On an inGamba bike tour, not only are the mountain views epic, the bikes perfectly dialed, the wine fabulous and flowing freely, and the food worth Instagramming at every meal, the experience of going from strangers to friends by the end of the week is impossible to discount.
Having been in hundreds of WhatsApp group chats after rides, inGamba coordinator Katie Bolling sees these friendships form, deepen, and last firsthand. Often, she says, notifications from a trip’s WhatsApp group continue pouring in long after all of the riders go home, as riders who met on the tour keep chatting about bikes, life and their next rides.
Research has shown that experiences are the best ways to create and deepen friendships—that’s why so many small groups of friends and families book private tour experiences with inGamba, but even being on a tour with an entirely new group can lead to friendships. There are several reasons that researchers believe travel can enhance friendships and even speed up the process of solidifying a friendship.
The fact that you’re already on a bike tour with inGamba takes care of the hard part: Finding mutual ground. If you’re with us, you love the bike, you love a curated travel experience, and you likely are the kind of person who loves to push themselves on the bike, but also enjoy every minute of time off the bike as well.
But friendships deepen with travel thanks to intimacy of spaces, quality time, disclosure, navigation of challenges, and/or a sense of learning about oneself through shared experiences, according to researchers. If that doesn’t sound like a day on the bike, we don’t know what does. Intimacy of spaces? The peloton you’re riding in takes care of that, as does the fabulous villa locations where inGamba riders stay during their trip.
Quality time? Got that in spades as you pedal up some of the most famous roads in the world. Disclosure? Personally, I’ve never been on a bike trip that doesn’t instantly promote sharing (and over-sharing, when it comes to things like trading stories about saddle sores and battle scars from past rides). Navigating challenges? Getting to the top of the mountain pass, whether you’re the first or last to the top ticks that box. And learning about oneself through the shared experience? If you don’t have at least one epiphany while on the bike or over a glass of chianti on this trip, we’re not doing our job right.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m a matchmaker, but there is a bit of that in the mix when I’m helping people decide on which trip they want to do,” says Bolling. “One of my favorite parts of the job is when I’m suggesting trips to people and looking at the group makeup and saying, ‘Oh, this is a great group, you seem have this energy that would work well here.'”
But no trip is going to be the wrong option: “Our community is made up of very interesting, kind, fun, adventurous people,” she adds. “I love the opportunity to create those connections, and then hopefully see some of them turn into lasting friendships. A lot of people then continue to select trips based on other folks that they’ve met on past trips!”
In fact, an inGamba trip even has the power to create friendships outside of the tours: Because you leave with an inGamba cycling kit, Bolling says that she’s even seen people connect on group rides simply because they both show up wearing that kit, and then bond over the trips that they’ve done in the past.
”That's one of the very special aspects of inGamba: You do feel you're in this very heartfelt community after you've been on a tour
Katie Bolling
“I heard about two of our clients both happening to be in Las Vegas, and one client was getting off the elevator wearing an inGamba hat and the other rider recognized the logo and they had this instant bonding moment. It’s an immediate recognition that you have a strong shared passion.”
“The relationships and community are a very strong aspect of the experience that I share with people,” she says. “We have a lot of solo travelers who are leading busy lives at home, but cycling is a really heartfelt part of their identity. So when they go on these trips and they’re able to meet other people with the same love of the bike, they feel like they’ve found their people.”
