An inGamba trip doesn’t just bring you along for the ride on new roads in beautiful places—it changes how you see the world.
Our trips helps you slow down, even for a moment, and allow you the space to appreciate the best things about a region, from the roads to the cuisine to the wine to the culture. An inGamba trip offers you new connections, hours of deep conversation over espressos and aperitifs, and if you let it, it can change how you approach your daily life when you go home. Here are just a few of the habits you might decide to bring to everyday life after one of our trips:
Take the time to make food look beautiful
If there’s one thing that Borgolecchi’s chef Tomi Morgade does to perfection, it’s making every meal not only taste fantastic, but look beautiful on the plate. “Before I came here, I was really rushing all the time,” he says. “With the rhythm of working in restaurants, it is all the time, go, go, go, go, go. Here, it’s more relaxed and there’s time to focus on the details. I prefer that the food takes five minutes more and goes to the table properly.” While I may not be able to plate like a chef who has worked at Michelin-star restaurants, I can spend 30 seconds longer on my plating at dinnertime to make a meal look nicer. Even lighting candles and properly setting the table, or adding a glass bottle of water to the table, can make a big difference to the ambiance.
Enjoy slow, relaxed mealtimes more often
“When I arrived at Borgolecchi, I was still rushing all the time,” says Tomi. “And then I realized that nobody else was. It was just me. And I realized I could change that.” The best part of an inGamba trip (after the riding itself) is the real, deep conversations that you have with the other cyclists. It’s not just about where you’ve ridden and what bikes you have at home, it’s about everything: books you’re reading, movies you love, the meaning of life boiled down into a single word, the kind of animal you’d want to be if you had to pick… Nothing is off-limits, and that’s largely because mealtimes are slow and relaxed, and there’s no rush to leave the table, so there’s time to go deep and talk about anything and everything.
Take care of your bike
There’s something amazing about getting on a bike that’s perfectly clean and polished, with a chain that’s freshly lubed, a battery on the Garmin computer that’s fully charged, and tires that are pumped to just the right pressure. This happens everyday on an inGamba trip because the mechanics are making it happen behind the scenes, and trust me, you get used to the feeling of a bike that just works the way it’s supposed to. While you may not have a pro mechanic living in your garage, you can do a quick post-ride bike clean and reset yourself in a matter of minutes. Don’t just toss your dirty bike into the back corner of your garage: Take 30 seconds to wipe it down, another 30 to clean and lube the chain, check your tire pressure, and plug in all of your devices to recharge. Your future self will thank you the next time you head out to ride! Getting your bike tuned regularly by a professional mechanic should also be on your to-do list: Set a calendar reminder for every few months to bring it in for some pro level TLC, and you’ll have a smoother, happier ride.
Lean into little luxuries
On an inGamba trip, you may not notice all of the tiny things that come together to give you a world-class experience, but if you pay close attention, you’ll start to see that every piece is carefully considered. The olive oil on the table at mealtimes comes from a local olive grove and is pressed just a couple miles from the bed and breakfast. The napkins are cloth, not paper. The wineglasses are Zalto Denk’art—known to be the best wineglasses in the world—and using them instantly makes the wine, which is also local and picked to specifically pair to each meal, taste that much better. Even on the bike, the tiny paninis made by the soigneurs each day are an understated moment of luxury on a hard ride. Coming back from the Chianti Classico trip, I didn’t instantly upgrade everything in my kitchen or gear closet, but I did invest in a few things that made a big difference, like those wineglasses, and started to take the time to do things like using the linen napkins that I own but rarely reach for.
Get a regular massage
Ask any pro and they’ll tell you: Regular massage isn’t a luxury, it’s a performance staple. Carving out time on a weekly or every other week basis to spend an hour getting a massage can be hugely beneficial to your cycling and to your overall stress levels. If you truly don’t have the time, a massage gun or compression boots can provide some similar benefits, but if you’ve been on an inGamba trip and experienced the magic of daily massage after each ride, it’s hard to go back. Massage tends to be something that I drop from my regular schedule as soon as life gets busy, and I only pick it up again when I have a niggling injury that needs some extra attention. This trip reminded me that it’s important to take preventative steps to avoid some of those nagging injuries that typically stem from a tight spot that I ignore for one too many rides.
Indulge in a mid-ride stop
Nothing beats the feeling of taking a quick mid-ride stop to have an espresso and splitting a pastry with a friend. The stops don’t have to be long, but the act of pausing mid-ride actually serves to make you more energetic on the way home, and not just due to the caffeine boost. It’s almost like a reset, as though you’re restarting the ride on fresh legs with new motivation. Not every ride I take includes a stop now, but on my long days on the bike, I’m much more likely to pull over and hit that tiny cafe in the heart of a small town, sparing 10 minutes to stop and simply take a beat.
