How to Find the Perfect Tuscan Villa for your Bicycle Vacation

There’s a charming Tuscan villa with your name on it. The plan for the week is to ride to wineries and castles on a trusty steed rented from BikeRentalsPlus! Everything is arranged: the kids have the downstairs room, the pool behind the villa is definitely open for the week and the family will be dining on Florentine steak at local restaurants that you’ve painstakingly researched.

But you’ve never done this sort of thing before – what should you expect? Lucky for you, we’ve compiled the comments from our 2009 customers into usable advice for next time. First: a bit of wisdom on the Italian train system, and then we’ll dive into customer feedback.

Planes, trains and automobiles

After arriving by plane, many customers rent cars – or they take advantage of Europe’s favorite transportation: the train. This year, many of our customers sieged trains with bikes in hand, ready to ride off into the Italian sunset. But navigating the Italian train system is sometimes harder than it is easy, so we wanted to share some travel tips to smooth the path of future and returning customers.

First, make sure to book the right train. Regional trains (designated by a little “R”) are the only ones in Italy that will accept bikes. There is no need to reserve these ahead of time, although it’s not a bad idea to check out and print the desired itinerary online the night before. Go to www.trenitalia.com to find the perfect route (there is an English version). Enter the departure and arrival towns (spell the names right or it won’t work!) and click the “all solutions” button to view all regional trains.

At the train station, buy at ticket at the counter or through an automated machine – but don’t forget to buy a ticket for yourself and your bike. Bike tickets usually cost around an additional €3.50. On the way out, validate both tickets (stamp them) in one of the many yellow boxes on the walls in the train station, or else you might end up with an additional but unwanted ticket from train personnel who occasionally pass by once onboard.

After purchase and validation, located one of the electronic departure screens inside our outside to find out which “bin” (short for “binario,” or platform) the correct train departs from. Be prepared to do some awkward weightlifting: some train stations have elevators and most do not allow passengers to cross the tracks for any reason – unattended, or mostly at all. So the only way to get from here to there is to go down stairs with the bike and back up the stairs on the other side. Batting the eyelashes at strong Italian men sometimes helps in this predicament, if one happens to be female.

Once the stairs are behind you, hopefully the train is already waiting on the tracks. Now where the heck does the bike go? Look for the little bike icon on the train, usually right behind the engine in the front of the train (but sometimes also towards the back of the train). Take a deep breath: getting in the train requires lifting yourself plus bike up the steep steps into the train. Once inside, most likely the bike will be hung by the wheel in a small bike car – so it’s not a bad idea to remove panniers ahead of time, if panniers are in use.

If for some reason you are picking up a bike in Italy and riding to France, then taking the train back with your bike, regional trains won’t do the trick. Long distance travel requires a faster train with less stops, such as an ES, InterCity or Freccia Rosa. On these trains, riders must take apart and pack up their bikes so they will be considered as luggage.

Finding your way

You said:
“The maps were pretty sparse and we could have done with somewhat more detailed ones”

“The map scale was 1:200,000. This did not provide nearly enough detail. After our first day, we found a store that sold maps and purchased a 1:100,000 map.”

“Most of the small highways had no road signs, nor town direction signs at intersections... Often what looked like a fairly major road on the map was fairly small street in reality.”

Our marked maps are maps with highlighted rides – so customers need to be comfortable reading and following a map without other written cues. The Italian countryside is a puzzle comprised of tiny, bike path-sized roads along routes created in Roman times. As such, the roads are winding and scenic, but can be confusing. Part of navigating in Italy is being comfortable with the fact that at first, visitors do get lost – but it’s how they react that counts.

One suggestion is that all cyclists purchase the local Touring Club Italiano (green) or Michelin yellow map of the area they’ll be riding in. The most common maps in Italy are the T.C.I. 1:200000 regional maps; they work quite well for bicycle touring even though a more detailed map might be useful especially for navigation in a city. F.m.b. makes more detailed maps that are generally available at rest areas on the highwy or book stores.

All riders should have a map to help them make decisions on the road. Customers who have purchased routes from us can use them in tandem with the Michelin or Touring Club maps. For example, if you want to lengthen or shorten the route, use the Michelin map in concert with our routes to do so easily. TCI or Michelin maps of various scale can typically be found at gas stations, souvenir shops, etc.

After buying a map, get comfortable with your new friend. Check out the map’s key for clues on what kind of terrain to expect. Squint closely: there are little chevrons – or tiny black arrows – pointing toward one direction on the road. The direction the arrows point indicates a climb or a descent, depending on which way the route is ridden. Eventually, the arrows will point in both directions (with a spot in the middle sans chevron) indicating the top of the hill.

