Tuscany 2016 – inGamba Mangia. Beve. Bici.

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© 2016 INGAMBA This is our work. We share it with you, and we ask you to please respect it and not share it with others. This is what the lawyers would say: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written consent of inGamba, except in the case of brief quotations in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to us addressed “Attention: inGamba Permissions,” at the address below. hello@inGamba.pro ingamba.pro Editorial Direction › Colin O’Brien and Jim Merithew Publication Design › Beatriz Severes and Seven Design Cover Photography › Jered Gruber

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MANGIA. eat BEVE. drink BICI. ride

CHIANTI

3

THE FEAST Bill Strickland

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WELCOME João Correia

01.

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03.

BICI

BORGOLECCHI

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ALLEGRIA

53

GIORDANA

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PINARELLO

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STAFF

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RAUL

Jered Gruber 15

Matt Phillips

Heidi Swift 19

PAOLO

Bill Gifford 23

CHINI THE BUTCHER Colin O’Brien

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IL MAGNIFICO Bill Giffordt

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SERVICE COURSE

Heidi Swift 65

ALESSANDRO STELLA

EROS POLI MONSIEUR VENTOUX Colin O’Brien

Heidi Swift

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Tom Vanderbilt

02.

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LORENZA CASTELLO DI AMA Bill Gifford

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ZUILIO

Ashley Gruber 45

CHANGING LIVES João Correia

Heidi Swift 39

L’EROICA

IL PORRI-ONE Colin O’Brien

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RIDE, REST, REPEAT Ted King

inGamba is a cycling family where your brothers and sisters are professional bike riders, soigneurs, world class chefs, and wine growers. It’s a week that will change your outlook on life forever, both on and off the bike.

COLLY MURRAY, INGAMBA GUEST & WINE IMPORTER MANGIA. BEVE. BICI. 1

THE FEAST BILL STRICKLAND

What is the most delicious road you’ve ever ridden? Was there a meal that lay always before you like a spool of expensive ribbon unrolling to a far horizon that sometimes effortlessly drew you on and at others put you at your limit as you chased an end that seemed as if it would never come? Do you remember on a sun-drenched road reaching down to the cage for your bottle and getting a sip of water that was as fine as any wine

you’ve ever had, and have you ever been lucky enough to taste a wine as intoxicating as a mouthful of cold water chugged from your bottle when you unclipped on a crisp early morning mountaintop?

The ride is the food is the wine is the people at inGamba. The roads are succulent and bountiful, and the food and wine leave you breathless. The Pinarello bikes are to the highest standard of the purest gourmand.

The personalities are rich and bold, yet full of subtle surprises. All is to be savored – and devoured. You are sated – and hungry for one more hill, one more delicacy, one more unforgettable character, one more new lifelong friend, one more perfect descent on a perfect bike, one more chance to doze off on the massage table, to lounge on a patio overlooking a terra-cotta tiled roof that itself overlooks a green mountainside that overlooks a valley at the bottom of which a farmer practices his own art.

Zuilio, the neighbor just up the hill and around the corner makes his own wine from his own yard grapes. He insists you take a bottle. Lorenzo, the baker with one blue eye and one brown feeds you treats that are all delicious but each good in a way none of the others are. Raul stands at the end of the table and as he works into your muscles he lays his head against your knee

and plucks and strums and hammers on you fiber by fiber, and if you happen to look down the length of your torso at him, you see that his eyes are closed. He is playing an instrument, and the instrument is you. You wish you could hear the song he is hearing.

By the second morning when you walk into Enoteca Rinaldi, Paolo knows what coffee drink you want and is preparing it before you can ask for it. When he gives the cup across the counter to you, there is a manner in his movements that says you are doing him a great honor to drink his coffee.

There is one of those marvelously Italian words, sprezzatura, which describes a rare sort of grace, an elegance of movement and of living that is so natural it appears effortless yet is the result of untellable and unquantifiable commitment. I aspire to and admire sprezzatura in cycling and in life. These are the rides and the feasts and the people of inGamba. Have you ever had such a bounty? You can. You should. You are about to.

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WELCOME JOÃO CORREIA It was an idea born on a ride in the fall of 2010, during my last season as a pro with the Cervélo Test Team. After spending the year living in Chianti, watching what I ate and focusing on my training, I realized I was unable to fully enjoy the bounties of this region I love so much. One day after riding I sat with a glass of wine at Paolo’s, the local enoteca, and sketched on a placemat my idea of a “perfect week”. I wanted to live that perfect week, but I also wanted more.

I wanted to share it. This is the week you are about to experience.

A typical day with inGamba begins with a cappuccino at Paolo’s, a place Bicycling magazine describes as “so inside Italy that it technically doesn’t have a name.” After exploring the hills of Chianti by bike, you can look forward to an afternoon with a leisurely lunch, massage and rest before dinner at one of my favorite restaurants or perhaps a friend’s house.

The goal of an inGamba trip is to embrace “la dolce vita”. To spend a week cycling on incredible roads so that we can eat spectacular food and drink amazing wine guilt-free because it is so natural that it cannot be another way. Your trip will be fully supported by guides, a soigneur and a mechanic who will not only take care of your body and bike, but make you feel part of a family. Finally, our insider’s perspective will allow you to revel in unique cultural outings and excursions to secret locales.

