You can see them advancing at a cruising pace, while small compact groups chat to one another with their eyes on the road. Suddenly they start up. There’s a bit of excitement and the bikes swerve. A really fierce race is about to start among friends. Once it is over, they will take off their sports clothing and go back to their everyday sedentary lives. This race foresees a winner and a breathless bunch of losers. One of them shouts something to goad himself and his companions and is the first to be off. The others follow suit but things get tough as there’s a sharp climb in front. They all hang on tight to their bikes. The true test has arrived. The best of them go up easily. One of them has a healthy, wiry physique and can even be considered elegant with those muscles and the spirit of a climber. Others, a bundle of flab, soon give up as they don’t have the drive. In the heat of the race, the group overtakes two young foreigners, also on their bikes but for entirely different reasons. They are a couple of tourists cycling along at quite a different speed. The difference is striking. The former are driven by a legendary sports tradition, while the latter are using their bikes as a means of transport over miles and miles, loaded with luggage, consisting of huge backpacks with sleeping bags, tents and everything else that is required for heroic itineraries on two wheels without a motor. They are all young, almost all foreigners with a dream of going on a journey in search of adventure and hardship.
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See also:

The Markets of Chianti, Meeting a Stranger, Tuscan Antique Furniture, Portrait of a Land, Chianti Artists, Chianti at The Bar, Chianti Theatrical Festival, Music and Culture in The Vineyards, Villa Le Barone, The Art of Hospitality at Podere Terreno, Chianti English Style, The Legendary Millemiglia in Chianti

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