Sicily
Oct 3–10, 2026 · 7 days
Oct 3–10, 2026
7 days
Up to 14 participants
Road Cycling
The challenge
The sun comes up over Mount Etna. The air is cool. Black lava fields stretch out below you, and the smell of woodsmoke drifts from a small village called Nicolosi. You clip in. The day is yours.
This is seven days of riding in Sicily with Marta Torá. She is a Spanish gravel cyclist who has made her name across the European circuit. She rides in Spanish and English, and she keeps things warm and real, not flashy. Going with her means you ride beside someone who knows this hard, beautiful land and wants to share it.
The riding is hard. You start gentle, with a 55km warm-up loop through vineyards and pistachio groves near Bronte. Then it bites. You climb Etna's south side on the historic Milia ascent, the one they raced in the Giro, all the way up to Rifugio Sapienza at 1,900m. You ride quiet chestnut forests on the north slopes. The grand finale takes you up to Piano Provenzana, with nearly 1,900m of climbing in one day. Your legs will ask you to stop. You won't.
But it is not all suffering. You stop for a sunset wine tasting at a small Etna winery. You eat slow dinners at family-run places, with Etna views and food made by hand. You'll join a small team who feel the same pull you do.
At the top, you pause. The Ionian Sea sits far below, the light turns gold, and for one quiet moment, nobody says a word.
The hard bit
It's meant to be hard.
This isn't a holiday. You'll be cold, tired, and a long way past your comfort zone. That's the deal, not the warning. The hard bit is the whole reason the rest of it means anything.
The team
You don't do it alone.
You go with a small group who signed up for the same mad idea. You meet them before you leave. You suffer with them out there. You come home with them as friends.
Marta Torá
You're with Marta, properly.
Not a meet-and-greet. Not a photo at the finish. Marta is on the trip with you, every single day. Same trail, same camp, same fire. You get to know the person, not the name.
Who leads
Marta Torá
More from Marta →Booking conditions
Full refund if Loaf cancels the trip. If you cancel, see our booking conditions.
Read booking conditions →How joining a team works
Here's what actually happens.
You apply. Not everyone gets a spot, so tell us why you want to come. We read every word.
If you're in, you're on the team. That's the bit people don't expect. This isn't a tour where you turn up on day one with a clipboard and a coach full of strangers. Weeks before we go, you meet everyone. We get the whole team on a call. You see the faces, learn the names, hear why each person signed up. By the time you land, these aren't strangers. They're your team.
Then you go and do something hard, together. Martaleads. You climb, you carry, you keep going. Some of it hurts. That's the point. Shared adversity is the fastest way to know people properly, and you come home with a group of friends you'd never have found any other way.
You don't need to be a pro. You just need to be up for it.
Apply for a place
You apply for a place; you don't buy one. We read every form. The wrong person on a mountain ruins it for everyone.
Hear more from Marta
New trips, notes from the trail, and hard things worth doing — from Marta, not from a marketing team.
Every trip on this page is run by Loaf: small groups, every plan handled before you arrive. Marta leads. You bring the will.
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