There is something about the beauty of this area, the quality of the cuisine and the warmth of the people that just connects with me. I’m confident it will connect with you as well. Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Warm regards,

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01.

MANGIA. eat

Borgolecchi is the perfect expression of the inGamba philosophy. It isn’t boastful or pretentious, because it doesn’t have to be.

It exudes the effortless charm and casual, rustic sophistication for which Chianti is so famous, but it’s about more than just style; it’s about substance.

BORGOLECCHI JERED GRUBER

This little bed and breakfast in the middle of sleepy Tuscany is as much a feeling as it is a location. Yes, the stone building dates back to the 15th century, but that’s only part of what makes it special. Borgolecchi’s real appeal becomes apparent only when you open the door to discover smiling faces, quiet and cosy rooms, and the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen.

As Jered Gruber, the acclaimed cycling photographer and long-time friend of inGamba put it: “It’s rare to leave your familiar household, travel a dozen hours, end up in a foreign country and find yourself, well … right at home. We spend months on the road every year, foreigners for most all of it. When we come to Borgolecchi though, we’re one of the locals. It feels like we belong here, like we’ve always lived there, like we had only left for the day and were returning from a quick trip to Firenze.”

We might be American, Portuguese or from somewhere in Italy that’s hundreds of kilometers away, but Borgolecchi is casa dolce casa, where we belong, and somewhere that we’re proud and excited to share with our guests. This place is about warmth: the comfort of the fireplace, the heat of the grill, the glow of the oven, the friendly and spirited conversation that overflows at mealtimes. To us, Borgolecchi is more than just accommodation. To us, it’s home.

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ALLEGRIA HEIDI SWIFT

I spilled a glass of red wine. The table was wild with the thrill of conversation, the room warm with the heat of friends. I was gesticulating, probably, emphasizing some exaggerated story with the exclamation point of my arm. I do this anyway, when I speak, but Italy and a few glasses of Chianti will really get me going.

The wine glass tilted and I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch it. It landed on the table but did not break and a wide swath of deep red wine stretched out across the golden tablecloth. All conversations stopped and, as 14 sets of eyes turned to look, I felt my cheeks redden. Someone chided me playfully. Someone else laughed.

Then, just as I began pouring out chagrined apologies, Anna came to the table with a few extra napkins. She threw them over the mess, smiling, and took both my shoulders in her hands, “Non c’e problema! Non ti preoccupare!”. Her face brightened and she put one hand on her hip, the other making a sweeping gesture to the mess in the middle of the table. “Allegria, Heidi! When this happens, we say, ‘Allegria!’”

The word means glee. And used in the context of a wine-soaked table, it’s an acknowledgement that what has just happened is merely a natural physical

expression of the joy of the moment, inevitable and welcome.

I’m not the first person to spill a glass of wine during an inGamba trip and certainly I won’t be the last. It’s the unavoidable consequence of dinner tables that are quick and lively, marked by conversation, storytelling, laughter, the crumbs of crusty homemade bread, the din and clatter of flatware, the endless passing of platters, plates and bottles.

Each meal takes on its own personality, informed by the pulse of the restaurant and the spirit of the dishes we share. At home in Borgolecchi, one has the sensation of dining with a long-lost family. But at the long table in the mysterious wine cellar at

Il Porri-One, the feeling is one of reverence and respect; the stuffed zucchini flower almost too perfect to tear apart and put into your mouth. Pizza night at Palazzo Pretorio is big and loud and raucous, as any pizza night should be, and the evening at Le Panzanelle always opens with a glass of bubbly, which has much to do with how it is likely to end. In the private dining room at Castello di Ama, you find your voice lowers automatically as the courses roll out of the kitchen, accompanied each time by a new glass of wine to match. Each bite is savored here, each sip a revelation.

The restaurants are unique, but what happens when we gather around the dinner table always shares a common theme: celebration, conversation, allegria.

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Chianti is as hilly and rugged as West Virginia, but with slightly better wine. Most of the little villages are located on hilltops, including Lecchi, our home for the week. That means finishing every ride with a two-kilometer climb back to town.

At the top, though, salvation awaits in the burly form of Paolo Cioni and his endless platters of prosciutto and bruschetti and free-flowing wine.

PAOLO BILL GIFFORD

The proprietor of Enoteca Rinaldi, Paolo serves as Lecchi’s de facto mayor. He is a towering guy with a deep voice and biceps like tree branches, as if he had hauled all the building stones to this hilltop village by himself. It’s not much, maybe 20 stone houses clinging to the hillside, and one narrow main street, with views like the otherworldly background of the Mona Lisa. Paolo’s place is the heart and soul of the village, and probably the best post-ride refueling stop in Chianti; cyclists stop by all day long.

Paolo himself is a strong, enthusiastic rider – a few years ago, he used the bike to help him lose 50 pounds. He still gives a good draft, so find his wheel and try to hang on. The olive oil that he makes each fall, enlisting friends to harvest the local groves, is rustic and perfect. A five-liter tin of it somehow made it home in my luggage intact, and I savored every drop.

“I love this part of the world,” João said one night, over wine.

“I came from Portugal, grew up in New York, but this is the only place where I’ve ever felt truly at home.”

After a few days in Lecchi, we all had to agree.