Look even closer at the arrows and to see what else they explain: road steepness. One arrow means a 4-7 percent grade; two arrows means a 7-12 percent grade; and three arrows means more than 12 percent grade (and requires a really good breakfast!).

Also, get friendly with the little red dots placed along each road. These points indicate distance – two red dots with a red number in the midde (for example, 8.9) represent a tally of the kilometers on that section of road. By adding up each of these sections, riders can easily make predetermined or purchased routes longer or shorter. Maps allow flexibility and aid in answering the question of whether to lounge by the pool or check out that castle on the next hill.

Know what to look for – find signs for villages along the way and try to find them on the map. Upon entering a town there will be a large white sign with black lettering on the side of the road that announces the city boundary. Upon leaving, there will be another large white sign with the same town name, except this one will have a red slash through the word, signaling that you are no longer in the town.

Cyclists also need to know what not to look for: road signs may fall in this category, as usually only the main roads are visibly numbered. Instead, use landmarks like lakes, mountain ranges, historical buildings or even towns. And don’t be afraid to ask a local. A friendly Italian can literally point you in the right direction, even if you don’t understand much of the spoken directions. It might be a good idea to memorize at least the basic Italian direction words (like straight, left, right, etc).

Mechanical difficulties

You said:
“Also, having to deal with a malfunctioning seat clamp while out on a long ride. I had to find a hardware store in a small town and buy an allen key.”

Before each rental, each bike is personally ridden and checked by our in-house mechanics. But as cyclists know, stuff happens out there – so before vacation learn a couple basics, starting with how to fix a flat tire. We will gladly come to your rescue in dire need, but we encourage all of our customers to know how to fix a flat, if the need should arise.

Most of the time, we enjoy meeting our customers and doing a short bike fitting with them – adjusting the seat height and handlebars, putting pedals on and making other small adjustments. Ask our representative for additional help if you think you’ll need to adjust something later – they can demonstrate easy moves like readjusting seat height or handlebars (with the help of tools, if needed).

In any case, bringing a couple simple tools (allen wrench set and pedal wrench if you’re bringing your own pedals) also might not be a bad idea. In some cases, we can provide tools to our customers. But we have a limited supply, so we cannot guarantee we’ll be able to lend any of ours.

Hungry and thirsty for more

You said:
“I probably didn't carry enough water or snacks as it was very hot.”

In Italy, one rarely experiences the “middle of nowhere” feeling – small towns are sprinkled like parmesan cheese across Italy. Bring at least one water bottle – especially during the hot summer months – but there’s no need to stress about running out of acqua. Each town has a public fountain with potable water – unless specified otherwise by a sign that reads “Aqua non potabile”. Look for a fill-up in main squares (called piazzas), along the main road in town or by churches and cemeteries, where Italian visitors need fountains in order to water flowers on gravestones.

If stops are included in each day (maybe a castle tour or a late lunch at a restaurant with a killer view) remember that Italian working hours are not like American working hours. Italian time is fluid: the hours on the window may say “Open at 0900,” but if it’s raining or visitors are in town, the owner might decide to come in later. Local shops do what they please, especially in small towns or non tourist destinations. While bars open early, Italian stores and restaurants typically open later (around 0900 or 1000) and will close during the day for several hours (usually around 1300-1530… or so). Think about polishing military time skills, since Europeans are very comfortable with the 24-hour clock!

Also keep in mind that many stores might also be open on at least one day of the weekend – typically Saturday, when they might be open for part of the day – but closed on another weekday. And since Italy is a Catholic country, most stores, restaurants (and some bike shops) are closed on Sundays – so keep that in mind when planning your vacation abroad.


A few things to definitely pack in the suitcase: a windproof and/or waterproof layer (especially if riding in the mountains or visiting during fall or spring), sunglasses, phrase book, sunscreen, your own helmet and/or pedals (we only provide flat pedals or toe cages) – and of course, an open mind and sense of adventure.

Lonely Planet Cycling Italy thanks BikeRentalsPlus!

Monica Malpezzi Price, and the staff at BikeRentalsPlus! are thanked for their contributions to the 2009 edition of the Lonely Planet's, Cycling Italy guide. Monica, with the help of others assisted with routes and descriptions for the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. In addition, BikeRentalsPlus! is recommended as a bicycle rental supplier. The Lonely Planet's line of Cycling books are great resources for self supported riders. We highly recommend using them to plan your rides (and there are some great lodging suggestion's as well). But, if you need a bicycle to go along with that ride, check out our bicycles available for rent.

