L'Eroica weekend, for people not on a bicycle

Gaiole is unusable that Saturday. Here is how to have the better weekend anyway.

Book the first weekend of October in Chianti and you will find prices up, rooms gone and the white roads around Gaiole full of men in wool jerseys. Most guides tell you to avoid it. That is the wrong call — it is the best atmosphere of the year, and you can have it without turning a pedal.

The riding starts at 4:30am on Saturday from Piazza Ricasoli, and the first thing to understand is that the 209km route means the roads south and west of Gaiole are committed until late afternoon. Do not plan to drive them. Plan to be standing on them.

Take a position on a strada bianca climb rather than in the town. Riders come through in ones and twos, on bikes older than most of the people watching, and the mood is closer to a village saint's day than a race. Bring a flask. Nobody is selling you anything out there.

Then use the fact that everyone else is in Gaiole. Radda and Castellina are 20 minutes away and unusually quiet that Saturday. Book a cellar visit for the afternoon — estates that are impossible in September have space, because the cycling crowd is not tasting and the tourist season has broken.

The honest warning: accommodation within 15km of Gaiole is booked out months ahead and priced accordingly. We check availability in July and still get it wrong about half the time.