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Once the ride is over, the real adventure begins...

A meal with inGamba dives straight into the heart of local cuisine.

NEAL ROGERS, VELONEWS

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CHINI THE BUTCHER COLIN O’BRIEN

“You’re Irish? I remember a game in Belfast, between Northern Ireland and Italy, back in 1958. The crowd invaded the pitch and the game was called off, but Dino da Costa scored for us. He was a foreigner, from Brazil. Anyway, what can I do for you?”

An odd way to greet a 30-year-old, perhaps, but then, they say time is relative. To a man in his 70s, standing in the butcher shop that’s been in his family for almost 300 years, a World Cup qualifier from half a century ago likely seems quite contemporary.

The Chini’s butcher shop has been a fixture of daily life in Chianti since the 18th century. Wander in off the street and you’ll find Vincenzo Chini, an affable old man in an old white smock, behind the counter cutting meat and chewing the fat with his neighbors, just like the generations before him.

The display counter is packed with fresh meat under cold, spotless glass. Some cuts are easily recognizable, others more recherché. There’s the famous Florentine steak, of course, and tripe and pork ribs. But there’s also Buristo

blood sausage and a great big chunk of Testa in cassetta, head cheese that the more senior locals relish. There are hams and salamis and wrapped-up pieces of capocollo strung from the ceiling. And beside the plain wooden bench where the customers sit and patiently wait their turn, there’s a copy of Il Calcio e il Ciclismo Illustrato, an old Italian sports magazine, with Ercole Baldini on the cover, arms aloft and smiling, resplendent in the rainbow jersey. (By coincidence, it’s from the same year as that football match.)

An explanation for it being there is neither asked for, nor offered. Vincenzo just says in passing that Baldini wasn’t a great champion, but that he’d been special that year. I take his word for it and flick through a ledger that records the cattle purchases that his father made in the 1960s.

Vincenzo is self-effacing about his own place in the shop’s – and the town’s–history, but when his wife pulls out a ringbinder full of clippings from newspapers and magazines around the world, he allows himself a smile. He says he’s happy that people value what he does. I’m just the latest in a long line of writers and photographers to walk through his door, because to fans of Italian food, the Chini family is important.

They represent the best of Tuscan tradition, and want to keep it that way. Don’t expect to see a Chini chain come to a town near you anytime soon. In a big city, their meticulous approach to their work would be called “artisan”. Here, it’s just the way you do things. The whole family’s involved, but production is limited both by time and because in these times of industrial farming, when quantity is king, the very best meat is hard to find.

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Maybe it was because of this that a while back they decided to save the Cinta Senese pig from extinction. Like them, it has deep roots in these parts. Like them, it was at odds with modernity. As a breed, it’s smaller and fatter. It tastes sublime, but it can take longer to mature, and costs more to feed for less end-product. Not a beast that was designed with profit in mind, unless the bank balance isn’t your bottom line.

“My father always told me,” Vincenzo says with a smile, just outside the butchery’s outbuildings where they’re busy salting hams and drying sausages, “that whoever spends the most, pays the least.” Money isn’t everything, we agree, heading toward the bar next door for a glass of wine. Quality is what counts.

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IL MAGNIFICO BILL GIFFORD

We were in a very hot place, underground, and the diabolical figure confronting us was short and squat, bald and muscular. When he laughed, which was often, his entire scalp reddened, including his big ears. The only clues that Lorenzo was a baker rather than the devil himself were his white Crocs and the pinup calendar tacked to the wall.

He flipped open the doors to a massive oven – one of the biggest and oldest in Siena – and a blast of heat hit us in the face. Reaching into its depths with a long wooden paddle, Lorenzo pulled out a baking sheet filled with his family’s legendary contucci, golden biscuits made for dunking in vin santo, the fragrant dessert wine. With a big smile, he waved the steaming cookies, fragrant with orange zest and almond, under my nose.

We were trapped in the bowels of Il Panifico Magnifico, a famous Sienese bakery; our exit was blocked, literally, by a table already groaning with contucci plus at least five other types of cookies including chewy

almond moons called ricciarelli, dusted in powdered sugar. In addition, there were a dozen still-warm pannetone, fluffy orange cakes each the size of a basketball. We could not simply walk out of this room. We had to eat our way out.

But it wasn’t long before someone sliced into one of the orange cakes – just to be polite, you know. João filled a plastic cup with vin santo and dunked one of the biscotti into it.

Big smile.

Others followed his example. I picked up one of the powdered-sugar cookies and bit into it; in my mouth, it melted into a warm, sugary almond goo. Yes, please, I will have five more… Soon we were stuffing cake and cookies into our faces by the fistful, as our livers whirred back into the red zone. The table began to empty. We were all sweating profusely, thanks to the heat from the oven, but we didn’t care anymore.

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ALESSANDRO STELLA HEIDI SWIFT Alessandro Stella makes shoes. Stunning, immaculate, breathtaking handmade shoes. What does a shoemaker have to do with cycling? Nothing. Everything.

One afternoon after riding you go to Siena to meet him in his shop. He’ll show you his work, show you his process, smile at you and laugh, speak to you in his lovely accented English.

You’ll crowd into the tiny space, shoulder to shoulder with your riding mates and marvel at the smell of leather and the aesthetic precision that surrounds you on every side.

