Tuscany Wellness Week

Benvenuti in Italia! Our first ride is an easy spin to shake off the cobwebs, but it’s also very pretty, heading south through the quiet Chianti countryside until San Giusto Alle Monache. There, we’ll loop back north, passing the stunning Castello di Brolio on the hill above San Regolo and finishing on our home climb up to Lecchi. This is the time to make sure everything with your bike is perfect – if something’s not quite right, let a mechanic or a guide know and we’ll be sure to fix it before the tough riding begins.

A compact but punchy morning ride through the vine-covered hills above Radda in Chianti. The climbs are short and sharp, rewarding you with open ridgeline views before dropping back through woodland and into the valley. This is riding that demands presence, which makes it an ideal setting for the first on-bike awareness session with Patrick. After the ride, the afternoon shifts fully into the program: an introduction to the framework, the week's arc, and the first guided workshop on present-moment attention and what it means to perform from clarity rather than reactivity.

No riding today. The day belongs entirely to the practice. The morning begins with guided yogic movement, mobility, and breathwork on the terrace at Borgolecchi, followed by a cold plunge with vineyard views. Patrick leads the group through the first deep dive into present-moment awareness, exploring how attention works under pressure and what it feels like to create genuine space between stimulus and response. After breakfast, the group gathers for a workshop on nervous system regulation, drawing on polyvagal theory and contemporary neuroscience to understand how stress, recovery, and emotional state affect performance on and off the bike. The afternoon is unstructured, with time for reflection, massage, and the kind of unhurried conversation that rarely happens at home. The evening closes with a restorative group session exploring how these tools transfer into work, leadership, and everyday life.

A route with real history. inGamba founder Joao Correia designed this loop during his years living and training in Lecchi, riding down to Pianello for a coffee and the Gazzetta dello Sport before heading home. Today it remains one of the most naturally paced rides of the week, passing Castello di Brolio before descending to Castelnuovo Berardenga for a stop at Café Agribar Brolio, its walls lined with cycling memorabilia and Eroica history. The distance and terrain invite a more settled, flow-oriented ride, and Patrick will introduce the first on-bike flow exercises, working with pacing, attention, and group dynamics as the roads unspool through classic Chianti countryside.

The biggest day of the week, and the one that earns its place. The climb to Monteluco is a proper Tuscan ascent, rising steadily through oak forests and open ridgelines before delivering sweeping views across the Crete Senesi and the silhouettes of medieval hill towns in the distance. The route threads back via La Villa, adding another layer of climbing and scenery before the descent home. This is where the week's work comes together on the bike: managing effort and emotion on a long climb, staying present under physical stress, and discovering what flow actually feels like when the conditions are right. The afternoon workshop connects the day's riding directly to the science of flow states and the challenge-skill balance that makes them possible.

A second day away from the bike, and one that tends to surprise people with how much happens. The morning follows the now-familiar rhythm: movement, breathwork, and cold plunge, before Patrick leads what is often the most personally resonant session of the week, a deep exploration of self-compassion as a performance tool. The research is clear that self-criticism drains the energy that should be going toward focus, creativity, and resilience. This session works to transform that inner critic into something more useful. The afternoon workshop covers emotional intelligence and sustainable high performance, with group dialogue that draws on the week's shared experiences on and off the bike. By evening, the conversation tends to shift naturally toward what participants will carry home, and how the same qualities that make a better cyclist also make a better leader, partner, and human being.

A beautiful penultimate ride to one of Chianti's most enchanting destinations. The route builds steadily through vine-covered valleys, climbing to the fortified medieval hamlet of Volpaia, which feels entirely suspended in time. Stone towers, narrow alleys, centuries of winemaking tradition. We stop here for an espresso or aperitivo before descending back through forests glowing in the afternoon light. It's a ride that rewards patience and attention, both qualities sharpened considerably by this point in the week.

The final ride is the longest and, for many, the most memorable. Heading south from Lecchi, the landscape opens dramatically into the Crete Senesi, the vast, lunar clay hills that form the backdrop to Strade Bianche and one of the most iconic stretches of road in all of Italian cycling. The out-and-back format invites a ride of two halves: outward with intention, homeward with everything the week has given you. By the time Borgolecchi comes back into view, most riders have a clear answer to the question the week began with. A farewell dinner follows, and with it the kind of conversation that tends to run late into the Chianti night.

This is our final morning together and after a leisurely breakfast, it will be time to say goodbye, or at least arrivederci, until we meet again. Transfers to the airport will be arranged by our hard-working crew but if you’re planning on staying a few extra days, let us know if we can help with reservations or a few recommendations.