Rent a Villa for a Week of Loop Rides, Yes

But be careful to find out where that villa is located! Is it at the top of a three kilometer long gravel road? Or, perhaps at the end of a two-mile long dead end leading to a small provincial road so that every ride you take requires you to repeat the same twenty kilometers every day.

In short, some villas lend themselves to great mountain biking, others are great for racing or hybrid bikes. But if you've not seen the property or if you are relying solely on the beautiful pictures on the villa agent's web site, be careful. Ask a few critical questions and take a look at some online resources. You might have just rented the perfect villa for mountain biking. But if you aren't a mountain biker . . .

The folks at BikeRentalsPlus! have plenty of experience in matching you up with the right type of accommodation.

Picking Your Destination: What will the weather be like?

We get lots of questions about the weather from cyclists headed overseas.
What's the temperature?
What's the likelihood of rain? The photo above, for example was taken in late June in Kaliningrad, Russia with a group of cyclists. A summer downpour soaked us that day and we just had to go to plan B - put on our rain gear and follow plan A!

This article will direct you to the best weather and climate sites on the web so you can answer these questions yourself. And, so you'll know when you might want to take full rain gear, pants, jacket and all versus just a light rain jacket.

Guidebooks offer little help with weather and climate by providing "average temperatures" by month. What good is it to know that the average temperature in Paris in June is 62 degrees F.? Unless you know that averages like this are derived from the daily average of the high and low temperatures averaged over thirty days in June, you know next to nothing!

Average Temperatures - How Useful Are They?

Some guidebooks have now begun to provide average highs and lows per month. This helps a little more to know, for example, that the average low temperatures in Paris in June are in the low 50s F. (51.8 to 55.4 F. to be precise) and that the highs are around 70 (66.2 F. to 73.4 to be precise).

For active travelers who are often outside from morning until near sunset these highs and lows are very important and to know the slight changes that occur during the course of the month can be quite useful, especially during spring and fall. To use a different example, look at the temperatures in Tuscany in October: average highs in Florence are about 70 F. and lows are 50 F. But from October 1 to October 31 the average low temperatures range from 45 F. to 54 F., enough to cause you to throw in an extra long-sleaved jersey or two but not a lot to worry about!

So bring on the wonderful world wide web. Here's So you can find daily temperature averages for many places around the world. This article is interested only in Europe so we'll focus examples there, but learn to use this information and you'll be able to plan your packing for "average daily temperatures" at your destination.

The best web site I've found for this is the UK weather site where you'll find climate data for Florence, Italy which I've described above.

The best way to get to know these climatic statistics is to compare with a place you know well. Try your hometown or place of residence, for example. That way you can use the sensors you know best - your bare arms and legs!

A Colorado Weather and Climate Example

I'll use the example of Fort Collins, Colorado where we are based. If you replicate this exercise using your own town (or nearby town with climate data in the event your town is too small to be reported) you'll have a good understanding of climate and weather in your destination.

Fort Collins normally has a wonderful Indian summer in October. Bicycling and hiking in the foothills of the Rockies is wonderful, but it can be cold, especially in the morning. Here are the data:

Average monthly high temperature: 65 F. (not so bad)
Average monthly low: 35 F. (whoa! Chilly)
Monthly mean: 50 F. (not that great!)
Sounds pretty cold, actually.
But the range in monthly averages is very different:

Average range of monthly highs from Oct. 1 - 31 is from 71 degrees F. in early October to 57 F. in late October (indeed, until Oct. 15 average highs are above 66 F).

The average range of monthly lows is 41 to 29 F. (if you live in Colorado you know that you aren't in any hurry to start a bicycle ride early in the morning, but that after 9 o'clock, it warms up quickly!)

Look back at the Florence data in Italy and you see that the lowest average low temperature is 45 F. That's nothing for someone from Colorado! (Now if you live in Sacramento you know that your average lows range from 47 F. to 54 F.) You'll feel right at home in Tuscany in October!

Here's where to find these sites to begin your own personalized climate and weather odyssey.

For Climate data in Europe (usually calculated using averages collected over a 30 year period)
For current weather in Europe
For U.S. weather: You have to enter the name of your city or a nearby city to get weather data. Here I'm using Fort Collins:
Once you've found current weather you can get long range climate data by scrolling down and click on "Averages" (to the right of "36-hour forcast") to find your long term highs, lows, and rainfall.