Alessandro is a man with lively hands, quick eyes and a generous heart. If you’re lucky, he will turn up at dinner later. If you’re really lucky, he’ll tell you a few stories from the road. And if you’re really, really lucky, he’ll have a few glasses of wine and begin to talk to you about life in abstract terms: there is a philosopher hiding in this shoemaker.

Maybe he tells you the story of what it was like to descend 15,000 feet on a bike from Tibet into Nepal, maybe he doesn’t. What does a shoemaker have to do with cycling?

Nothing. Everything.

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02.

BEVE. drink

LORENZA HEIDI SWIFT

I’ll spare you the exhaustive description of the organic symmetry of the vineyards or the way the sun backlit the group as we walked east across the grounds. Castello di Ama is a magical place, but what part of Tuscany isn’t?

More striking than the sprawling estate, ancient buildings or intimate collaborations with specific artists, was the woman at the head of it all:Lorenza Sebasti. Refined, articulate, gracious, elegant, warm and passionate, she seemed to embody everything I’ve begun to fall in love with in this part of Italy. I sat at her right hand throughout dinner and watched her command the table full of men with a presence that was soft and firm at the same time. When Lorenza speaks, you get quiet. You listen.

She spoke of history and innovation and soil and inspiration – and of her instant love affair with the land when she first visited at the age of 15. She discussed the grapes and processes with the knowledge of a scientist, the fervor of an artist and the affection of a lover. She has changed fundamental things about the production of Chianti.

She’s challenged convention while respecting tradition.

Together with her husband, the winemaker, they have constantly elevated, innovated and evolved every aspect of their work and life. She never said it directly, but the point was taken: never settle.

We were talking about wine, but we were also talking about life and love and family and inspiration and an existence so permeated with meaning that most of us can only begin to understand it. It’s about ambition, but not as we understand that word in the United States: it is about ambition balanced with real, honest respect for passion. It’s about making your life the way you want it to be while honoring a calling that exceeds your own existence. Have a purpose outside yourself. For God’s sake, do what you are meant to be doing.

And do it well.

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CASTELLO DI AMA BILL GIFFORD Often in Chianti, usually when toiling up one of the many local grades, I found myself envying the grapes. They get to sit still, after all, baking in the Gaiolian sun. And eventually they end up as wine. The luckiest ones reside in the vineyards around Lecchi, where most of the local fruit is destined for the stainless-steel fermenters at Castello di Ama, the winery just up the hill. For Ama is not just another Chianti producer, but a very special place.

Ama is a tiny hamlet where grapes had been grown for 1,000 years. It had a couple villas, some smaller houses, and a chapel, right on the side of a hill with the usual postcard views. After the war, though, it had emptied out, like a lot of little hamlets in Tuscany.

(You can’t eat postcard views.) In the 1970s, when the population of Ama was four, a group of four families from Rome bought the place as a weekend retreat, and they started growing grapes again. They hired a winemaker named Marco Pallanti, who inevitably fell in love with one of the Roman daughters, Lorenza Sebasti. Castello di Ama was born.

Ama is no ordinary winery, that’s obvious the moment you step out of the car. As you wander around the grounds, and in many of the buildings, you encounter some of the most astonishing contemporary art installations you’ll ever see. Every year, Lorenza and Marco invite an established artist to spend a few months in residence at Ama, and then to create a work based on their experience there. The artist leaves, the work stays. (Note to self: Be reincarnated as artist.)

“The idea is to start a dialogue between the place and the artist,” says Lorenza. The results of these dialogues are integrated into every corner of the place: in the barrel-aging rooms, among the olive trees, in an underground cistern, and even a 12th-century chapel, which Anish Kapoor transformed into a mediation on Heaven, Hell, and Hinduism.

(Not surprisingly, Raul almost fell into the Underworld). Outside, in a small olive grove, one finds knee-high replicas of the world’s great border walls, from the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall to the fence

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that separates Israel from the West Bank, titled “I Never Want To See My Neighbor Ever Again.” Turns out the artist, Carlos Garraicoa, had a long-simmering feud with his own neighbor back home in Havana, but it’s also fun to be able to just step over the Berlin Wall.

But my own favorite work, or works, are also the smallest: A sequence of small, witty drawings on the walls inside one of the villas, by Serbian artist Nedko Solakov. He calls them “Amadoodles,” and they pop up wherever he felt inspired to draw (perhaps after a glass or two of the Riserva): above doorways, around electrical plugs, on ceilings, everywhere you look you find some new, surprising little commentary, one more example of how art makes this place come alive.

Oh, and then there’s the wine: The excellent Chiantis, of course (a bottle of which sits, temptingly, on my wine shelf right now), but their other wines are just as much a creative expression as the art on the

grounds. Pallanti trained in Bordeaux, so even his Chiantis are not the run-of-themill fare, but he’s also introduced “exotic” grapes to the hills. His single-vineyard Merlot, l’Apparita, trumped Petrus in a blind tasting. Not surprising, since Pallanti cloned Merlot vines from Pomerol, which thrived in the stony Ama soil. There’s another, approachable blend called Haiku, and a few interesting single-vineyard offerings, the essential Vinsanto, and even a surprisingly elegant Chardonnay. Wine is not technically a “recovery” beverage, but in Lecchi it will do.

