The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Surprising Sardinia - Italy's Splendid Adventure

May 13th to May 25th

Ride Director: Arleen Sakamoto
Ride Co-Director: Rosa Katz
Report by: David Leblang

The “Surprising Sardinia” trip was a true Bicycle Adventure Club ride in all senses, it included great riding, friendship and adventure. In BAC spirit, everyone pitched in and helped when needed.  The trip was a nice mix of long term and new members. The majority of the riders combined the trip with other European rides making it a real spring break.

The ride leaders Arleen and Rosa did a fantastic job planning the ride and the “Ride with GPS” navigation software and cue sheets worked seamlessly to eliminate the guess work so we all could enjoy the riding.   The weather and riding got better has we headed from the northern tip to southern most point of the island. We covered 450 miles and climbed 26,500 vertical feet during the trip.

Sardinia is called the island time has forgotten because of the low population and rustic landscapes. Some of the riders said it looked like Pacific Coast Highway, Colorado, New Zealand and the deserts of Arizona. Many of us had to look at a map to locate Sardinia when learning of the trip.

Daily surprises included local parades and celebrations related to the upcoming farming season, with horses, farm tractors, church leaders and local residents living it up, a real treat for us to experience. We were greeted with historical castles in almost every town and learned of the history of the island starting with the Nuragic civilization going back 4,000 years, the Roman period, the Moor period and the current Christian period. Sardinia is considered a “Blue Zone”, an area with a rare genetic trait, or possibly the relaxed life style and great food, linked to longevity.   There were multiple sightings of Flamingos and Falcons during the trip.  We also enjoyed meeting riders from Italy who described Sardinia as the next Majorca for cycling.

Especially nice was the small family run hotels that included great accommodations and locally sourced meals for the group. Worth noting was on the island of Antioco, a short ferry ride from Sardinia was the Hotel Cala di Seta. Run by sister’s Maria Laura, Moira, Claudia and their mother Chiara. 100% of the happy hour and dinner was locally sourced from the island. Our pet name for the hotel was “Petty Coat Junction”.

The daily routine included a stylish Italian buffet breakfast with great coffee, cheese, meat, bread and everything you needed. Most riders were moving by 9am. Lunch required some planning and creativity since as we all learned midday siestas are taken seriously on the island and everything closes from 1pm to 4 or 5pm. Dinner is late; 7:30 or 8:00pm and goes for hours and always includes dessert. Daily Happy Hours offered time for everyone to share the day’s events and review the next day’s ride.

The final day of riding was the best, 100 kilometers along the southern coast with aqua blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea with most riders finding a restaurant with great views. We shared lunch with old and new friends, both happy and a little sad we were nearing the end of the tour.

This trip is one that we all will remember and maybe ride again.