Planes, Trains, and Busses in Central Italy
 

We planned a trip to Umbria and Tuscany. No tour guides or companies mind you. My wife and I landed in Florence three weeks ago and we were not entirely sure what to expect. We travelled with coupled 29er "adventure touring" bikes packed into CoMotion soft cases. The airport shuttle to downtown Florence was a breeze. We kept our bikes packed and boarded the traint to Umbria the next morning. There was plenty of room for the cases and the panniers that constituted our carry-on and "personal item". We arrived in a small town (Spello) and rolled our cases from the train station to our accommodations. It took us 2 1/2 hours to assemble both bikes, but at 1800 hrs we were pedaling our adventure machines down back roads to toward the ancient hilltop town of Montefalco. We made a four day loop and back to Spello. The bike went back in the cases. Did we need to take the cases with us or leave them in Florence? Well, we could have left them as it turned out. More later

While it took us over two hours the first time getting the bikes ready. We got faster but it was still a significant factor building up and taking down. The up side was that we could put them on any shuttle or city bus or train. One huge factor in our decision to put them back in the cases was that we would be meeting 4 more people who would rent bikes in Siena. Our friends were treated very well by DF Bike in Siena. With our bikes back together we hitched a ride out of busy Siena and found ourselves in the rolling hills of Tuscany. Most of the trains can accommodate up to four bikes and riders with panniers. We even found one train that had books for 8 bikes. In retrospect we could have pulled it off with the bikes built up but there is always the chance of hitting a crowded train. I think a group of four could have done it but six was pushing it. In July I hear it can get more crowded. Our friends had decent hybrid bikes but we loved having our 29er bikes with Schwalbe Marathon Mondials and never had a flat on many kilometers of gravel roads.

29ers are a good all-round bike. With balloon tires, it makes short work of cobblestoned streets and gravel paths in Tuscany.

That part of Italy is breathtakingly beautiful.

Sounds like a fun trip. I'm jealous.