Cycling tours of Italy? Trek Travel?

[Mr. BlueBug32]

Thanks for the info everyone.

Question: how much time would you recommend before and after the actual riding trip begins? We were thinking of 2 or 3 days on either side?

-Rob

[Grasshoppergirl]

My DH and I went on a trip to Tuscany with VBT tours, Vermont touring, about 5 years ago. The guides were super. One was an Italian and the other an American very fluent in Italian. Our group bonded really well too. Just the right amount of activities, tours, and time on your own. We rented their bikes which were comparable to what we had at the time. We still get the catalogs and you can't beat the prices which include airfare and beautiful places to stay. We added on three days in Florence at the end.

[Biciclista]

Thanks for the info everyone.

Question: how much time would you recommend before and after the actual riding trip begins? We were thinking of 2 or 3 days on either side?

-Rob

Take the remnants of your first day there to recuperate, then the next day if you're out on a bike all day in the sun you're going to be better off than if you did anything else anyway.

[PinkBike]

just wanted to add my +1 to Trek Travel.

we had the best vacation EVER at the tour of california in 2008. everything about trek travel was professional, well organized, well-planned, the guides gave individual attention all the time, it was the best, i cant say enough good things about that trip!!!

[Crankin]

We booked 3 days on either end of our trip. You need it to adjust to the time zone changes before you are actually riding. At least I did.

[Mr. SR500]

I think we got there a day ahead, and stayed 2 days. Many of the others traveled on their own after, but with young kids we needed to get back. I think it worked great great for us. Trek arranged our before and after hotels, so that helped as well.

[michelem]

For us, we did not bookend our trip at all, and it was HARD!!! 20+ hours travel time each way takes a lot out of a person (drive to BART, BART to SFO, SFO to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Florence, bus to train station, train to another train station, and then a cab to our final destination -- and then the same in reverse to go back home -- yikes!!!). I set my watch to Italy time as soon as we boarded our plane in SF and made sure I kept myself awake during Italy daytime hours and made myself "sleep" during Italy night-time hours. Still woke up rarin' to go at about 2 or 3am the first morning! Getting on the bike and getting going that first day helped a lot and I had no problem with jet lag or anything while we were there. My DH had it harder because he didn't sleep at all during travel.

We were only in Italy for 5 days. Returning to the States was MUCH HARDER. Upon return we both slept like rocks for umpteen hours straight. I had one full day to recuperate and then back to work. That whole week I felt like I'd been run over by a Mac truck -- felt like I had the flu or something. I wanted to crawl under my desk and fall into a coma.

If I had to do it again, I would have taken the week after off of work to rest and reacclimate.

[Crankin]

Exactly why it's important to plan the extra time. It's not particularly good to fly long distances after you've been doing a lot of hard riding. Makes you ripe for dvts. That's why I will be lying on a beach and playing tourist in Malaga after my tour in Spain this May.