Wanna Feel Like A Pro? Try a Bike Holiday in Riccione, Italy

By Greg Choat

Who hasn’t dreamt of what it would be like to live and train in Europe, with nothing more to worry about than riding? While most of us can’t chuck our jobs and move to Europe, my wife and I decided to do the next best thing and book a spring bike holiday with the Riccione Bike Hotels group in Italy.

After spending eight days pedaling up and down Giro climbs, among vineyards and along the Adriatic Coast, we cannot recommend this city and group of hotels enough. This is as close to turning professional as most of us will experience. And at $50 per person per night, all-inclusive, you can’t go wrong.

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Why Riccione?

This region of Italy is steeped in cycling history. It hosts the Coppi-Bartali, the Giro d’Italia and it’s where local boy and Tour de France and Giro champ Marco Pantani developed his legendary climbing skills. Sadly, it’s also the site of his death and final resting place. Cycling is a big part of the culture here. Residents respect cyclists and drivers give you a wide berth and right of way on the roads.

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You Want To Do What?

Before we get ahead of ourselves, does the prospect of suggesting a cycling holiday to your significant others send shivers down your spine? Fear not, Riccione is one of Italy’s major family beach resort towns. While you’re off destroying yourself in the hills your loved ones will have plenty to do. The hotels are located 50 meters from a fantastic beach. They have beach cruisers available for tooling about town. The hotels have small heated pools and a day spa nearby that’s included in the price of the room. There are water parks, arcades, shopping and gelato stands all within walking distance of the hotels.

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Back to Business

All rides start at sea level and head up into the hills, some reaching 1400+ meters, so bring your climbing legs, or develop them on daily 65 – 160 km rides. Each hotel employs local racers as guides or you can venture off on your own on 20 clearly marked routes. Standard recommended gearing is 39 x 23, but most people opt for 27 or 29, for those 15-18% sections. Most of the routes include several climbs and if you go in April or May you’ll ride under Giro stage banners. And for every climb, there is a twisty downhill on the other side! The road surfaces are excellent and most routes include small sections of pave. At the top of virtually every climb there is a castle or walled city, so you’ll have good reason to stop at the top of long climbs. For those days when you don’t want to hit the hills you can ride completely flat terrain along the Adriatic coast. There’s also plenty of rolling terrain that takes you through vineyards and olive groves.

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Chow

If you’re gonna ride 4-6 hours a day, you gotta eat. The all-inclusive price includes three meals, plus local wine and bottled water. The diet is carbohydrate driven, fresh and there’re plenty of vegetarian choices. Breakfast is cereal, bread, fruit and pastries. Post-ride they lay out a huge salad and pasta buffet. Dinner is local seafood, pasta and tasty desserts. We were surprised how varied the menu was and how good everything was.

Bring Your Bike or Rent

We brought our bikes, but the hotels will arrange extremely good deals for you on late model Merckx, Willier or Fondriest, with high-end group sets. Let them know ahead of time what size frame, stem, etc you need and they’ll build the bike and have it waiting for you at the hotel when you arrive.

Bike Porn

Every town in this region has at least one outstanding bike store filled with Euro frames and all the goodies for you to finger to keep you content … that is, until you reach the next town.

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Mechanics

We used Cicli Migani an old school, family shop located 2 kms from our hotel. There is something otherworldly about having your bike spannered by Giro mechanics who just happen to be cousins with Fabian Cancellara.

When To Go

The bike hotels operate in April, May and September. The rest of the year it’s either too cold, too hot or too wet to ride.

Where To Stay

There are 14 hotels in the Riccione Bike Hotel group. We checked several of them out and we cannot recommend the Hotel Montecarlo enough. For $50 per person per night we got room, three meals a day, fully equipped bike room, guided rides, cycling kit laundry service, a vineyard tour, access to an Olympic size swimming pool and day spa. The hotel is owned and run by Valerio Capelli, with help from his wife Silvia and his parents. Valerio is passionate about cycling; he’s been a member of the Riccione Bike Hotel group since 2001. The rooms are good sized, newly renovated and immaculate. There’s a bar and an espresso machine in the lobby for the obligatory pre and post ride caffeine hit. One of the reasons we recommend Hotel Montecarlo so strongly is that Valerio and his staff treat their guests like family. They completely cater to cyclists every need. They make everything easy, all you have to do is ride. If you have a mechanical out on the road, someone from the hotel will come get you and your bike. Oh yeah, and as for your funky strip, they kindly wash it every morning and hang it out on your balcony to dry in the sun.

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How To Get There

Fly from JFK or EWR to RMI (Rimini). You can fly into other airports, but Rimini is 5 minutes from Riccione. It’s worth paying a little more to fly into Rimini because it’s a small airport, hassle-free and the bike hotels will pick you up for free.

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