To Ama I feel like a guardian, part of a heritage to bring to the next generation, it’s something that belongs to the entire culture of Italy and Tuscany especially.

LORENZA SEBASTI, CASTELLO DI AMA

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At the upper end of Lecchi there’s a small cluster of stone buildings where Zuilio and his wife preside over a piece of olive and grape heaven. They’ve seen a few years, but it hasn’t slowed their eagerness to chat and introduce you to their land. Dozens of rabbits, chickens, a turtle and a cat abound, seeking your attention.

ZUILIO ASHLEY GRUBER

Zuilio takes a special pride in telling you about his family history. It doesn’t matter if you understand Italian; he will try to communicate, and somehow, you get it. He’ll offer his organic olive oil and wine, underlining that there are no chemicals inside.

It’s a community effort to get all the grapes down each year.

Friends have picking parties and shops close their doors. At harvest time, a dozen friends arrive to Zuilio’s land, and the grapes find their way from branches to basket to barrel.

If you come in the fall you can turn from the doorway into the sparkling sun and see the grapes drying for his delicious vin santo. On the right day, just as the sun is going down, with the light flickering through the lightly breezed leaves, you’ll smile, and be perfectly content.

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IL PORRI-ONE COLIN O’BRIEN

There’s a symmetry to be found between cycling and wine. Both require skill and an understanding borne from countless back-aching hours of hard work. Both are enjoyed globally, but nowhere more than in the rural provinces of Italy and France.

And both, if cared for, tend to get better with age.

In the bottle, complex reactions between phenol, acids and sugars can covert a mediocre Nebbiolo into something exceptional. And long after a race has been won or a mountain conquered, the telling and re-telling between cyclists and fans tends to soften the harsher tannins of reality into something with an altogether more pleasing palate. The sharper edges dull, describing it becomes more complex and colourful, you need more adjectives, and they linger longer on the tongue. The gap becomes bigger, the effort more acute, the suffering, more inhumane.

They can both spark debate, too, because they are passions that feed on favourites.

Do you prefer Chianti Classico or Barolo?

Is it Bartali or Coppi? You can like both, of course, but no one will really trust you.

Sooner or later, you need to choose – because there’s no answer more unpalatable to the appassionati than indifference.

Siena’s Porri-One is a restaurant seconds away from the city’s striking Piazza del Campo, but a world away from the crowds and the mundanity of the tourist menu.

Ermanno, Sandra and Simone Romano provide an experience quite unique, and at the same time unmistakable in its origin.

Again, not unlike a good wine or a great cyclist. Ermanno’s menu is Italian, the flavours quintisential, and yet, he strives to surprise and to impress in a way that’s not possible by sticking to tradition. It’s Italian cuisine, reinterpreted. Sometimes, it’s a subtle modification. Sometimes, it’s dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Never does it fail to impress.

The luckiest clients are served underneath the retaurant, in the chef’s cellar, admist a

particular and extensive personal collection.

It’s a special place. And as the courses come, and the wine keeps flowing, if you listen carefully you can almost hear the stories maturing with every swirl of the glass.

You can’t see the walls for bottles. The best of today’s crop, waiting to mature. They’re good now, but they’ll be better. And the old guard, in pride of place. Chiantis and Barolos – like Bartoli and Coppi – at odds with one another, but united, as all Italians must be, against the interloping French. Tuscany has more than its fair share of hidden treasures, but there aren’t many more precious than an evening in that cellar after a long day in the saddle.

Savour it.

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03.

BICI. ride

SERVICE COURSE MATT PHILLIPS

InGamba aims to serve your senses. We deal in emotions. We sweat the small stuff to deliver big experiences. We want to dish up the richest parts of every region and let you relish all of it slowly.

None of that would be possible without our incredible team of mechanics, soigneurs and riders. With years of experience in the professional peloton with teams like Tinkoff and Cannondale, they’re the support network you deserve, doing everything in their power to make this vacation an unforgettable adventure.

On the road, they can be tour guides, advisors, friends, a helpful wheel to hold when the pace quickens. They know the stories hidden in the countryside and the folklore behind the local food and wine. They are a one-way ticket to the best coffee shops along the route and your servers when you finally stop for that ristretto.

Back at base, the magic never stops at our Service Course, because behind every great rider, there’s a great mechanic. Their know-how allows a climber’s bike to soar in the mountains and gives a sprinter the confidence to fight for the line. The hours they spend agonising over every nut and bolt, each gram of grease and every millimetre of cable give the fastest riders on the planet the confidence to be their best, safe in the knowledge that they won’t be undone by a dropped chain or a broken spoke.

The best mechanics aren’t just cleaners and fixers – they’re insurance polices. Like a loyal Sous-Chef or the base player in your band, they might not get much credit from the wider public, but the people who matter most will tell you that no success would be possible without their endeavours.

The soigneurs, meanwhile, are like wizards, turning sore tissue into fresh muscle, ready

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for the next challenge. With years under their belts as professional riders, they are intimately in tune with the care that cyclists need each day to be their best. They take care of your bottles each morning, fill your musette with ride food that they have been cooking late into the night, and wake your legs up with a quick rub before you hop in the saddle.

