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where in the world would you go? and why would you go there? Money no object.
West coast of the US to Canada maybe.
NZ could easily swallow a month and a lot of fun
Colorado. I used to guide there and would love to go back and just ride the trails 'for myself'. So much variety, easy access and no filler. I wouldn't stay just a month either.
a grand bikepacking tour of the alps.
Pick the right month, and Scotland, loads of places I want to ride up there and I know I could go to Canada or New Zealand but just being able to hit the trails I want day to day is a winner.
North America/Canada, mostly because of language tbh but also to make the most of the travel time.
Money no object then I think somewhere like Canada but Great Divide type riding rather than bike park stuff.
However, as money did figure we went on a Transit van/tent trip to Tignes, Val D'Isere, Les Deux Alpe and Alpe D'Huez in 2014 for just short of a month to bike/hike and generally play about in the mountains.
Wasn't long enough.
West coast of the US to Canada maybe.
This, just because I will probably not afford/bother to IRL.
Would happily spend a month in Italy though.
PS. I wouldn't spend the month just MTBing, experience and my advancing years tell me I'd need at least one day a week off to recover.
Swindon.
T'himalays, start in Lhasa and wiggle around Nepal, Butan into Northern India would love to have done Kashmir but I think it'd be impossible now 🙁
We had five weeks in New Zealand in January and struggled to fit in everywhere we wanted to ride. Northern California in October for 3 weeks should be more manageable...
I'm going to say a grand tour of the Alps and perhaps down the Pyrenees if the weather is poor in the Alps.
I've been to PDS loads of times, and had a great time most of the time, I've been to les Arcs and had a great time, been the Whistler and had a great time but none of them would keep me happy for a month, the major resorts of the Alps all seem to be within a few hours drive of each other, so it wouldn't be a major hassle to spend a few days in one place and if you start to get a bit used to it, pop down the road to the next resort. PDS, Verbier, Les Arcs, Chamonix, Saint-Luc, Samoëns all within a few hours of each other with a bit of planning.
British Columbia for sure, but it had to include BC bike race.
If europe, I would say the alps, Italy, roadtrip
Peru.
Never been biking abroad but if I had a month I think I'd agree with Northwind, West Coast of US/Canada, riding looks awesome and varied and the language thing makes life easier.
I'd 2nd what Goss says...
BC Roadtrip: North Shore, Squamish, Whistler, Golden, Van Island, Sunshine Coast and Gulf Islands.
Euro Roadtrip: Work your way down the Alps, then across to CH, Austria, Garda, Slovenia.
Nepal
Fly to Milan and do a wiggly bikepacking tour across to Bilbao for the boat home.
It would rain the whole time or I would get an injury stopping me from riding. Just like now.
Never been and no idea what the riding is like but i like the idea of bike packing across Norway ..
Also New zealand
iceland.
I'd like to go cycling (not specifically MTBing) round Spain, but on dirt roads and paths. Did a couple of weeks a couple of years ago, and have always wanted to go back. Set off, ride for a few hours, find a nice little village with a cafe, have lunch, explore the local area, maybe find a little stream or lake to have a quick dip, then ride back. Just perfect. 🙂
Colorado/Utah roadtrip
+1 to Iceland. Oh, just happen to be going there soon 😆
After that it would be New Zealand.
Thats easy. Back to Whistler, there are hundreds of miles of top trails to explore without setting foot in the excellent bike park. Anywhere that suggests a full susser with 150 -160 travel is their definition of an xc bike works for me 🙂
New Zealand - in part as it's so far away its not the sort of place I would ordinarily visit
I could easily spend a month in the Alps between, France, Switzerland and Italy
Bakewell!
Nepal, no question. Mountain views, the people, the trails look amazing, just everything about it.
On that basis, second option would be Pamirs or Hindu Kush area. You'd need a month for any of them really. So many other places could be a more-likely 2 week trip.
Fernie
BC or NZ for me.
An end to end Road trip in the UK because there's so much I haven't rode in this country yet.
BC, Fernie has become one of my favourite towns ever.
Swindon.
Done that, what next?
Hmmm - I would like to say this is a tough one and to be fair it is.
My current wanna do's are:
Iceland (but I am pretty convinced this is a week or 10 days of money no object so not really hitting the timescale.
Canada including a pretty epic race - BC Bike Race is good but is also full for next year. Singletrack 6 would be a good option plus a bit of a road trip.
New Zealand seems like a good idea - maybe taking in The Pioneer and a bit of a road trip across South and North Island.
Tour Divide route, self supported taking pictures... I might even actually finish in a month, probably need two though to be honest.
Possibly New Zealand. But given how amazing I found Iceland to be when I got married there there's a very good chance I'd go back up there.
New Zealand.
Having said that, having watched Ray Mears "Wild France, there looks to be a lot of amazing scenery, a lot closer to home..
It depends which month really. Some of the places mentioned would be too hot for me to want to ride in their summer and others would be covered in snow for lots of the year.
As it happens I'm going touring for 6 weeks in the USA next year. Current thoughts are San Francisco, over the Sierras, then quiet roads through Nevada, some back roads and a few dirt roads in Utah. To the Grand Canyon. A hike from the north to south rim if I can get a one night permit to camp in the bottom. Bit more dirt and mainly quiet roads through Arizona and back into California to finish in San Diego.
If money was no object I'd stay in more motels as it is I'd imagine 6 nights a week camping with the odd motel night to clean up.
I've toured through the USA before and the south west is my favourite part. Nothing too adventurous but I like it.
