Does anyone have any favourite road routes in the vicinity of Lucca?

[Dan Lotus]

Morning all,

we're heading out in a few weeks to house sit, and taking the bikes, just wondered if anyone had any recommended routes they could link to?

I've had a look on Komoot and not found that much that appeals to be honest (Any other tools I am missing to find good locals routes?), but have harvested a few routes off of these you tube videos:
Top 5 climbs
And
Another 5 climbs

It will be a mix of riding scenarios - there will be a couple of family rides, so I've earmarked just riding into Lucca, around the walls, have some gelato, and head home - it's about 9km only back to the house, though frustratingly it is a bit uphill on the way back, would have been better the other way around, as I know my daughter will probably whinge........

I'll also be looking to get out on some early rides with my partner, and then be back mid morning, miss the bulk of the heat, and potentially even be back before my partners mum and our daughter are awake - she'll be on her gravel bike, so won't be looking to cover a ton of distance.

Some days the three of them are also planning to go to the beach/water park, which is not really my thing, so I'm planning a couple of longer ride days, including one that starts and finishes from the coast, so I can get a lift in with them, ride out and back to the van, before heading home.

We used to house sit in a different house the other side (north east, this one is south west) of Lucca for a few years around 2010, when we were fairly inexperienced, and had Garmin Edge 205s with the breadcrumb trails is anyone remembers them, so we were pretty unadventurous in our route choices, being mostly out to the coast, though I do recall the roads being absolutely stunning, so really looking forward to showing my daughter how beautiful it is, as well as exploring some more of what Tuscany has to offer, as a much more seasoned cyclist now, oh and with a up to date Garmin with maps and all :-)

Thanks

 

[Dogtrousers]

Probably not any use to you but here's a link to a company that does guided rides and stuff. I looked into them a while back when making one of my many abandoned plans. Maybe their website has useful info or routes.
https://luccacyclingclub.com/

 

[vickster]

Look at Strava for routes?

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Rather than rely on others, I'd suggest use cycle.travel or similar just to plan a route. That way you get to decide distance, climbing, etc.

That's what we did through Tuscany last year.

The landing page https://cycle.travel/ gives you an option to put in a start location and it will suggest circular routes, you can vary the distance.

The hills to the south look fabulous cycling terrain if you like climbing.

 

[Dan Lotus]

Probably not any use to you but here's a link to a company that does guided rides and stuff. I looked into them a while back when making one of my many abandoned plans. Maybe their website has useful info or routes.
https://luccacyclingclub.com/

I have indeed looked at them/her before, and as luck would have it, though 10 climbs on those two videos, I am 99% sure are ones that she provided. Do you think you will manage to make it over there one day? The cycling is glorious.

Look at Strava for routes?

I had a quick look, but it seems you can't search for routes per se, you can only look at heat maps, which when I looked seemed pretty vague.
Another suggestion was to look at segments, then find people who have ridden them (appear in the times completed) and see what routes they ride week in week out, but that doesn't really tell you what the route is like if that makes sense.

Rather than rely on others, I'd suggest use cycle.travel or similar just to plan a route. That way you get to decide distance, climbing, etc.

That's what we did through Tuscany last year.

The landing page https://cycle.travel/ gives you an option to put in a start location and it will suggest circular routes, you can vary the distance.

The hills to the south look fabulous cycling terrain if you like climbing.

Never heard of that website, I will take a look, thanks very much.

I do like climbing, although am not very good at it, and am taking a nice bike, and a few of my routes plotted encompass some of the 'Top 10' climbs as posted in those videos in my first post, though i anticipate having to tackle those solo.

These are two in question I have plotted, linked to those two videos:

 

[vickster]

I had a quick look, but it seems you can't search for routes per se, you can only look at heat maps, which when I looked seemed pretty vague.
Another suggestion was to look at segments, then find people who have ridden them (appear in the times completed) and see what routes they ride week in week out, but that doesn't really tell you what the route is like if that makes sense.

I can see routes if I just put in Lucca...but then I have a subscription, maybe you can't on the free version? There aren't loads to be fair but thetre might be from other nearby towns or whatever