Nine Acclaimed Chefs Join Bike Riders for Culinary Cycling & Walking Tours

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March 2005 - Bike Riders, the adventure travel company offering distinctive adventure vacations, has announced its 2005 line up of award-winning chefs for its Guest Chef Adventures. Now offered for the eighth consecutive year, Guest Chef Adventures offer travelers a chance to combine biking or walking through such well-known culinary regions as Provence, Burgundy, Tuscany, Sicily, and Umbria with cooking lessons, vineyard tours, wine and cheese tastings and dining in four and five-star restaurants with a renowned chef as a traveling companion.

The nine chefs hail from top American restaurants including Chef Rick Moonen, one of the world's most celebrated seafood chefs of rm Seafood at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and Chef Roberto Donna of the award-winning Galileo in Washington, DC.

If walking is more your speed, Bike Riders now offers two new Walking Guest Chef Adventures. Acclaimed Chef Francesco Ricchi of Cesco Trattoria in Bethesda, MD leads a culinary tour through vineyards and open-air markets on our Grand Crus and Great Chefs Burgundy trip. Or for a true Italian experience, Jeff Tunks, DC Coast Chef and Owner, walks you through Italy's heartland on our Countryside and Cucina Umbria tour. "Guest Chef Adventures are an ideal way to marry a love of adventure travel with a love of good food," said Bike Riders' Director Lorenzo De Monaco. "The chefs share cooking tips, wine choices and little known ingredients to help our travelers to enjoy the best a region has to offer, from a Provençal pistou to Tuscan artichokes, fava beans and pomodoro straight from the fields. The only requirement is a good appetite!"

Of all the active travel companies, only Bike Riders offer Guest Chef Adventures. Unlike other biking and walking outfitters, Bike Riders limits its Guest Chef Adventures (and its other trips) to no more than sixteen travelers, ensuring that each food lover enjoys personal, first-hand experience of cooking with the guest chef, and a rich give-and-take with local producers and restaurateurs. "Our roots in Italy and France are strong," explained De Monaco. "Over the years we've built excellent relationships with family farms and innkeepers. As a result, we can offer our travelers a chance to taste the first pressing of the olives, sample fresh ricotta, and savor a delicate Morgan from Burgundy from the cellar of the winemaker."

The Bike Riders Guest Chef Adventures 2005 itinerary includes:

Italy
Tuscany: Cucina Toscana - Biking
Cost: $3480/person
May 15-22 - Francesco Ricchi, Owner and Chef of Cesco Trattoria, Bethesda, MD
Sept. 18-25 - Francis Reynard, Sous Chef and Special Events Consultant of Daniel, New York, NY
Oct. 16-23 - Rick Moonen, Owner and Chef of rm Seafood at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV

Umbria: Countryside & Cucina - Walking
Cost: $3480/person
Jun 5-12- Jeff Tunks, Chef and Owner of DC Coast, Washington, DC
Oct. 2-9 - Ron & Colleen Suhanosky, Chef & Pastry Chef/Owners of Sfoglia, Nantucket, MA

Sicily: Cucina Rustica - Biking
Cost: $3480/person
Oct. 9-16 - Roberto Donna, Owner and Chef of Galileo, Washington, DC

France
Provence: La Cuisine du Soleil - Biking
Cost: $3680/person
Sept. 12-19 - Alessandro Stratta, Executive Chef of Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Sept. 26 - Oct. 3 - Greg Higgins, Owner and Chef of Higgins Restaurant & Bar, Portland, OR

Burgundy: Grands Crus & Great Chefs - Walking
Cost: $3480/person
Sept. 18-25- Francesco Ricchi, Owner and Chef of Etrusco Trattoria, Washington DC and Cesco Trattoria, Bethesda, MD

About Bike Riders
Since 1991 Boston-based Bike Riders has been offering small, elegant cycling trips to Maine, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, the Canadian Maritimes, Ireland, France, Italy. Spain and Portugal. A Bike Riders trip features off-the-beaten track itineraries, world-class inns and celebrated restaurants, many of which are Bike Riders' exclusives. Privately owned and operated by Eileen Holland and Lorenzo De Monaco, a husband-and-wife team who share a passion for travel and good food, as well as roots in many of regions they visit, Bike Riders "saturates [travelers] in the locale" and avoids the "generic tour" atmosphere of larger travel companies. Bike Riders has been recommended by such publications as Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, Vogue, USA Today, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, Fodor's, Departures and Italia Magazine. Bike Riders also offers self-guided and private tours. More information can be found at www.bikeriderstours.com

SOURCE Bike Riders Tours