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First time I've dared to post but as I'm just about to cross the channel for a family camping trip, I thought it about time. First half of the holiday in st Gervais les Bains then near the Verdons gorge for the remainder. I am going to be able to ride one day in or near each location so where would you go? Can drive the van to the good stuff. I ride all Calderdale has to offer and go to the lakes as often as I can. Probably (challenging?) singletrack and views I'm after (oh and bike is a Yeti SB66c). Anybody ridden near Dignes les bains? I've worked up in those hills and saw some amazing trails
visibump
Thanks for the bump. I'm sure I put this in the chat forum. It's all going well for a first post.
A quick google throws up this
To be honest whenever I've been to anywhere the least bit hilly in France I just hit the net in the preceding days & can usually find a VTT map showing different graded routes. I can't promise they'll be singletrack heaven but they're useful for navigating without getting lost in a foreign land.
Hi SamC, canny help you with the riding down by the Verdon, but assuming it's St Gervais in Haute Savoie, then you've got loads to go at there. I'd recommend buying the IGN maps 3531 ET St Gervais and 3531 OT Megeve to get the best of the area (or online mapping of your choice)
From St Gervais itself the Bettex lift has access to the "whizz" flow trail which, though it's not going to keep you amused for more than a couple laps, is great fun for those couple of laps. You then have trails from the top that can take you down to Megeve. Alas Megeve has really cut back on their lifts this year, however below Jaillet there are a variety of built and natural trails, whilst the Rochebrun lift is more of the natural trails, a little bitty unfortunately. The Mont d'Arbois lift then brings you back up to the top of the Bettex lift and the Whizz flow trail.
Heading south from Bettex there'sa bit of a hoof to a couple of great trails that descend (eventually, you have to traverse a bit first...) to LEs Contamines. Typrically it's the harder to reach further away one that's the better descent. Les Contamines also has its own bike park which is fun enough for a few laps, but then there's easily a full day of lapping the lifts to tick off all the wee singletracks marked on the map. If you then head up the valley further towards the Col du Bonhomme you get a right cracking descent back down the Roman Road to Les Contamines, best done early or late to minimise the number of walkers to maximise flow. Conviniently there's the Nant Borant refuge up there to sit with a coffee/beer/icecream whilst you wait for the traffic to quieten.
Then there's Chamonix just over the hill. It has a bit of riding too... I'm not sure what the tramway costs for uplift, but bikes area taken on the 1st and last 3 trains of the day so I've included a load of great trails from the tramway below.
Some links: http://www.chamonixbikeblog.com/2014/les-contamines-no-bad/
http://www.chamonixbikeblog.com/tag/st-gervais/
Just outside of digne is Evo bike park and a little bit out, 50km, is montclar bike park.
I've never ridden Evo but montclar is really good but both may be a little downhill orientated for what you are after. There are 'enduro' routes from montclar but I've never bothered with them
Thanks for the replies. Lots to go at there. I suppose I could rephrase the question 'if you only had one days riding in the alps for the whole year and wanted semi tech singletrack where would you head for the absolute best day?'
I'm sure some of the trans Provence stuff must be in those Digne hills. Any recommendations for a guide for the day - might be the most efficient option