This summer, Vickie and I went on an amazing DuVine Adventures Tuscany Bike tour for our honeymoon. We had an amazing time - these bike tours are incredible. We ate and drank almost every second of the tour, but we lost weight biking through the amazing Tuscan countryside. We met the wine makers in Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano, and made pasta with Michelin-starred chefs. The guides, David, Tom and Ron (a fellow Swarthmore alum) were really incredibly knowledgeable and accommodating.
Afterwards, we submitted our photos to the DuVine photo contest, and we ended up winning a Montague foldable bike. This is one of the perks of having a giant social networking presence, I guess. I was super excited - it took me a long time actually to decide whether I wanted a folding commuter bike or a Paratrooper, which is a super cool mountain bike designed for the military. I finally settled on the commuter bike - I need this a lot more given my rather tame life now (no more endos into lakes with my Sloan classmate Billy Martin).
Despite the lousy December weather, I managed to get this bike out for my first ride. I have to say I was really impressed. It's sharp looking, folds in about 10 seconds (even for someone who is mechanically incompetent like myself, and has little details well thought out (fender design, a roll-y velcro strap, etc.) It also rides really nice and smooth.
Even cooler, I found out that the founder of Montague, David Montague is a MIT alum who wrote the business plan as part of the 100K competition (I think it was the 10K back in 1988). That makes me way more excited to be riding it!
I thought I'd pull out some more photos:
Trying Brunello in Montalcino:
The best steak I've ever had - at Michelin starred La Chiusa in Montefollonico:
In our DuVine gear (well, at least I am) at vineyards in Chianti:
