Our European migrations every year does involve a shit load of work, mostly at races & other events, with loads of driving, late night editing, lots of internet cafe time, laundry sessions, packing & re-packing, washing & sorting bikes & gear, getting the trusty (rusty) old van fixed and so on, but we do try to do something fun in-between the long drives from one country to the next and from event to event. These little side trips are usually the one's that we end up enjoying the most and that we end up sharing with our good friends. None of us really have much time at the races & events to actually catch up properly and hang out, everyone is so busy with their own thing, but when we do these little mini trips in-between, that is when we actually get to spend some quality time with our mates on the road & we get to play and ride bikes.
I got to explore the Valley of the Sun in Italy while the DH World Cup action was going on a few weeks ago (pics above).
We got to go to one of our favourite places to ride, swim, eat way too much gelato & drink loads of red wine & lemoncello - Lake Garda in Italy. We had a big old crew this year which is always fun to do one of our all time favourite rides from Malcesine back to the lake. We also got to catch up with our good friends from California, Megan & Andy that just happened to be in Italy for work at the same time. Perfect!
A big shuttling day from Col De Champs before the Val D Allos enduro race was pretty epic.
Another big shuttling day after the Val D Allos race was another pretty amazing day of riding before heading out of this beautiful valley.
After Val D Allos we made our way to the hidden gem of Moustiers St Marie tucked away in the Gorges Du Verdon for some swimming & kayaking adventures with Jon C & Christine and Tracy & James.
There are a few (lots) places that I've always wanted to go to, that we just never end up getting to, so hopefully we'll be able to go on a few more mini trips this summer and experience some new countries, places, trails & cultures. Isn't that the whole reason we got into riding bikes in the first place?
Anyhow, I'll keep you updated here on our mini adventures in-between all the important stuff.
peace out, Anka xxx