You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Morning all,
If you don’t want to read a long post then the basic question is where is the best place in the world for a two week mountain bike holiday?
I am planning a holiday in the last two weeks in August with a few friends. We would like to make a good big trip with plenty of riding. Over the last few years we have been lucky enough to ride in a few different places and are looking for something similar but somewhere new. To give you a flavour of where we have ridden before:
British Columbia: Fernie, Kicking Horse, Mt Swansea, Mt Severn, Kamloops, Jasper
We went on a Sacred Rides trip. It was the first time we had done this and it was brilliant, the riding was challenging and there was some shuttling. We had superb guides and the holiday pushed our skills too. It was 7 days then we hired an RV for a week doing a mixture of riding and sightseeing.
Utah, Arizona and Colorado: St. George, Grand Canyon, Moab, Fruita, Brian Head
Again a Sacred Rides trip. This time 10 days. The same lead guide who was still great and a guy called Mark (who runs his own company Mountain Bike Buddies), he didn’t ride with us much but he was a positive trail encyclopaedia for Utah and a great guy to boot. We were a small group of 5 and the riding was adjusted to suit us; apparently we did about twice as much riding as was scheduled ? we were pretty broken by the end! The riding featured less uplifts but the riding was constantly engaging, challenging and technical.
After 10 days riding we spend about 3 in Las Vegas.
Freeridespain: Near Malaga
This was a week’s holiday and it was at the start of the year so perhaps we (or at least me) weren’t quite as fit as the Sacred Rides ones in the Autumn. The riding was challenging but also seemed to consist of some exceedingly long Fireroad climbs generally followed by an extremely steep and therefore short descent. It was a good holiday but at times I also felt frustrated since the rides were short but very tiring. There were a couple of different rides featuring more mixed terrain and these were my best days out. Our guide was friendly and extremely fit but the guiding duties were also doubling up as training for a race season and I don’t think she had the sort of encyclopaedic knowledge I had grown used to on previous trips. The weather, despite climatic norms, was not great featuring several days of rain.
We have also previously ridden in Chamonix, Morzine & Les Gets, Les Deux Alpe and the Black Forest as well as trips to a number of UK riding spots.
We are looking for entertaining riding, we are not adverse to the odd lift up a hill but don’t depend on it, we would rather be on back-country singletrack than a DH track, lack of rain and good weather are very attractive. Our holiday will be two weeks and we would like to spend at least some of that on a guided trip I think. Whilst I don’t want to spend more than necessary budget is not paramount as this may be the last big trip for a while as one of our group is about to become a Dad, he may not get a chance of another trip like this for a while.
So what would people suggest for a next trip?
Decisions descisons ...
European road trip covering Swizterland and Italy, mostly self organised but hooking up with local guides, would be easy to add a Trail Addiction Destination-X Bike Verbier week assuming they are not already fully booked. You could include a 2-3 day point to point tour.
Colorado road trip + Jacksone Hole Wyoming
I would have suggested New Zealand, you'd only get 10 days riding but as a "big sign off" for the group it would be epic, however I think Queentstown will be covered in snow and weather generally poor.
Jambalaya,
Thanks for your post. New Zealand does sound good and I would like to go there but as you say the timing is tricky.
Have you been to Colorado? And if so where did you fly into?
Fly to Denver>Boulder>RM National Park>Winter Park>Fruita>Gunnison>Crested Butte>Keystone>Denver or something similar.
Or nearer to home
http://www.chamina.com/produit/grande-traversee-du-massif-central-145/
or
http://www.grande-traversee-alpes.com/fr/je-voyage/a-vtt.html
Stay at home and do Scotland - for the kinda money I guess you've been spending you could hire an RV plus someone to drive, and then pretty much do anything from Trail Centres to Mountains and lots of wild stuff in between?
Read Issue 71 and then go to Iceland!
or somewhere like Norway. or Morocco...
Whotto:
Sounds like you've done a few good organised trips.
Ianv has a good idea - fly into Denver gives you lots of scope. I've done it a few times and dependent on time done the following trips:
Denver - Breckenridge - Durango - Sanfa Fe - Moab - Fruita - Denver
Denver - Grand Junction - Fruita - Moab - Denver
Denver - Breckenridge - Crested Butte - Fruita - Moab - Aspen Denver
Other trips that I've done:
Phoenix - Sedona - Flagstaff - Grand Canyon - Phoenix
San Diego - Palm Springs - Orange County (Laguna Beach / Hill) - San Diego
This year (fly out on 4th June) I'm doing Virginia and North Carolina. Fly into Washington DC and the work our way down the I81 ending up in Asheville / Bervard.
All organised of my own back and not that difficult if you spend the time doing the research.
If any of the trips above float your boat let me know, I think I still have the planning spreadsheets flying about that may be of interest.
Cheers,
Mark
not cheap, but simply amazing
I went on the BC one, but they also do weeks in Peru on the Inca trail.
