tosca-fit.com

July 11'th 2009.

As a cyclist and a tourist, I have been on a few cycling holidays - it's the best way to sight see by challenging your cycling while you breath-in the country side and the views - and the Giro della Toscana in July was one of the best cycling holidays I have been on.

Our tour was guided by Lars each day, but Lars was much more than a guide; he played the role of very attentive host throughout the entire week. As the perfect host, Lars had carefully handpicked every part of our tour from the cycling routes, the restaurants and their locations, the meal and wine at each restaurant, and the accomodation. We ate at restaurants overlooking the beach as the sunset, drank wine as we overlooked the vineyard where it was made, dined in the back room of a delicatessen like the locals, shared a gourmet dinner at the foot of a castle up in the hills, relaxed by the pool set in the olive groves at Andrea Tafi's agriturismo, and lazed on sun beds under the umbrellas at the private beach where we were staying. There was obviously an enormous amount of planning put into this trip. Every detail was carefully chosen to maximise our exposure to the Tuscan countryside, and our cultural and cycling experience.

That planning formed the basis for a superb holiday, but what made it truly special was having our very own pro-cyclist to ask a million silly questions from sun up to sun down. It was very exciting hearing the insights to professional tours and races, and also hearing personal stories about other professional cyclists. I was a little intimidated at first being in the presence of a cycling legend, also wondering how I would ride with him for a week, but soon realised that Lars was very down to earth, humble, and in fact loved sharing his stories, answering our questions and riding with us to guide us through each day.

Thank-you for carefully preparing such a beautifully planned cycling holiday, Lars and Eva, it really was wonderful.

Karen Beltrame. Australia

Karen Beltrame. Australia.

July 7'th 2009.
What a wonderful holiday Lars and Eva facilitated in Tuscany! We participated in the Elite tour from Lucca and back again for 7 days. It was truly special - the beautiful countryside, interesting cycle routes, some really tough climbs, fabulous food and too much good wine! Lars was an excellent and generous host; sharing not only a wealth of cycling knowledge, but also teaching us about the history, culture and cuisine of the area.

We will be back for sure - thank you Lars and Eva!

Linda and Andrew Reay. Johannesburg. South Africa

Linda and Andrew Reay. Johannesburg. South Africa

September 13'th 2007.
Even we are as you would consider "Elite riders" we were still tourists in this fantastic area and enjoyed everything that came with the package; The tough rides in the mountains, steep decents, nice flat terrain, rides along the ocean and last but not least the fantastic Tuscany landscape all included in the routes made by Lars. Those routes simply takes you around all that Tuscany has to offer. To enjoy an "Elite Tour" with some hard training and then combine it with great food, nice wine and fantastic italian brewed coffees, to someone who loves riding the Race Bike does not come much better.
As you can see a big smile on our faces even its steeper than it looks like on the photo!! That smile you could not wipe off our faces the whole week we had in Tuscany in 2007.
No doubt we are coming back for some more fantastic cycling.

Thanks to Eva and Lars,

Jan And René.

René Petersen & Jan Hansen, Denmark.

August 7'th 2006.
Thank you for making our "Giro di Toscana" an unforgetable one. Lucca and Vinci was a good mix of town and countryside and the routes were very interesting with vineyards, cypress- and olive- trees and all this beautiful tuscan landscape. At Cristina's Agriturismo we rode our bikes in the morning, took a jump in the pool in the afternoon and fell in love with Cristina's cooking in the evening. We are used to ride only in flat terrain, so we had to adapt our legs to the climbing, especially around Vinci, but it was not a problem we just took some extra breaks which gave us extra opportunities to enjoy a lot of fantastic views. Cycling is a wonderful way of escaping from the daily living. Life gets simple again and what's suddenly important are topics like: find your way, drink the water you need, enjoy the scenery, eat and sleep so you are recovered to the next day. Excellent move having all the fountains marked in the route describtion.
Thank You again for a well organized holiday where we found ourselves in focus and that's what holiday is all about. We will like to grade this trip "ring - ring": 5 cycling bells out of 5.

Bente Kivsmose & Claus Madsen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

August 2'nd 2006.

Just coming home after a lovely week on bikes in Tuscany, we would like to thank you for an extremely well organized cycle holiday. We really enjoyed the days in Lucca and in Vinci we had the pleasure to have traditional tuscan food served when staying at the Agriturismo. We certaintly experienced Tuscany, both temperature wise (hot in July) and nature wise with the fragrances and sight of the beautiful landscape. It was the first but definately not the last time we want to spend our summer holiday on bike!

Greetings from Karin & Kurt Vad, Ikast, Denmark.

October 2´nd 2005.

Dear Eva & Lars.

We want to thank you for a well-organised trip to Tuscany. The late September weather was on our side – all that sunshine and the landscape is so fantastic, with its beautiful mountains, vineyards and olive groves.
The numbers and lengths of the bike routes are suitable for most people, but in our case we could have used an extra route at Vinci.

Also “thumbs up” to your choice of bikes. They were perfect to the chosen terrain, solid, well going and the handlebar bag is very comfortable.

Good set-up with both having a map and a route description – this way you can hardly mistake.
Thank you very much for now. It is definitely not the last time we have spent a biking holiday in Italy.

Greetings, Kirsten & Poul Linneberg. Frederikssund. Denmark.

Kirsten & Poul Linneberg

July 21´st 2005.

Dear Eva and Lars. We have just returned home from a fantastic holiday in Italy. It has been really nice to spend one of our two week holiday in Italy, exploring Lucca and Vinci on bikes. Lovely accommodations both places. Villa Romantica in Lucca with nice atmosphere and Cristinas farm house / agriturismo in Vinci with love from the heart and lots of good food.

Extraordinary good bikes and perfect route descriptions....-thank you for this, Lars!

We are taught, not to drink the tap-water when we are in South Europe, but after spending more than 70 Euros on bottles of mineral water we tried to drink the water out of the fountains along the route. In the route material we received on the destination these fountains are very precisely indicated. We didn't have any stomach problems afterwards, and find this issue worth not only to mention, but think it should be pointed out as an important information for future guests.....-especially the ones who visit Tuscany in July like we did!

We grade the Lucca- / Vinci-trip "5 handlebars out of 5" within all the aspects of the tour. Thank you for a well organized trip!