Review of Bicycle Touring in Tuscany

Bicycle Touring in Tuscany
Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 2
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very helpful book

On: 2006-06-22

Just got back from a week long ride (#5) outlined in this book and was very happy with it (copied relevant pages only and took that with us vs. lugging the whole thing along, and color didnt matter as we were seeing it in real life). Really appreciated lots of little helpful hints, tips and directions - we knew if wed gone too far or missed a turn etc, very detailed descriptions. We took our own map which is the best way to go. Lots of great hints on places to see - while we followed much of the route, we went off on some variations also - mainly to head to campgrounds (that are quite rare in the region!). Found ourselves reading into the hill rating/descriptions a bit much - we were gauging our expectations on what book said - and sometimes there was a difference in opinion here (some of his "bad" hills were fine to us, and vice versa) - just keep riding and enjoy!
Definitely worth the purchase - as long as you are prepared to cycle tour (ie. know what to expect) then biking in Tuscany is a fantastic vacation!

Tucany for whimps

On: 2006-06-20

This book is a good starting point for who need the full treatment on how to bike tour in Europe - specifically Tuscany. It has a clever rating system using the movie system parallel, but seemed a bit generous since most of those easy G/PG rides became closer to the R/X ratings as the climbs continued up and up. The route profile and highlight table are great route planning guides.
An improvement would be to include better maps than the photocopied TCI 2002 version used. The map was a key feature to understanding the route, but generally lacked adequate clarity or detail. The Chianti wine consortium provides a cheap, detailed version of the wine producing areas which is great to use while in the Chianti region. Good maps are critical.
The book also needs a little color and more pictures. Even though it would require some rearrangement, putting the route profile on the same page as the route and providing closer relationship would help. Also, a section on how to read Italian route signs with a tie in to the map would be nice. The descriptions seemed a little dated - there are Bike & Bed signs on some of the hotels indicating that some sort of biker friendly lodging system in Italy exists.
I only used two of the routes described in the book. It was moderately helpful.