See this example of Fort Collins climate data.

What about the rain?

I have not been able to find reliable, current, daily average precipitation data. They are collected, but apparently not widely reported yet on the web. In the sites listed above you will find average monthly precipitation. What is even more useful, if you can find it, is the number of "rain" days per month as well as total monthly precipitation. In August Dublin gets 7.1 cm. of rain (about 2.8 inches). Milan gets 9.7 cm. (3.8 inches). The difference, of course, in Milan is that all this falls in afternoon thunderstorms on, perhaps 8 days while in Dublin this is often ongoing drizzle 20 days in the month! It won't rain all day, mind you, but the day may begin with drizzle and end with sunny skies.

If you are aware of a good weather and climate site with good global precipitation data please let me know: Rick@ExperiencPlus.com.

The Bottom Line

We've been talking 30-year averages with all this. That means that you could go to Tuscany, Paris, or Ireland in an "off-year" and freeze to death OR enjoy unseasonably warm and clear weather. So always, in spring and fall, take rain gear and warm weather clothing. In northwest Europe ALWAYS take rain gear and warm clothing (this includes northern Spain).

A few myths about weather and climate

Once you know the latitude of a place you understand the weather and climate.


Wrong! Relative location to other features on the surface of the earth is far more important than latitude, especially in the mid-latitudes. What is "upwind" of your destination influences the climate more than latitude. Try Ireland in January, for example. Dublin is north of 53 degrees north latitude yet average low temperatures in January are 37 degrees F. Milan, at about 45 degrees north latitude averages 25 degrees F. as a low in January!

The difference is that the North Atlantic Ocean (and, to a lesser degree, the Gulf Stream) acts as a huge heater keeping Ireland warm in winter while Milan sits in a basin surrounded by mountains where it gets pretty cold in winter.

Here's a great web site about common misconceptions and misunderstandings about weather and climate.

Loaded or Self-Supported Bicycle Tour #2

Before you head off on a loaded bike tour with you and your family or with you and your new bride, neighbors, kids, or friends take a look at Darren Alff's blog. If you can imagine yourself in Darren's shoes and out on the open road "winging" it on your own, then go for it!

The Best Thing About Self-Supported Touring

The best thing about self-supported touring is that you're on your own, free to go where the road takes you, sleep where you want, when you want, and to ride as long or short as you want every day. There is nothing better than that feeling of freedom when you hit the road on a new tour in a new place. But. . .

The Problem with Self-Supported Touring

You're on your own. And if you like being on your own, enjoy the freedom! But the minute you take the family with you or the minute you decide to "organize" the trip for friends and relatives, you're in charge! Or at least someone's in charge.

I'll never forget when my 14 year-old asked, after four straight 80 mile days, "What happened to those 50 mile days we were going to do on this trip?" That was in north central Norway over fifteen years ago. We had the family there and we were developing a new tour. Well, to cover the territory we really needed to knock off a few longer days that I had expected. My credibility went down the tube.

When you are organizing a ride and you have one or ten other people, you need answers to questions like:
1) How long is today's ride?
2) How high is that mountain pass (or, from the engineer, "what's the total vertical today?"
3) Where are we sleeping tonight?
4) Where's the best lunch stop today?
. . . and on and on and on.

Resources for Planning a Self-Supported Bicycle Tour

(These are really better thought of as primers on whether I want to do this myself or not but have a look, that's part of the planning!)
Darren Alf's Blog: Bicycle Touring Pro
Adventure Cycling Association has a Bike Touring 101 also
REI has a Bike Touring Basics page (though it is pretty minimal)

How to Choose a Tour Company

Ten Questions to Ask Any Bicycle Tour Operator

How do you know which one is the best bicycle touring company for you?
Here’s a list of questions that will help guide you to the right choice.

1. How long has your company been in business?
New companies are okay, but be aware that the Internet has enabled small and inexperienced companies to look very impressive. This question will help you determine just how much and what kind of experience a company really has.

2. How is your company structured? Do you have staff in the home office AND overseas?
Some companies have a skeleton staff in the home office, and these same people run their tours overseas! That may be okay, but make sure that the BEST people are both answering questions in the home office AND running tours abroad.

3. Describe your tours for me. Who takes them? Is there a good match between your needs and the tour company? What is the "culture" of the company? Who will you be traveling with, veteran cyclists? Experienced travelers?

4. What distinguishes your adventure travel company from others?
Do they provide luxury travel?
The packing list you’ll receive for most tours includes a section about “what not to bring” including your gold jewels, your evening gown, or your business suit. Our tours are casual and our philosophy is to enjoy the best of the local culture, including authentic cuisine and centrally-located, locally-owned comfortable hotels.