And the man behind the curtain smoothing out all of this chaos, is Nate. You may have spoken to him about bike fit or exchanged e-mails about travel, but it’s hard to explain how much of himself he puts into each and every trip. He’s the guy pulling the strings, directing traffic, coordinating timetables and handling the inevitably complex logistics that ensure your experience with inGamba exceeds every expectation.

All of these people make inGamba special.

Without them, none of it is possible. Whether they’re riding next to you, driving to dinner or working in the background, they share a common goal: to care for you,to address your needs before you know you have them and to handle every last detail of daily life so you can focus on enjoying the ride, literally and figuratively. You’ll see some amazing places with us and get used to some incredible equipment, but we guaruntee that the most memorable part of this whole experience will be the people. They look forward to welcoming you into the family.

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GIORDANA Giordana have been friends of inGamba for a long time. And not just because they make some of the best cycling kit on the market. We’re partners because we share a genuine passion for cycling, because we both believe in quality and because

we’re both immensely proud of what we do. Giorgio Andretta founded Giordana in 1979 with a clear goal: To offer athletes unparalleled performance by combining the best of Italian craftsmanship and style with the latest technological advances.

More than 30 years later, his company still sets the standard. Our custom inGamba kit is lovingly made by a team of skilled workers at Giordana’s factory near Vicenza in northern Italy.

We think it performs perfectly, and represents the best of Italian manufacturing. And just as importantly, it looks cool. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.

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PINARELLO No one blends pedigree and performance like Pinarello. Known for their multiple Grand Tour wins and their jaw-dropping looks, these bikes are the stuff dreams

are made of. Pinarello’s latest super-bike, the Dogma F8, is the combination of over 60 years experience with the latest technological advancements – with a

little help from Team Sky and Jaguar, who know a thing or two about going fast.

Unsurprisingly, it’s utterly gorgeous. And, while you’re with us, it’s yours to enjoy.

It will come equipped with SRAM Red eTap, and wheels and finishing kit from Zipp.

That’s a lot of bling, but hey, life is too short to ride anything but the best.

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STAFF We serve your senses. We deal in feelings, tastes and experiences. We want to tap into the richest parts of this region and let you relish all of it slowly. The landscapes, the vistas, the rolling roads – those are fixed things that surround us, that create the backdrop for the moments, conversations and revelations that will inform your time here. On the edges of that stage are characters who are committed to ensuring the quality of your experience – a staff that will become like family.

On the road, our guides are there for you in every regard. A guide, a companion, a helpful wheel to hold when the pace quickens. They know the stories hidden in the countryside and they’ll share them with you. They are a one-way ticket to the best coffee shops along the route and your servers when you finally stop for that ristretto. Our Lead Guide, Eros Poli

has more experience riding these roads than anyone around. He was the winner of the legendary 1994 Tour de France stage over Mt. Ventoux. Imagine a guy like that riding next to you and offering words of encouragement when the group is going fast, and the going gets tough.

Back in the Service Course, our mechanics will care for your bike with the attention to detail and honed precision of a pro-tour mechanic, tuning and washing it each night. In fact, our previous mechanics are all working on the Pro-tour for teams like Tinkoff-Saxo and Cannondale-Garmin. In the morning, you’ll find your bike outside, already in the correct gear, right pedal turned to exactly 3 o’clock. We trust our mechanics with the bikes because there is no one better – and because at the heart of your experience everyday on the road is the quality of your connection to the machine.

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The soigneurs are the magicians, turning sore muscles into fresh ones with daily massage. With years under their belts as a professional riders, they are intimately in tune with the care that cyclists need each day to be their best. They take care of your bottles each morning, fill your musette with ride food that they have been cooking late into the night, and wake your legs up with a quick rub before you hop in the saddle. Raul is the master soigneur. And while he cares for your body, he also takes care of your spirit, livening up the day with jokes and antics, maybe even a little song and dance. There are few people in this world with the power to elicit such joy and happiness as he does on a daily basis.

And the man behind the curtain smoothing out all of this chaos, is Miguel. You may have spoken to him about bike fit or exchanged e-mails about travel, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever see him. He’s the guy pulling the strings, directing traffic,

coordinating timetables and handling the inevitably complex logistics that ensure your experience with inGamba exceeds every expectation.

The members of the staff wear many hats.

At some point Miguel will turn up on a bike, pedaling alongside you through the lush fields that line the road to Crete Senesi. One of our mechanics, Helder, might be behind you in the support van, blaring endearingly awful Euro-pop from the radio, ready to hand you a Coca-Cola at a moment’s notice. It could be Raul’s wheel that you follow through the snaking curves of a long descent.

Whether they’re riding next to you, driving to dinner or working in the background, they share a common goal: to care for you, to address your needs before you know you have them and to handle every last detail of daily life so you can focus on enjoying the ride, literally and figuratively.

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Raul may be a soigneur, but that’s just a facade. He’s one of life’s rare human beings that will have you in hysterical laughter in the blink of an eye.

PETER CRACKNELL, INGAMBA GUEST

RAUL HEIDI SWIFT

You come to inGamba knowing you will get massages from a professional soigneur. You think of this as a set of hands and a moment of relaxation. You imagine yourself closing your eyes after a hard ride – a bit of kneading and pressure sorts you out. Instead, you get Raul. Raul the leg whisperer.

