Our 2005 Camp schedule will be online soon. Come back and visit again for more information.

Below is a sample of what we offer in our camps.

Italian Riviera Mountain Bike Week

April 20-26, 2004

The reason I’m bringing club members to Italy, and specifically to Finale Ligure, the little town wedged in between high olive-planted hills and the warm blue sea, is because no matter how good the restaurant here in the US, there is simply no eating like they do in Italy. And I ride to eat.

After racing in Italy at the mountain bike World Championships in 1991, I promised myself I’d spend more than two days in one spot as soon as I was able to find the right spot. Since then I’ve returned five times (always in service of Tutto Mountain Bike, the magazine that ran a column of mine for many years) I decided that Liguria was the perfect food/bike/cultural zone for riders like myself, who don’t do point-to-point tours.

Exploring from a hub point gives you a deeper look at a worthwhile part of a country, and time is plentiful for riding the great trails , wandering the walled medieval town and soaking in the sea. Every day we’re fortified by frighteningly delicious coffee and delicious breakfast breads, fruit, jam and even American stuff like eggs and meat.

My morning ritual: fill a steel cannister with hot coffee, top it off w/hot milk, heap croissants on a plate with the best butter I’ve ever tasted ANYWHERE, and jam, then take my immodestly loaded tray into the garden to watch the little old man putz in his giardino next door. His vegetables make up our dinner.

Day 0ne: Arrive in Nice, hop on the train to Finale, and settle into our room. We’ll walk the town, take in the sea view and get bikes from the rental store. If the weather is great, we will ride to San Giovanni, a castle visible from the patio of the hotel.

Day Two Red Ball ride: a tour of trails through olive orchard, old towns, past the 15th century "Five Campaniles" church, and over many a Roman bridge. Bring a bag lunch to enjoy alfresco! Return, visit the beach or write postcards til dinner.

Day Three: Rain option: Tour the town, admire the convent of Saint Catherine (14th century) which later became a prison , then finally the town’s civic center.

Admire the gorgeous church in the central square (inside there is celestial calm, belying the thousands and thousands of man-hours needed to carve and polish all the marble statuary, colored vitrine, astonishing devotion unthinkable that so many others were bombed to bits only sixty years ago.

Option: lunch at Casa Roberta, whose local specialties are deeply satisfying. Guaranteed to please: Pasqualina di Carcofi, Torta di Verdura, Torta di Ceci, Pansotti. Prepare to enjoy the first walnut sauce you’ve ever tasted (unless you’re already Italian. I happen to be a Late Onset Italian, born to Irish American parents and tragically raised on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese).

Day Four: Ride le Manie with Team Telododopo (raunchy italian joke) if we so desire, w/ another picnic lunch (or bring money for the osteria in the hills). Le Manie are the rollercoaster style hills that border the impossibly blue Mediterranean. You can see the punta Noli, where Dante lived in exile. Note the aroma of rosemary and thyme… the herbes de Provence are also the herbes da Liguria.

Day Five: the Jules Augustus trail, with old caves, more roman bridges. Also a prmitive rock called a menhir from a primitive people long before Italy was Italy.

Day Six: Check out the Moab of Italy—yes, prehistoric carvings in the high hills!

Day Seven: Catch a swim in the Med before taking off (either for other parts of Italy or home). Leave something behind to make yourself have to come back (I left my running shoes with a friend).

What is included in the $2,000 package?

• Transfer to & from Nice Airport
• Lodging for six nights (April 20-April 26)
• Breakfast and Ligurian Regional Dinners at hotel
• Guided rides
• Skills instruction on and off trails
• Cultural excursions
• Use of hotel laundry
• Translation services

What’s not included:

• Single room supplement (Add $200)
• Bike, helmet, shoe rental (Budget $150-$200)
• Lunches (Budget $100)
• Train travel other than airport transfer
• Telephone fees (varies)
• Olive oil, local sundries (sky’s the limit!)
• Gratuities (not required, but appreciated)