What to do when you can’t run an Italian cycling tour due to travel restrictions? Go Virtual…..
We are excited to be launching our first virtual tour today in the beautiful region of Puglia.
Hosted exclusively for our valued tour guests for the month of May, our Virtual Tour of Puglia rolls out on the same day that we were due to start our Puglia Cycling Tour in Italy, and what would have been the first tour of our 2020 season.
The tour is a multi-level experience that will take in more than just the riding – which in essence, is just like one of our actual tours. It is inclusive of both riders and non-riding partners who are invited to join us for weekly organised rides, aperitivo hours and cooking sessions, and to engage in the spirit of community by sharing conversation with the group in a private forum.
So how will we roll this May….
The Riding Challenge
The riding challenge is to ride 640km in the month of May – indoor and/or outdoor.
While we originally thought this would be all indoors due to our current lockdown, in the spirit of participation and change (something we are all getting used to in the current environment!), if guests don’t have an indoor trainer and are still safely getting out on the road, they are very welcome to join the challenge.
There are three options to complete the challenge:
- Il Grande Giro della Puglia, complete 640km in 8 days
- Medio Giro della Puglia, ride the 640km across 16 days
- Piccolo Giro della Puglia, take the month to ride 640km
If riders enjoy a little elevation, they can also add another layer to the challenge by adding 5040m meters of elevation to the distance, mirroring what we do on our Puglia cycling tour.
Guests can use any indoor riding platform/app that they prefer for their own experience.
This experience is all about community; it’s about participating and having some fun together, and is certainly not a competition.
Organised Rides & Sharing the Ride Conversation
We will be hosting a shared ride each week with guests joining us on indoor trainers and/or pre or post their outdoor ride.
In the spirit of enjoying some post-ride banter, our private group forum established exclusively for our tour guests, will be the platform to share stories and experiences, and we’re looking forward to sharing many of those.
The Flavours of Puglia
The Puglia Virtual Tour Experience doesn’t end with the riding. When we hop off the bike, there will be the off-the-bike sensory experiences of the food and wine to savour.
For this, we’ll be teaming up with local Italian food and wine partners, who are offering a great range of products for guests to try throughout the month. More on these as the month unfolds.
Aperitivo Fridays
Each Friday for the month of May, we will host an aperitivo session, tasting our way through 5 wines from Puglia.
Aperitivo is one of our favourite parts of the day in Italy and when we are on tour, we love sharing this special hour between the end of the day and the beginning of the evening, for conversation and friendship. So we’re looking forward to bringing this important element to our Virtual Tour also.
Cooking Sessions
Each Wednesday for the month, we will feature a different recipe from the wonderful Pugliese cuisine. Whether it’s to enjoy with aperitivo or at lunch on ride days, or to relive many of the great food experiences we enjoy on tour, we’ll share some of our favourite recipes and host cooking classes.
From taralli to orecchiette, to tiella and panzerotti, we’ll cook our way though some classic Pugliese dishes, and other specialities of the cuisine and culture, including the famous Caffe Leccese, enjoyed by so many of us on tour in Puglia.
For us, cooking home made dishes together from scratch, and sharing the enjoyment and rewards of cooking, is such a wonderful experience and we welcome sharing this with guests.
From here….
We’re looking forward to sharing our planned calendar of activities for the month with our valued guests, and to rolling out more Virtual Tours in the months to come, particularly for people looking to join us on tour in Italy in 2021 and beyond.
If you are interested to join us on a Virtual Tour, please email us to register your interest.
Saluti
Damian and Nancy
