Arrive at Sao Paulo International Airport in the morning
Scenic Drive out of Sao Paulo towards the Coffee Highlands, 3.5 hour eta.
Cold drinks awaiting at the Hotel, Assemble Bikes, Hang out and relax from long trip.
Wake up to a wholesome breakfast featuring fresh fruits and delicious locally grown and roasted Nossa Familia coffee!
Today's Ride: 'The warm up' - 20 miles of riding today, mild rolling hills and beautiful scenery overlooking the vast 'Mogiana' Coffee Valley
Culture: Dinner in Pocos de Caldas, Live Music, great food, and cool drinks to finish of the first day
Today's Ride: 'Fun in the sun' - 40+ miles with 4000' elevation gain. We'll get a nice warm up, climbing to the rim of the crater that surrounds Pocos de Caldas, and then it will be 5km of downhill into the beautiful coffee valley. We'll stop for a visit of Fazenda Cachoeira (Waterfall farm), where we'll be given a coffee tour, while we sip on some of the best coffee in the world. After this 'Rest area 1' we'll keep on biking down the valley and we'll make our way to the town of Sao Sebastiao da Grama, where we'll have lunch by the town square. Then we test our legs and lungs, climbing back towards Pocos de Caldas towards the pool and cold beer waiting at the hotel.
DINNER: You will definitely have earned the feast of local fare that we have planned for dinner tonight!
Today's Ride: 'Brazilian 101' - 25 miles with 3,000' elev gain. We'll head towards town, riding a bit in the pavement before we pull off into some back country trails that lead to the top of the viewpoint that overlooks Pocos. We then check our breaks and 'drop' into town on a SCREAMING downhill.
Lunch: It will be a difficult task, but you must restrain yourself cause we gotta bike back to the farm!
EXOTIC EXPERIENCE #27: The tropical bird sanctuary. No point trying to describe the amazing fauna of this place, make sure you have enough film or memory space in your camera!
Today's Ride: 'Le tour du Cafe' - 30 miles of riding, with challenging climbs and great vistas of coffee farms. Approx 4,000ft elevation gain
COFFEE BREAK: Fazenda Recreio, Winner of the 'Cup of Excellence' (best coffee of Brazil in 2003)
Today's Ride: 'Waterfall day' - For those of you who are skipping showers, this will be a mandatory natural shower in one of the local waterfalls. N nice ride with rolling hills, and, just when you think we are near enough that you can smell the beer, we will have an optional hill climb that will test your skills, legs and lungs all at once!
ARTISTRY: Teodoro is the artist who created the block print used in our Nossa Familia Coffee label. He was inspired by the last group of cyclist who visited the farm (notice that the sun is a bicycle wheel). We'll be visiting his studio for a relaxing afternoon of
Today's Epic Ride: 'A Bird's View' - A metric century to the highest point of the volcanic geology that surrounds Pocos de Caldas. Let's not think about the elevation gain of this route, but as a hint, this is the spot where local hang-gliders and para-gliders launch flight. With gorgeous views and challenging hills this ride was one of the favorites in the last tour!
Today's Ride: 'Take a Hike!' - today will be an optional riding day, but do not worry we'll work the lactic acid out of our legs from the previous day's metric century by doing a guided jungle hike. This 4km 'single-track' hike will expose you to the tropical fauna of Brazil. Our guide will be my grandfather who has a wealth of knowledge to share and knows the trail like the back of his hand. If we get lucky we'll see monkeys hoping on branches above us, and fear not, no large snakes to be seen in this area of Brazil!
SPA DAY: You've earned it, we'll be heading into town to the roman style bath house for some relaxation. After some rejuvenation we'll have the afternoon the explore the sights, and sounds of Pocos, finishing up with dinner at my favorite local restaurant, with live music and one of the best selection of local drinks in town!
Today's Ride: 'Where does this coffee come from???' By this time we'll be thoroughly spoiled with the daily fare of fresh fruits and amazing coffee waiting for us every morning. It's time we see all the hard work that goes into the coffee process. We'll have a 2 part ride. In the morning after a nice warm up hill we drop 1,500 feet down to the coffee farmhouse, where we'll have an in depth coffee tour. We'll take a walk through the whole coffee cycle, including a roasting demonstration where we get to package and take home our very own coffee to share with family and friends back home! We'll try not to make lunch into too much of a feast as the afternoon has a massive hill climb in store, made worthwhile only by the scenery 360 degrees around you, and the pool and cold beers waiting back at the hotel.
NIGHT IN TOWN: Can't let a Saturday night go by without exploring the Brazilian Night Life!
Today's Ride: 'Sleeping in' - We'll all need a little extra beauty sleep after the night out, so we'll take it easy this morning, we'll head into town to explore the feirinha, then back to watch the farms workers in their official soccer tournament, watching is the best part, as they have an employee run bar at the 'futebol' field. Optional riding in the Morning or afternoon.
Today's Ride: 'farewell loop' - All good things must come to a pause, to be continued later... We'll bike through Eucaliptus forests, potato fields, corn and other local crops, we'll stop by fazenda cocal for a snack, and then head back towards the hotel. Just in time to pack up, and have the last supper before heading back to Sao Paulo.
Depart Hotel at 2pm towards Sao Paulo.