Might be worth bearing in mind stuff is graded for Canadians, not British so don't expect to be able to ride everything
ianv - This sounds pretty good as do TheRack's variants on it. I am not sure I would return to Moab but I could certainley be tempted to go back to Fruita, the riding was amazing and one of my friends missed out there as he got sick. What sort of costs are typical for a flight to Denver?
The Alps traverse looks good but I guess you would be carrying your own kit?
Iceland did look good and has come up in discussions.
b r - Agree on Scotland but I have ridden four weeks there (three in the last 3 years). Of course there is loads more but think we will be going furhter afield for this one.
richc - Agree totally on Sacred Rides, we have done two trips (BC and Utah)- both superb and I would never hesitate to recommend them. We represented the UK well in our riding though the Mt. Severn Psychosis course was way too much for us!! Peru is a possible and would be an amazing destination but I know very little of the quality and nature of the trails. Also think the flight may be a wallet buster.
TheRack - Thanks for offer of planning notes, I may well take you up on that when we settle on a plan. I am not normally one to shy away from organisations (four Scotland trips etc) but there is something really great about joining a group and also riding with a guide that is faster/better than you and who knows the trails, conditions and area really, really well.
What about Oregon? This got loads of mentions in a similar thread I posted three years ago but less now.
Keep 'em coming!
Hi keppoch:
Mike here with Sacred Rides. Glad to hear you had such a good time with us. Just wanted to quickly respond regarding your thoughts about our Peru trips.
First off, the riding in [url= http://sacredrides.com/rides/peru ]Peru[/url] is simply mindblowing. They're not purpose-built trails like you'd find in BC or Utah, but they were built for walking (i.e. by the Incas) and most of them are perfect for mountain biking. Add spectacular Andes scenery and vibrant Inca culture, and huge descents (we're talking up to 11,500 vertical feet) and you've got the makings of an epic trip. In fact, our Peru trips are our highest-rated trips, ahead of even BC and Utah. We do a lot of group trips in Peru and would be happy to talk to you about doing the same (mike@sacredrides.com). You will definitely not be disappointed in Peru, but as you say, the flight may be a bit of a deal-breaker. Give http://igougo.com a quick look for fares.
We also have a new trip in [url= http://sacredrides.com/rides/nepal/himalayatreasures ]Nepal[/url] that is equally mindblowing, but again, flights may be a factor.
Looks like you've got a lot of great advice here on DIY rides, but if you decide to join a guided ride, please do give us a shout!
Mike, Rider Happiness Manager,
Sacred Rides
p.s. here's a little preview of that 11,500-vertical-foot descent: [url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OohrgG427yQ ]Olleros Trail, Peru (video)[/url]
The rides are so well mapped out and the trails well marked in the States that you don't really need a guide but I can see where you're coming from, a guided ride does seem to flow better and is a lot easier.
The Phoenix - Sedona - Flagstaff trip was so easy self-guided that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anybody. We did it over 10 days. If you're doing a full 2 weeks you could possibly loop round and take in something in SoCal.
Guided trips I've done Peru with Saddle Skedaddle; Nepal with Dawn til Dusk (Nepalese company based in Kathmandu - they have a website), Whistler with Bear Back Biking, Spain with FreeRideSpain, Morocco with Flow MTB, and the Alps with a couple of companies.
I can recommend all of them for different reasons.
Whistler was just awesome and like a theme park every day.
Nepal was just an amazing experience. The riding wasn't the most technical but it was a fantastic off-road tour.
Peru had the similar experiences to Nepal and some unbelievable singletrack. Probably some of the most technical 'natural' trails that I've ever ridden.
Morocco had some awesome riding and was a different experience again. I don't think anyone does a 2 week trip though.
Flights to Nepal weren't a problem when I did it. Flew with Qatar Airways and could't fault them. Very good value too.
Peru (Cusco) was a bit of a mare. 3 individual flights. Make sure you book all the flights to be BA flights so you don't get stung for the bikes by Iberia. Overall with the flights this was the most expensive holiday by far but I'm so glad I did it. And flights are only going to go up in price so get out to these far-flung places while you can.
I fancied Oregon but I'm ticking off the BA direct flights first as it's so much easier and cheaper with bikes. Oregon needed a linking flight with AA which meant cost and grief - I'll get there sometime though.
If you want any more info let me know.
@keppoch - for Colorado as others have posted Denver is the best entry point or potentially Chicago and then a switch. Jackson Hole is a little tricky as the airport has a short runway, is surrounded by mountains and it's in a National Park so no long haul flights, it is however a stunning area
Edit: I just looked at some links suggested by @sacredrides / @TheRack, Peru - now that's a destination, so different from the biking lads do Vegas. If you want something different ...
