California Wine Country with inGamba

A wise man once said, A bad day on the bike is better than a good day at work. Okay, but what happens then when you ride a bike for a living? Or where do you end up in that matrix when you ride a bike for a living AND you have a good day on the bike? Surely minds are blown.

I spend most of the year dashing around the globe racing the biggest races in the world, attending disciplined training camps, and living a monastic life to wring every last ounce of energy my body is capable of producing. That is, until this exact week in Northern California where the priorities of eating and drinking take equal (or greater) precedence over pedaling the bike. When Joao and I were teammates on the Cervelo TestTeam I paid him a visit to the little hamlet in Chianti where he called home. It was this trip where I discovered the good life. I peeked into the door of his general lifestyle to discover the balance of eating exquisite food and sipping fine wine with a picture-perfect Tuscan countryside as the backdrop, as the optimal recovery to a long day in the saddle. Joao is one of my best friends and at the time he was a mentor.

Northern California is a special place to me as its paid host to dozens of training camps, races, and overall memorable trips. It is most certainly a home away from home. Conveniently — although certainly no coincidence — it’s also home to spectacular training roads, the exquisite California wine country, and some of the best restaurants in the world. The seed was planted with that initial visit to Joao in Chianti and now I'm going to be closing another successful racing season at home stateside with some some fantastic people, all friends connected by the pure love of the bicycle.Bon appetite, let’s ride! November 5-9. Entirely worth your while.Did that whet your appetite? Curious to join? Give the good people at inGamba (João & Nate) a call at (888) 316-9791 or email: hello@ingamba.pro