Do they cater to extreme sports or just the adventure portion of your trip?
We love to ride our bikes and believe that there is no better way to explore the world. We have itineraries for all levels of experience and ability, and we find nothing more satisfying that converting “non-cyclists” to cycle touring. By getting out of the car or bus, your senses are open to the sights, sounds, smells around you…AND you become accessible to chance encounters with local people. When’s the last time you had an old Italian woman cheer for you on the uphill as she beats a rug on her balcony?

Are they an educational travel company? Do they provide guided tours, or self-guided tours? If you are looking for something specific, such as a wine tour, culinary tour, or cooking classes, can they provide this?

5. How long have you been running the specific tour I am interested in? Whether it's a bike tour through Italy, France or Turkey, every adventure tour has a "life" of its own. If the company has been offering a tour for a long time, they can tell you all about it. If it's a new tour, there are probably some bugs that need working out. That may be okay if they're a reputable travel company. But you should at least ask.

6. What is your most popular active vacation, and why? This lets you know where and in what they specialize. They should be able to tell you a lot about this particular tour.

7. How have past customers described the degree of difficulty on this tour? Many travel companies rate the difficulty of their active vacations. This allows you to choose a vacation package that suits your fitness level. Our tour rating system clearly ranks the physical challenge of each tour we offer.

8. May I speak with someone who has been on this tour? You should be able to speak with a staff member who has been on the tour that interests you. When you pick up the phone to ask if you’ll survive the climb over the Andes, you’ll talk to someone who has actually done it. Alternatively, ask for names of customers who have done the trip.

If you are a single woman in your 50’s interested in touring Europe, for example, ask to speak to someone like you who has been there before. If you travel as a couple, ask for the email addresses or phone numbers of at least two couples.

9. Tell me about the composition of the group on the vacation I've selected. You probably don't want to be the only single 30-year-old in a group of older couples on a cycling tour through France. So, ask about group composition. But remember, you'll probably have more fun with a mixed group rather than a homogeneous group anyway.


10. What is the history of this particular tour? Does this tour usually fill up? How often have you cancelled it? You want to ask these questions for two reasons: First, if it is a popular tour that fills fast, you don't want to be left out! Second, if the tour cancels often (which is sometimes the case during low or “shoulder” season), you don't want to get stuck with an airplane ticket and no tour!

Our Single Most Important Piece of Advice: Begin Planning NOW!

If you are experienced at bicycle touring you know that planning ahead, especially for an overseas trip, is critical.

I'll never forget in 2001 when we were in Italy for the summer and were headed to Ireland to develop a new escorted bike tour. We flew into Shannon Airport and had been in touch with a bike shop in Ennis to rent bikes. I had been talking with this fellow for two weeks and was satisfied that he could provide good quality bikes for our ride.

We arrived in Ennis with panniers, as usual, and a duffel bag with shoes, helmets, locks, tools, and so on. When we got on our bikes the duffel would be strapped astride the panniers to collect the daily flotsam and jetsam you tend to collect: jackets, lunch, maps, and on.

We shuttled to our hotel, spent the night and headed off to the bike shop. "Oh that's right," says he. "You were coming today, now weren't you?" The bikes weren't ready. "Come back after lunch," says he. After lunch, the bikes weren't ready. We finally got them about 5 p.m. and lost an entire day of riding.

The moral, of course, is: make sure you can depend on your rental suppplier OR make sure to bring your own bikes. But if you bring your own bikes you need to:

1) Know where you are arriving and how you'll get to your inbound base (by train? by car? van? or will you pedal?)
2) If you pedal, where will you leave your cases or bike boxes?
3) And if you are pedaling, how's the route from the airport? Is it doable?

In short, think ALL of this through before you get on the airplane.

One last story: We had an acquaintance here in Colorado who had found three weeks to fly to Rome and do some cycling in October one year. We talked at length about his plans. He would: fly to Rome with his own bike, begin pedaling right at Leonardo da Vinci Airport, head north, and then maybe take the train back to fly home.

His bike didn't arrive on his flight. And it didn't arrive the next day. He waited four days for his bike to arrive and he was so paranoid that it might come in and he wouldn't connect with it that he spent a bundle of money staying in a hotel near the airport shuttling back and forth twice a day to see if it arrived.

He was so demoralized with having spent so much money in the hotel and for having missed out on four days of cycling that he changed his ticket and came home on day 5!