Raul the clown. Raul the mime. Raul the comedian. Raul the lover. Raul the great. Raul forever.

You fall in love with him. You can’t help it. Neither could I. And he loves you, too. Because that is why he breathes. To take care of people. To take care of you. To take care of me.

The word “soigneur” means “one who takes care of others”.

This is not just about massage. Everyone who meets Raul will learn that. Everyone who meets Raul will learn something they did not know about how to love each other as human beings. His is a selfless, devoted, invested kind of care.

Raul takes care of my legs every day that I am in Tuscany. On some days he also rides with me, observing the way I climb or shift gears. When we climb with fast groups he puts a hand on my lower back and takes the edge off of my threshold effort. He always asks for permission first. When I run out of water, he hands me a fresh bidon from his cage. When the fireworks go off in the front of the group, he sometimes gets caught up in the fray. Then he sits up, supermans on his saddle and drifts back to me. Laughing.

Later when he works my calves he props my leg up on the table and leans his head against my knee – eyes closed – and disappears into his work. There is a conversation shared between fingers and muscles as he kneads his way into the very details of my pedaling, the shadowy forms of my doubts and insecurities, the secret hopes guarded in my heart. By the time he’s done, he knows more about me than I intended.

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EROS POLI MONSIEUR VENTOUX COLIN O’BRIEN

He was never supposed to win. Especially not on the Tour de France’s most venerated mountain. Sure, he was prized as Mario Cipollini’s sprint lead-out man, but as a climber?

Forget it. He weighed more without a bike than most of his competitors did with one, and towered above them all at 1.94 metres tall. He’d had a stellar amateur career, but turned pro late, aged 28. He was an excellent domestique, but not a doyen. No, Mont Ventoux wasn’t for meant for him.

And yet, Eros Poli took it anyway. The Giant of Provence was conquered by a giant from Verona with a breakaway so audacious that his rivals ignored it. They thought it was the very definition of folly. It was, in fact, the definition of panache.

It was the kind of romantic win befitting a guy called Eros.

Cipo, the greatest sprinter of his generation and Poli’s team leader, had crashed out of the Vuelta and missed the Tour.

Mercatone Uno were without a leader for La Grande Boucle, and so the the workers were let off the chain. It was a rare opportunity to impress at the season’s biggest event, and one that Poli took by the scruff of the neck.

Attacking solo some 100km before Ventoux, the Veronese knew that he’d need a huge lead to stay ahead of the pack once the flat stage turned nasty and the road started heading skyward. He did the math. Accepted he’d need at least 24 minutes at the foot of the mountain – a minute for every kilometre climbed with an extra cushion, just in case.

And then he went to work.

When the early ramps of the ascent arrived, he was leading by more than 25 minutes. The peloton didn’t know it yet, but they’d sealed their fates. Not even an attack from a young Marco Pantani could bring him back. He crossed the summit four minutes ahead of il Pirata. 40km to the finish in Carpentras, but with gravity and adrenaline and a lifetime of ambition on his side. The stage, the adoration of cycling fans everywhere, and a unique place in the history books, were his.

The following day, Italy’s sports paper of record, La Gazzetta dello Sport, called it a national triumph, and ran with the headline: “Ventoux is finally ours!” Two decades later, the French still call him Monsieur Ventoux. At inGamba, we’re just proud to call him one of us.

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Miguel Indurain is a champion, but Eros Poli is a hero.

JEAN MARIE LEBLANC, TOUR DE FRANCE DIRECTOR 1989 - 2005

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L’EROICA TOM VANDERBILT

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…” The most rousing line from the St. Crispin’s Day pre-battle speech of Henry V, and what for me became the Shakespearean mantra of l’Eroica – that mixture of pageantry and punishment that unfolds every autumn in Chianti. And a battle it felt: The predawn mustering at the start, in the old market town of Gaiole (as the man with the flashlight scrutinized the bike the way European border control use to check passports). The solemn initial rise, toward the Madonna a Brolio, the pinescented path enveloped by spectral paper lanterns. The attrition as we climbed Monte Sante Maria, the sharpest, most rutted, most-walked ascent of the day. Rolling into hilltop towns like weary, grit-caked soldiers, splayed out in sunny plazas and plied with warm ribollita and jugs of wine. Crossing the finish with my little band of brothers, we four who had clung together across 130 miles and 15,000 or so of elevation (one doing it on a dodgy last-minute replacement bike with unholy gearing), to hearteningly adoring crowds.

l’Eroica lives on in my muscle memory, my lower back on the verge of rupture after too many seated climbs, the gravel swallowing watts like a desert drinks rain. But I also remember the spirited fellowship of the road: Shouting the code-word “donkey” in the dark to locate comrades. The rider who came up alongside shouting and gesturing excitedly: My obscure bike’s marque (Ceccherini) was his family’s surname! Another puncture? Wait, from nowhere, here’s Paolo, the restaurateur from Lecchi – who knew he was riding? – kitted in wool and smiling as he lends a hand. l’Eroica utterly defines the cycling maxim: The more you say in an instant “I will never do this again” is the exact measure of how much you will want to do it again.

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What drew me to inGamba was at first the trip itself and what I found was a group of people that truly care about the world around them. That blew me away and I’ve been back every year since it started.

