Featured Bicycle Tour - January 2010 

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Discover Northern Argentina

A Tour Leader's Perspective

Tour Leader, Javier Lardone took a few minutes to tell us what he loves about our Discover Northern Argentina bicycle tour, a great biycle tour that explores the northwest of Argentina.

The scenery is amazing, from the moon-like Andean highlands, known as the puna, to the multicolored palette and amazing rock formations of the canyons, or quebradas, below. From the rainforest-like jungles and cloud forests to the huge green valleys dotted with estancias, where the land is still worked  by small farmers, and the gaucho still tends to the estancias` herds.

Read more about this fabulous bicycle tour in Chile and Argentina or jump straight to the tour information below

• Discover Northern ArgentinaDiscover Northern Argentina Plus! the Ruins of Quilmes

Featured Article:

Sicily Prepares for Italy's Sesquicentennial

2011 is the 150th anniversary of Sicily's liberation led by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though the anniversary is in 2011 the preparation for this spectacular celebration begins in 2010. ExperiencePlus! founder, Rick Price gives us a short history lesson and tells us more about Sicily's many attributes.

Bicycling to the Greek ruins of Segesta and Selinunte on this tour gives you an appreciation of real Mediterranean landscapes.  The Greeks were particular about where they built their settlements: Segesta was an interior settlement with Castellamare del Golfo its principal port while Selinunte was a port on the south coast

Read more about what makes Sicily unique, or jump straight to the tour information for each one below.

• Cycling the Coast of Sicily
• Cycling the Coast of Sicily Plus! Ancient Mediterranean Cities

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Article:

Safe Cycling is Smart Cycling by Rick Price

ExperiencePlus! founder, Rick Price is now Safe Cycling Coordinator for the Bike Co-op in Fort Collins, Colorado where he also writes monthly column on Smart Cycling for the Fort Collins, Coloradoan. Rick is also a certified "League Cycling Instructor," with the League of American Bicyclists so who better to share tips for safe cycling.

As a bicyclist you should assume even more responsibility as a defensive “driver” than when you are in a motor vehicle.  Defensive “drivers” should commit no driving mistakes and even more importantly, they should adjust their behavior on the road to compensate for the potential errors of others. 

Read more about Safe Cycling here.

Customer Interview

An Interview With Customer Leslie Mussetter.

Leslie and her husband, Bob live in Fort Collins, where ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours is based, and have done numerous bicycling and hiking trips throughout the world.

How did you get started bicycling? We got serious about it when I got an ExperiencePlus! brochure at a 5K run on New Year's Eve several years ago and I decided we should do the Classical Greece: Athens to Olympia trip.  Since I was still riding my vintage college "10-speed", I had to buy a new bike so I could re-learn how to ride! 

Read more from Leslie here

Recipes - From Mamma Paola's Kitchen

Baked Lemon Almond Tart

Almonds have been used in the Mediterranean for centuries as a staple, especially for pastries and beverages. I hope you enjoy this tart which uses almond “flour” and sliced almonds as its main ingredients.

Click here to read the rest of Paola's Baked Lemon Almond Tart recipe.

If you would like additional recipes, visit our online recipe archive. You'll find recipes for European and Latin American specialties like Panzanella: a Tuscan Salad, Tapenade, Gallo Pinto, and more