The quintessential café ride
Coffee Ride 101
The Côte d’Azur is definitely one of the best places in the world to live if you love riding your bike. With mild weather all year long, breathtaking scenery, and terrain ranging from flat seaside roads to epic mountains, the French Riviera is a true cycling paradise. Then there’s the cycling scene, which is incredibly unique and adds a whole other dimension to the experience. You’ll find a diverse mix of convivial cycling clubs, small groups of training partners and friends, tourists and expats, and many of the world’s most talented pro riders. Most of the local pros are based in Monaco and it’s not uncommon to run into them on the roads, at cafés, or at the local sportive races since they are often invited as special guests.
Some of Monaco’s Fastest Residents: Peter Sagan, Chris Froome, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Steven Kruijwick, Philippe Gilbert, Sam Bennett, Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas, Lizzie Deignan, Tiffany Cromwell,
My memorable initiation to the French Riviera cycling scene started with a coffee ride back in 2013. Not only was it my first coffee ride in the Côte d’Azur, but it was my first official “coffee ride.” Back in the day, when I was racing in New York City, we used to ride along the Hudson River to Piermont or Nyack after the races and stop for coffee, but we just called that “a ride.” And our recovery rides in town didn’t include coffee – perhaps because you couldn’t leave your bike outside a café in NYC and expect to find it there after your java. As I have since discovered, the coffee ride is a brilliant concept combining cycling with socializing, and like coffee itself is simultaneously complex and simple.
Bonjour French Riviera Expat Life
So back to that first coffee ride in 2013… I had recently relocated to the French Riviera and was in the process of starting my company. I spent most of my free time exploring the roads on my bike, soaking in the stunning views while doing R&D for our tour routes. I also enjoyed running, and had joined a local running club so I could meet new people and do some cross-country races in the winter. The runners knew about my love for cycling, and they also knew I was American (thanks to the hint of an accent that sneaks out despite my best efforts). One day, a guy from my running club gave me a call and excitedly told me he had met an American cyclist on the side of the road while working. To him, this seemed like an enormous coincidence. Two Americans who ride bikes within 50 km of Nice, they must be introduced to each other! He told me he gave the guy some cookies…along with my phone number! Not knowing what to expect, I laughed and thought about how the same situation could never be reproduced anywhere back in the States. Welcome to expat life Diana!
Double Café Cruise on the Coast
The next day, I got a text message from the American guy, “Hi, I hear you’re a cyclist too?” “Yes I am, so what are you doing here in Nice?” I asked him, expecting he was here for work or love, the two most common reasons to move across an ocean. And yes, he was here for his job, as I soon found out. His response made me do a double-take: “I’m here cause I’m on Team Sky.” Wow, ok – so what are the odds of that?! Two Americans within 50 km of Nice and one of them on the biggest pro cycling team of all – thanks expat life! Ian Boswell, at the time new to Nice and Team Sky, invited me on a coffee ride with some of his buddies from the team. I accepted the invitation, excited to meet him and his pro friends, and slightly nervous about keeping up with them. We started with coffee in Nice at a popular spot in the Old Town, then rode to Monaco and had coffee there, and then back to Nice again – a “pinch me, am I dreaming?” kind of day fueled by espresso. Everyone was really friendly, and it was such a pleasure exchanging stories about bike racing, our hometowns, expat life, and the French Riviera. Adding to the ambiance were the stunning views between Nice and Monaco, stretches of seaside road playing hide and seek with different bays, like postcards coming to life. Thankfully, I had enough fitness (and enough espresso) to comfortably ride at the group’s “coffee pace”. The scenery, the company, the coffee, and the conversation were like a perfectly executed recipe for a dish I had just discovered. The universe seemed to be telling me this was the place for me and my bike to be.
Things snowballed from there and I found myself connecting and sharing coffee with other local pro cyclists, their friends and even their families, and many more fantastic and interesting people from all walks of life. I also made valuable connections for my business, and once it was up and running, I discovered the joy of meeting people from around the globe and sharing the beauty of the French Riviera through our common passion. And when I think back on this incredible journey after 7 years in business, I often think of that first coffee ride in 2013, the first of many convivial café rides and the first of many unforgettable cycling stories from the Côte d’Azur.
