Do you find yourself fantasizing about what it would be like to be a pro cyclist for a week? Do you wish you could spend time with other pro cycling enthusiasts and even ride with current or former pros in exotic locations while experiencing great food and accommodations? That’s what inGamba Tours attempts to offer their cycling guests.
Who is inGamba Tours and What Makes it Unique?
Based in Sausalito, CA, the company was founded by former pro cyclist João Correia in 2011. He raced for the Portuguese Continental team in his 20s. However, he left cycling to earn a college degree and then worked with Esquire and Bicycling Magazine as an associate publisher.
Correira’s love of all things cycling never left him, though. After a conversation with his friend Fausto Pinarello, son of the famous bike brand manufacturer, he returned to the pro peloton at age 32. He raced for Bissell Pro Cycling and then Cervello before quitting the peloton a second time.
Not long after his retirement, Correira founded inGamba tours. The word “inGamba” is Italian for being “in the know,” which is what the company prides itself on. Correira says on his LinkedIn page “We’re a group of cyclists who were rather uninspired by typical bike tours. So we created inGamba to produce trips that inspire us…” With that in mind, he says of inGamba that its focus is more than just passing through a town on two wheels, “we get into the fabric of the community and embrace the food, wine and culture, the way only a local would.“
Correira started the company in order to give people the experience of being a pro cyclist minus the “strict diets and schedules and training programs.” What makes the company unique is it completes the pro cycling fantasy by offering “the equipment and support usually reserved for the sport’s elite athletes with the comfort and service of a luxury getaway.“
Destinations inGamba Tours Visits on its Trips
The places inGamba Tours visits are the towns, provinces, and countries the pros experience during their races. What makes the company different in this respect is that it doesn’t host trips in every part of Europe or even the world. It only hits those spots the pros favor over all others.
- Tuscany (Italy)
- Dolomites (Italy)
- Portugal
- Spain
- California & Arizona (USA)
- France
- Switzerland
What’s Included on an inGamba Tours Trip
In order to complete the pro cycling tour experience, inGamba gives its guests a deep dive into amenities only a cyclist on a pro tour would have access to. The company says it goes above and beyond to offer each guest a experience like no other.
- Use of a Pinarello Dogma F Disk equipped with SRAM RED eTAP AXS
- Guides who are former or current pros steeped in local culture
- Routes and roads only the pros know and race on
- Access to high-end local food and wine
- Pro-level apparel/ kit from Castelli (free to guests)
- Local knowledge and experiences reserved for pro riders
- Daily massage with soigneurs who’ve worked in the pro peloton
- Mechanics who have all worked for pro teams
- Lodging
- Hydration/nutrition support during each ride
- One transfer from a fixed location at the beginning/ end of trip.
Cost for an inGamba Tours trip
With all the top-end amenities it offers along with the unique destinations that inGamba Tours visits, you would be correct in thinking that the cost of one of its trips would be expensive. That would be a massive understatement. Let’s just say it right now; a trip of this caliber is very, very expensive.
An inGamba Tours trip lasts anywhere from 6 to 8 days. That is pretty typical based on the offerings from other bicycle travel companies I’ve seen. As for pricing, an inGamba trip starts at $6,500 and can go up to almost $11,000 for a trip the company offers in Switzerland.
Obviously, these trips are not for the financially squeamish. But I would imagine a pro-tour-level trip offers luxury that goes beyond the typical bike tour in terms of the service each guest receives.
Last Thoughts
If a trip that encompasses the lifestyle of cyclists in the pro peloton is your dream trip, then you should book with inGamba Tours. For the 6 to 8 days you spend with the company, you will be made to feel (and believe) you are a professional cyclist. And to me, that’s what living out a fantasy is all about, even if it costs $4,000 more than a trip with some other bicycle travel company.
Is it a better trip experience than one you could have with another company? That’s hard to say. The reviews on inGamba’s website are positive, so you’ll just have to book a trip with them and find out on your own. For me, I think I’ll stick with admiring the pro cyclist’s lifestyle from afar.
Have a good weekend everyone!
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