It was several years ago that I had the pleasure of riding and hanging out in Tuscany with Andy Hampsten and Scot Nicol; I was traveling with Ed and Kevin and we met up for some road miles and some awesome tuscan dining. It was on the end of the long ride that we passed the vineyards of all 3 of the super tuscan god father winery’s. Ornellia, Gaja and the original Sasicia (sorry about my spelling). That eve we shared a bottle of Ornellia Bolgheri and it was the most amazing wine I had ever experienced, I was hooked, unfortunatly they are a bit :out of reach" for the wine drinking habits of a bike shop guy and it was all I could do to buy a bottle of wine that was "new" and thus less expensive right there in Italy. Still about $200 and one was all I could muster. The lady told me, "you’d be silly to drink that before 6 years" so I borrowed a pen and wrote on the label, much to here amusement, "do not open til 2009". Well last night was pre-fest dinner of year #14 with several friends and festival cornerstones and we all dined together on Michaels fantastic Moroccon delights and we decided to open that bottle of wine, along with a few others like a Gaja and a Sterling cab alond with our other selections. I dont know if it was the "best" wine in the world but it was amazing. What I do know is that the 6 years that I resisted pulling that cork in my sheer wonder of what it would be like; were all amde worth while as we all shared this wonderful experience together and shared the story of where and how I got it and how much fun it was to share that treasure with friends.
Thats’ it really, thats the Fruita Fat Tire Fest, share a treasure with your friends. It’s really what its all about and what Im going to enjoy for the next few days and even weeks. Sharing some rides and some laughs and some beers with some wonderful MTB friends. Cheers, heres to you, lets go ride!