested have signed up then it's worth getting everyone together to book things like accommodation the night before the event.
We all shared a couple of apartments this year, that despite being a half drunken ride up a hill away in the eve were actually really good & most importantly cheap!

Wotsits wrote:If you wait until all interested have signed up then it's worth getting everyone together to book things like accommodation the night before the event.
We all shared a couple of apartments this year, that despite being a half drunken ride up a hill away in the eve were actually really good & most importantly cheap!

sounds good

I rode the TT group start in 2015. It was my first multi-day, group start bikepacking trip and I was riding fully loaded (testing gear for the Highland Trail 550 a month later). If I were to do it again I'd be sure to have A LOT less gear with me.

Having said that, we had excellent weather that year. I have heard various stories about the weather this year not being quite so kind.

It took me 2 days and 12 hours or so. Approx 120 very hilly miles per day. I probably pushed myself a bit too hard.

I rode most of the 2016 route backwards this year in August and again had incredible weather barring a ridiculous storm in San Gimignano. I was riding with my wife and we took our time enjoying the scenery, eating lots of food and soaking up the wine. We did around 60-70 miles per day and it was f*ing hot. Much more enjoyable for me, but it depends on what your motivations for riding the route are.

Sign up. You won't regret it.

Giacomo wrote:I rode the TT group start in 2015. It was my first multi-day, group start bikepacking trip and I was riding fully loaded (testing gear for the Highland Trail 550 a month later). If I were to do it again I'd be sure to have A LOT less gear with me.

Having said that, we had excellent weather that year. I have heard various stories about the weather this year not being quite so kind.

It took me 2 days and 12 hours or so. Approx 120 very hilly miles per day. I probably pushed myself a bit too hard.

I rode most of the 2016 route backwards this year in August and again had incredible weather barring a ridiculous storm in San Gimignano. I was riding with my wife and we took our time enjoying the scenery, eating lots of food and soaking up the wine. We did around 60-70 miles per day and it was f*ing hot. Much more enjoyable for me, but it depends on what your motivations for riding the route are.

Sign up. You won't regret it.

thanks for the info.
i'm certainly signing up, I just can't decide on the return flight.
either VERY late Tuesday, or VERY late thurs (flight is about 10pm)

so, a Tuesday flight seems doable,
4 days riding max (fri to Monday), then Tuesday back to the airport.

thanks.

I think it really comes down to what you want out of the event.

4x 150km days with 2.5-3k meters climbing per day is doable, but imo you'll miss so much of what the region is about..

There's so many amazing things to see & places to eat, if you've never been to the area before this would be a great opportunity to slow things down a little & use the extra time to enjoy much of what the route has to offer..

That said, i'm considering riding next year & depending on who is going may aim for a quicker finish. Although this would be to allow for a couple of days holiday afterwards

It's a brill event & none of the pictures or video's i've yet seen do the area justice..

I did it last year and this year and I'm gonna be there again next year!

2015 - I did it in 3 days and 15 hours and that was about as fast as I could go. Very little rest and long days in the saddle. Could've gone faster if I'd not been on a fatbike but let's not dwell on that.

2016 - went off route on day two so can't say how long it would have taken but I was in piss-poor shape and riding in a group is always slower than on your own (even if the group is full of faster riders as the overall faff and stopping times are massively increased). But.....it was a lot more fun!

For next year I'm undecided between more leisurely pottering or really going for it to see what I can do.

I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it other than not doing what you would enjoy the most.