We went to Peru with Sacred rides and it was brilliant. The guide out there, Wayo was excellent. The biking was so good but also the whole experience of being in Peru was what helped to make the trip so memorable. We flew with KLM which was fine but pretty expensive - about £900 return, that was from Manchester. We booked extra luggage to cover the bikes - about £60. There is an internal flight in Peru where you will have to pay about 140 usd return to cover the bikes. Breakfasts, lunches and snacks were provided; we paid for evening meals but they were very cheap. The food was lovely. I am so very glad I went though and certainly plan to go back. We did the xc route but I was very glad that there was so much fantastic descending and not too much climbing because of the altitude ( after a couple of days adjusting to it, it was ok!). But then there's also Nepal........!
localish
White Room Back Country Week
I have seen assisted trans alps organised by a german company but cant find them (lift/drive assist)
For euro trips like the chemin du soleil, look at
Www.cap-liberte.fr
Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast road-trip perhaps?
From Vancouver airport to the ferry at Tsawwassen.
Ferry to Swartz.
Work your way up the island to Comox (visit to Hornby Island on the way!)
Ferry Comox to Powell River.
Back down Sunshine Coast and ferry to Horseshoe Bay.
Quick detour up the Sea to Sky to Squamish.
Back to the airport at Vancouver.
🙂
Whistler, Pemberton, Squamish, Chilcotins with www.ticket2ridebc.com You can concentrate on one type of riding or try a bit of everything and be blown away whatever you decide.
Check the temps for St George/Utah/et al as I was marooned in St G for a week start of July and it was hot! Ditto for Moab 110+ at mid day...
I'll second the Colorado thing. Recommend Crested Butte, Leadville, Fruita, Durango... + I really want to do Monarch Crest too.
okay I haven't read all of the thread as at work and limited for time 😉 so sounds familiar to a few big trips that me and Mr MC have been on. These are 3 of THE best holidays we've been on, having also done Alps etc.
we did 8 days guided riding in Morocco with www.cycleactive.co.uk it was phenomenal. The riding was awesome, proper back country stuff, lift assisted. The organisation was mint, there was one British and one Moroccan guide to a group of 10.
Also I can recommend MTBing in India with Mike.
http://www.mountainbikekerala.com/
Again that was propery in the middle of nowhere it was fantastic! He can tailor your tour depending on who is going.
The only problem with India and Morocco are they aren't really August holidays more SEptember.
Then the other fantabulous holiday we had was 2010 to Colorado! Fly into Denver, stay in Boulder and do some of the local trails, Marshall Mesa and up to Nederland (which is like a hot Swinley forest). Drive up to Winter Park and do an uplift day .. insane! WAAAAYYY bigger than the ALsp the DH's are like 20 minutes....wicked, can also do XC stuff there and hire and big chalet. Then drive over to Crested Butte the riding there was out of this world. I can recommend a book with guideded routes in it for CB although all pretty well marked.
I can post some pics of the various holidays when I get home, can't get into photo bucket account here.
EDIT: Just read Metalheart's posted .. Monarch Crest one of THE best rides I've ever done! will post pics later...breath taking.
I reckon Verbier with Bike Verbier ticks every one of your boxes, especially the 'entertaining riding' and 'backcountry singletrack' bit in your last para. BV give you unforgettable riding that you'd never find or access without their unrivalled knowledge and van/trailer combo. Much of it is well away from Verbier itself, although there's some amazing 'hidden' stuff they know in and around the Verbier bowl - some lift accessed, some you need to pedal to. Every other aspect of their hols is great too - grub, accommodation, hosting, weather etc etc.
Wow this is great 🙂 thanks everyone.
I watched the sacred rides Peru video - persuasive stuff!
Also listening carefully to advice on time of year. We were in St. George and Utah in September and it was still crazy hot to the point that our rides in Moab were carefully timed to avoid cooking!
We rode Colorado (all the places I mentioned earlier) the last 2 weeks in July and we foudn it okay, I guess it depends on how you are with heat. Mr MC HATES sitting/being in heat, as long as he is riding his bike he can cope the minute we stop he's hiding under the trees.
Morocco pics 2009
Gurning...
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
On my 30th!
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Why am I sitting down? end of a long day!
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Colorado pics 2010. Darn it at the mo I can't find my Colorado pics! IF I find them I will post more to tease you 😉
Monarch Crest:
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
India 2012
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Unusual mode of bike transport
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
tour the bc interior with bushpilotbiking
I wouldn't go anywhere near Grand Junction/Fruita in Colorado or Utah in August - it's way too hot
Further East - Crested Butte, Gunnison etc. are perfect Summer venues
California?
Fly into San Francisco, pick up Rv and head north....
Marin (plenty of riding, but Mt. Tam and the Repack are a must) > Sierra Nevada (loads of riding especially got to do Downieville etc.) > Tahoe (Flume Trail for the views!!!!) > Mammoth Mountain (mental!!) > Laguna Niguel (just south of LA) > Santa Cruz (via Highway one & Big Sur) > Back into San Francisco
Done this in a coupe of different guises over the last couple of years and had great fun!
I did a 10 day trip in Morocco a couple of years ago. Roughed it quite a bit but unfogettable.
Photos here
and happy to provide more info.