Welcome to the October 2003 Rambler E-Mail Newsletter. Scroll down to read about:

• Dear Folks, A letter from the owners
• Springtime in the Mediterranean
• Updates of our 2004 France Tour offerings
• New Zealand and Costa Rica, for cycling and adventure this winter
• Dear Daisy...Advice for seat sore cyclists
• Book Review: Rick reviews books about the Tour de France
• From Paola's Kitchen: Sicilian Caponata
• ExperiencePlus! Owner/Founder Publishes Book on Venice
• News Briefs - Cyclists Under Assault?
• Tour Updates

Dear Folks,

We have lots of news this month. Paola's book on Venice was just published. You can read about it here, and Rick reviews five books on the France Tour to help you buy Christmas presents for the cyclists on your list.

It's time to find that plane ticket to New Zealand or Costa Rica for a little warm weather this winter. We've been receiving great reviews on our Costa Rica multisport tours so give those a thought now for those chilly winter months ahead. Or, if it's a good, long bike ride you need, New Zealand might just be for you.

We have several new tours in the Mediterranean region if you can't get enough of our favorite part of the world: walking or bicycle tours in places like Malta, Sicily, the Amalfi Coast and Capri, and Andalucia in Southern Spain. You haven't lived until you've experienced the Mediterranean in springtime so join us in April or May 2004!

With fall, change is certainly in the air. We've hired Ian Wells to help with marketing and information technology. Ian's job is to take us by leaps and bounds into the world of e-marketing and e-commerce. If you're reading this you know how valuable this new medium can be for sharing information and building community! Welcome, Ian!

The other change is that two tour leaders either got married or are getting married this fall. Sabrina Moriconi, one of our head tour leaders in Europe, is getting married at the end of October! The lucky man is Pasquale Mannello from the small town of Morcone in south-central Italy. And Jonathan Hancock married Anne Lemperière, his long-time sweetheart in France in August. As far as we know both Jonathan and Sabrina will continue leading tours for us, at least for the foreseeable future.

Call us if you are at a loss for what to do next month. (We have a dynamite multisport tour planned in Costa Rica!)

Happy travels,

Rick and Paola

We are introducing several new tours for both walkers and cyclists in April and May 2004. Click here to read all about Cycling Sicily or Cycling Andalucia and walking in Malta and Sicily or walking Italy's Amalfi Coast and the Island of Capri.

• April 7 - 17: Walking Malta and Southeast Sicily
• April 17 - 24: Italy - Walking The Amalfi Coast & Capri
• April 2 - 12: Italy - Cycling Sicily
• May 3 - 13: Spain - Cycling Andalucia

We have been swamped with requests and reservations for the 2004 France Tour. For updates on the status of tours and available space, click here. To download Joe Coca's amazing picture of Lance for your own computer wallpaper, click directly the image.

• July 1 - 8: Tour Prologue (Belgium and France)
• NEW July 5 - 15: Pamplona, the Pyrenees and the France Tour
• July 9 - 16: The Pyrenees
• July 16/17 - 23/24: The Alps
• July 24 & 25: Paris Extension - See the conclusion on the Champs Elysees!
• July 26 - Aug 2 Pedal the Peaks - Joe Friel will be joining us on this tour!

For more information call 800-685-4565, or e-mail: Tours@ExperiencePlus.com.

If you loved the scenery you saw in the Lord of the Rings movies, then you have already fallen in love with the landscapes of New Zealand. This February, the ExperiencePlus! New Zealand bicycle tour is traveling through the country where Peter Jackson filmed his epic movies. Many die-hard Lord of the Rings fans have already been to New Zealand just to visit film locations. Our bicycle tour adventure lets you travel through the landscapes of South Island at the pace that Frodo and Sam traveled on their quest. To see for yourself which scenes were filmed where, check out the film location map ( and compare it to our ExperiencePlus! tour route ) and this virtual tour of the film locations.

If you aren't ready to travel so far afield, but still want a memorable winter cycling or multisport adventure, check out our Costa Rica tours.

• Costa Rica: Butterflies, Bicycles & Beaches
• Costa Rica Arenal & the Northwest Coast Multisport
• Costa Rica Osa Peninsula Multisport

Dear Daisy,

The guy in the bike shop told me I "had to get used to my bike seat". It's been 500 miles and I'm still not comfortable. What's up? - Lancelot in Vermont

Daisy writes: "You have been the victim of a common myth, that saddle pain is something you put up with".

For our book review this month ExperiencePlus! founder and owner Rick Price, shown here in 1993 with Italian cycling legend Gino Bartali, France Tour winner in 1938 and 1948, suggests a list of five books about the Tour. You'll enjoy perusing Rick's list both for yourself and for those on your Christmas gift list! Click here to read Rick's reviews of the following books:

• France Tour: The Illustrated History
• Graham Watson: Twenty Years of Cycling Photography
• An Intimate Portrait of the Tour de France
• France Tour: The History, The Legend, the Riders
• Breakaway: On the Road with the Tour de France

Reviewed By Rick Price, Ph.D.

Our book review archive contains the following reviews that may be of interest to you:

• Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike
• Joe Friel's Cycling Past 50

What does the owner of a bicycle tour company think about on her bike in Italy in the summer or bicycling to and from teaching classes at the University in winter? Or while hiking in the Colorado Rockies? Venice, of course.

We are delighted to announce the publication of Paola Malpezzi Price's book, Moderata Fonte: Women and Life in Sixteenth-Century Venice . Many of you who know Paola know that her favorite place is Venice. You may also know that her academic work has focused on the literature of women writers in France and Italy during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. After more than a decade of work on this "project" Paola's book has seen the light! To read her thoughts on this historic occasion, click here.

This month, Paola gives us a recipe from Sicily. Sicilian Caponata is a dish that Paola and Rick enjoyed in Sicily last summer while researching the 2004 Sicily tour. Caponata can be served as a dip with pita bread, as an antipasto, or as a pasta sauce

If you would like additional recipes, click here for our online archive. You'll find recipes for Risotto con Scampi, Easy, Fresh Pasta, Tapenade, and more.

• An October 7 Los Angeles Times article reports that Clear Channel Radio stations are inciting motorists to run cyclists off the road. The article features Kevin Bray and Lois Cowan, two ExperiencePlus! customers. Read the article.
• Follow the France Tour
• Compare bike tour companies.
• Click here for an index of past e-mail newsletters, recipes, and reviews.

For a complete list of upcoming bicycle, walking and multisport adventure tours, take a look at our Tour Finder. If you know the dates that you have available for travel, or are looking for something interesting in a particular country, our tour finder will help you find the right tour at the right time.

• Find A Tour By Date
• Find a Tour By Destination

Happy Walking and Cycling until next month!

E-mail us at tours@ExperiencePlus.com with comments and questions. Or give us a call at 800-685-4565.

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