Just into the fourth week of our Alps tour. Down through France and to La Thuile. Then a bit further to Pila. Back furthur south to Les Orres and then up into Switzerland and now in Verbier. Weather has been good. Riding has been amazing. Donth think it could be much better. Should have had the camper years ago.
Nepal, Hawaii and all around Las Vegas.
As it happens I'm going touring for 6 weeks in the USA next year. Current thoughts are San Francisco, over the Sierras, then quiet roads through Nevada, some back roads and a few dirt roads in Utah. To the Grand Canyon. A hike from the north to south rim if I can get a one night permit to camp in the bottom. Bit more dirt and mainly quiet roads through Arizona and back into California to finish in San Diego.
Sounds great, but how are you going to get your bike across the Grand Canyon? It's a long throw 🙂
Sounds great, but how are you going to get your bike across the Grand Canyon?
Two options. Ride to north rim. Walk to south rim and have bike shuttled round. Or ride to south rim. Leave bike at hiker/biker campsite. Either walk to north rim and shuttle back or shuttle to north rim and walk back.
https://www.trans-canyonshuttle.com/
A guy on crazyguyonabike has done it twice with his bike being shuttled round.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=191932
Or practice my throwing before I go.
Massive road trip to BC. Starting at Retalack in the Kootenays, over to Kamloops, round to Chiliwack , Woodlot, a few days on the North Shore, over to the island for Cumberland and Comox, back to Squamish, Disneyland, Pemberton , up to Williams lake, then back to Whistler
One more for Iceland - bloody kids went there on a geography field trip this year and loved it - my geography field trip was to sheffield.....
This has inspired me to try and work up to December in nz... Always a quiet month
BC road trip for a month next month north shore, Squamish, whistler and pemberton. Ideally 2 month to go even deeper into BC. Last year 12 days was nowhere near enough we barely scratched the surface. Trails are amazing
Regarding the Grand Canyon/bike thing, the third option is to hike across with your bike on your back! Bikes aren't allowed in the canyon, but it's been decided so long as they're not being wheeled/touching the floor, it's OK. The main use for this is the Arizona Trail route that crosses the whole of the state, North/South (or South/North!). It's also the starting point for a bike packing race, the AZT750, that requires the Grand Canyon hike, with bike on back, after about 650 miles of tough, desert single track... Examples of the hike setup can be seen on the web, i.e. here:
[img] 
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from the short blog on the race here:
[url= http://salsacycles.com/culture/the_humbling_azt ]AZT750 blog[/url]
And back to the OPs question, I might well try to run a single track heavy version of the great divide route, taking in the AZT750, the Colorado Trail, and any other interesting routes, with some flat linking days to recover in between... Might take more than a month though!
Regarding the Grand Canyon/bike thing, the third option is to hike across with your bike on your back!
Ha,ha! My touring set up is a Long Haul Trucker and 4 Panniers. I'd need a team of Sherpas to carry it across.
Fair do's! I actually started the AZT750 but ran out of time about 50 miles from the Canyon so never did the hike, despite packing walking poles etc in preparation... Have hiked the Canyon a few times without the bike, that's hard enough!
Train to South western edge of Alps, down to and along Mediterranean Coast, Northern Italy, Slovenia and North as far as time allows, MTb and train touring....
Think I'd start in Northern Italy and drive across alps via France Switzerland, then down to Spain and Andorra.
I've heard that NZ while looking good, has pretty limited off road access?
Do you want to go touring or experience famous mountain biking destinations?
If you want the latter, would your budget cover flying between locations in the month? You could pick 4 locations with good flight connections and transfers and spend a week in each. You could ride in a lot of the US and Canada if you were able to fly between cities. Or do a whistle stop tour. You could manage Sun Valley, Park City, Bend, somewhere in Washington then to Canada, Rockies and the costal mountains.
Do some research to see which locations could entertain you for a week. As I'm sure you know, the problem with doing road trips in North America is the size of the place. Unless you want to be driving and not riding, you are better off flying. It takes 12 hours to drive from Calgary to Vancouver, for example. You would pass through some very good places to ride your bike, though. Hiring a car big enough for bikes cN be expensive, too.
No matter what you end up doing, it is going to be fun. I'm jealous.
Nepal, the Annapurna circuit is on my list.
I've been twice before on longer tours and it's amazing. Just the most amazing country in the world.
I'd base myself in Verbier. You could easily fill a month riding the stuff there and thereabouts, but you'd have easy access to other places if you needed a change of scene/terrain.
For me it would be New Zealand - if I've got a month then I might as well travel as far as I can
Europe can easily be visited for a week, so I'd save that for a shorter trip
Agree about the time of year though - for a biking trip I wouldn't want to head to NZ in say July
Oregon, loved the riding there, Bend was good, McKenzie River was the best trail I've ridden, wished I had more time there, would go back to do the same again plus Oakridge, Mt Hood, Umpqua and more.
some great responses...... me, Im thinking New Zealand, SOUTH island, because having been before and sampled only a fraction of the mtb on offer, I want to go back and explore the rest...Plan B option looks like BC whistler for the xc I hear its legendary
I'd be looking to road trip the entire Riviera region, from Mandelieu through Peille (Nico & Fab's hometown - some ridiculous trails there), Dolce Acqua, Sanremo, Finale and all the rest of the region. There's easily a month's worth of phenomenal riding there, good food, nice beaches and lots of other stuff to do too. Plus relatively easy to do on a budget.... 🙂
Perhaps I'm a little unadventurous but for me, it'd be the West coast of Scotland again with unlimited ferry tickets and maybe the occasional night in a b&b this time. Managed to spread it out to six weeks last time - felt a bit like a dream most days.
Bikepacking in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, hot springs and fire lookout towers.