GARY SMITH, INGAMBA’S FIRST CLIENT

CHANGING LIVES JOÃO CORREIA For us, a bicycle is a recreational tool. But to millions of people around the world, a bicycle is an inexpensive, sustainable form of transportation, one that can mean the difference between seeing a doctor, getting to school, making a living – or not.

One of the things we are most proud of at inGamba is our One Guest: One Bike program where we donate $147 – the price of one bike – to World Bicycle Relief’s Africa program in honor of each person who travels with us.

World Bicycle Relief addresses the lack of affordable, reliable transportation in rural Africa by designing, sourcing and manufacturing high-quality bicycles to withstand African terrain and load requirements while meeting the needs of students, healthcare workers, farmers and entrepreneurs.

They strengthen local economies and promote long-term sustainability by assembling bicycles locally, training mechanics and improving the spare parts supply chain.

We share common values and envision a world where distance is no longer a barrier to education, healthcare and economic opportunity. A world where bikes make a difference.

We believe strongly that inGamba is helping change the lives of our guests by giving them a travel experience that is unparalleled and we’re making it our mission to make the world a better place through the power of a bicycle.

So, we’re asking you to join us in this fight to bring life changing transportation opportunity to Africa by making a donation before their trip to the non-profit World Bicycle Relief at wbr.org.

Donating a bicycle is more than a gift; it is a long-term investment in sustainable practices and economic opportunity in rural Africa. Please join us, you may just find out – like we did – that you get so much back from giving.

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Cycling with inGamba is not just about the landscape and the skyscape and the scenery: its about camaraderie and friendships and memories.

HEIDI SWIFT, PELOTON MAGAZINE

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To be honest, riding with inGamba is the best week of my season. The fun at the dinner table, the wines and the perfect roads makes it a dream week for me. I return to my race season, totally unstressed, but really well trained.

LAURENS TEN DAM, TOP 10 FINISHER 2014 TOUR DE FRANCE

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RIDE, REST, REPEAT TED KING

Please pardon this terribly perfect analogy, but inGamba runs the absolutely perfect (wait for it)... cycle. You arrive anxious and eager to soak in the entire week’s adventure in Italy, so the first day you’re bursting out of bed and onto the bike. You come home that evening after one of the most amazing rides of your life sinuously weaving through the Italian countryside and you’re famished. So João has arranged one of the best meals you’ll ever eat from a restaurant you’ve certainly never heard of nor would you have ever found left to your own devices. Rest, repeat, raise to the power of amazing, and multiply times 7 – or however many days your trip is. Every greeting is familial and heartwarmingly organic, every detail covered. Every bite, every pedal stroke, and every sip you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

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WORDS & IMAGES MANUEL BOTTAZZO Creative Director

JOÃO CORREIA Retired professional cyclist | inGamba Founder

BILL GIFFORD Writer | inGamba Guest

ASHLEY GRUBER Writer/Photographer | inGamba Guest

JERED GRUBER Features Editor | Peloton Magazine | inGamba Guest

COLIN O’BRIEN Writer | inGamba Guest

MATT PHILLIPS Test Director | Bicycling Magazine | inGamba Guest

BILL STRICKLAND Editor-at-Large | Bicycling Magazine | inGamba Guest

HEIDI SWIFT Editor-at-Large | Peloton Magazine | inGamba Guest

TOM VANDERBILT Writer | inGamba Guest

ORIGINAL CONCEPT JOÃO CORREIA NATE RIPPERTON

PARTNERS A special thanks to our partners who add as much to our guests’ experience as any restaurant, wine or ride we do. They allow us to treat our guests like pros.

Our bikes are Pinarello Dogma F8s equipped with SRAM Red eTap and Zipp wheels, bars and stems, saddles by fi’zi:k and tires by Vittoria. Clothing by Giordana, nutrition and hydration by ClifBar and heads protected by Giro helmets. Friendly competition brought to you by Strava and fueled by Handlebar Coffee. Training programs

by Carmichael Training Systems. Corner clearance and knees saved

by Speedplay pedals, Elite water bottles and cages. Bikes stay tuned

by Park Tools. Bags for bikes and gear by SciCon. Cool name stickers

by Victory Circle Graphix. Garmins held in place by the original BarFly3.0. And, we make a difference in the world through World Bicycle Relief.

inGamba is the collaboration of a few people who wanted to share their passions for riding a bicycle, eating great food and drinking fantastic wine.

We strive to live each “perfect week” fully while introducing our guests to a world they may not know existed. inGamba was born from a simple tweet: “Thinking of doing a ride, eat, drink EOY bash here in chianti October 12 –18th,” said @joaoisme. “Share my favorite things about this place. Who’s interested?”

Four brave souls – Gary Smith, Kevin Irvine, Jason Probert and Robin Kelly – answered. There were no security deposits, no liability waivers, just as Kevin put it “a huge amount of trust”.

The adventure writer Bill Gifford added words to the narrative; Jason Gould provided images while Joe Staples, Andrew Reed, Michael Scher and Tony Little created the canvas. The original team consisted of Raul Matias, Jorge Queirós, João Correia and the kind people of Lecchi in Chianti whose world we share with a few lucky travelers each year.

From these humble beginnings sprouted this thing we call inGamba.