Tour d'Epicure: Fitness with Fine Food

The five-star-rated Inn at Little Washington might have put Washington, Va., on the world map, but the Tour d’Epicure can take credit for attracting the fitness crowd to the farmland of Rappahannock County in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. John and Dianne MacPherson—owners both of Tour d’Epicure Virginia Cycling Adventures and the Foster Harris House Bed and Breakfast – are not only two of the cycling guides for tour participants but also perfect hosts in the food and hospitality departments.

My husband, Tom, and I had done a three-night bicycle tour in New Brunswick, Canada, in the 1990’s and knew the advantages to be a good workout and the camaraderie of like-minded individuals – plus being able to eat anything we wanted because of the calories we were burning off. The downside was that we had to have bags packed and outside our room every morning for the van to take ahead to our B&B the next night.

The Tour d’Epicure, on the other hand, offers trips where you only unpack once, using Foster Harris House as home base for an incredible breakfast each morning and a great place to come home after a day of bike riding. Take it from the Shreves of Midlothian – Marla, the administrative coordinator for Poseidon Swimming, and Mark, a Richmond pediatrician – who took the Tour d’Epicure with four close friends in June.

“We didn’t lack for anything,” said Marla. “If we mentioned we’d like a glass of water, someone appeared with it.”

The Shreves always try to make their vacations physically active. They first learned of Tour d’Epicure from one of their fellow West Virginia University alums, who shared an article in Southern Living. “We said, ‘Let’s do it,’ and the six of us set it up.”

Rappahannock County in northwestern Virginia wasn’t unfamiliar territory to the Shreves, as they go to the mountains each fall and are familiar with the biking routes. They are also recreational bicyclists, doing distances on weekends.

The group of six friends met before the tour for a practice run, Marla said. “We were in pretty good shape then. We thought 25 miles a day would be a breeze, but we were wrong. My husband and I worked hard on those hills up there.”

Their favorite part of the trip wasn’t the eating, though they admit that all of the meals were outstanding, not only the gourmet breakfast at the Foster Harris House but also the food at Griffin Tavern and Twenty-Four Crows. “We all bought the Foster Harris House Cookbook, “ Marla added.

“But our favorite thing was just being in the mountains on our bikes,” Marla said. “We stopped at Rappahannock Cellars for lunch and a wine tasting and tour of the winery. The countryside was so beautiful – I could have been riding in Europe!”

The three-day bicycle tour takes participants down to the quaint towns of Sperryville and up to Flint Hill and to Huntly, where the group enjoyed a private, multi-course dinner at Glen Gordon Manor. Dinner at The Inn at Little Washington is always reserved for the final night of every tour.

She explained that no one felt bad if they got tired and had to climb into the van that trailed the bikers. “Two other couples were on the tour with the six of us, one of them probably 10 years older than my husband and I (57 and 56, respectively), and they used the van as they got tired.

“The trip exceeded our expectations,” Marla said. “Staying at the Foster Harris House itself is neat – they’re a delightful couple with a lovely breakfast – but when you’re on the bike tour, it moves the getaway up to another level.”

The Tour d’Epicure has been so successful that the MacPhersons have added an extra weekend tour to the fall schedule, Oct. 25-27. Prices range from $799-$999, all-inclusive per person, depending on the room reserved. Go to www.tourdepicure.com for complete information, including frequently asked questions and itinerary details for the trips. For a literal taste of the tour, try the recipe below:

Paradise Bacon (from Foster Harris House Cookbook by John MacPherson)
½ c. mango chutney
12 thick slices hickory-smoked bacon (about ¼ lb.)

Preheat oven to 375. Arrange bacon in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment. Bake for 15 minutes until bacon begins to look opaque and the fat begins to render. Remove from oven, and blot top of bacon with paper towels to dry. Brush top of bacon with sauce, return to oven, and bake for additional 12-15 minutes until browned. Cool, then refrigerate flat (use parchment paper between layers if stacking). To achieve a cylindrical shape for each slice of bacon after it’s removed from the refrigerator, wrap each slice around a 1” dowel and roll in parchment before reheating in a 180-degree oven for about a half-hour.

Martha Steger is a Midlothian-based member of the Society of American Travel Writers.