Exposé: It’s not a holiday, it’s work, honest.

The new issue of Singletrack features a lovely-looking article on Lake Garda and its bike festival. As a parting gift, our departing art-director, Sim, lifts the magic curtain on the realities of those tough-looking foreign trips that we love to moan about having to go on… Take it away Sim…

We’ve been steady state drinking since we finished riding at about four. It’s now nearly midnight and we haven’t eaten since eleven in the morning. Our friends at SRAM are throwing the mother of all parties and Dave and I have set our stall out as resident drunkards. We’re not alone, but we’re the only Brits, flying the flag for all that this country is known for; loutish drinking, bad jokes and an inability to speak the lingo, although the Italian for ‘laugh on my dick’ does seem to be one thing we manage to master. It’s a classy night out.