School MTB Trip - France

I can't help, but can I just say what an awesome thing to do! I wish stuff like that had been an option when I was at school, but then it was that long ago, mountain bikes weren't even a thing!

Term time or school holidays?

I’d speak to Stevo at The White Room, also of this parish, and see what he might suggest?

Good on you! I would think about somewhere and something like https://www.lesorres.com/en/on-site/summer-activities/sport-and-fun/mountain-biking-school

I am a teacher of 25 years experience and have run all sorts of trips. I have held MTB cycling leader qualifications and Alpine Ski Leader. I have biked since 1990, and travelled widely mtbing. I go riding in the Alps every summer and this summer we had 6 nephews biking together at Puy St Vincent and Risoul. We had a fantastic time but it is not without it's challenges. Group management is much more challenging on bikes than on ski.

I don't shy away from a challenge, and simply thinking of the challenges that I can foresee, let alone the ones I haven't encountered yet makes me take a step back from this one.

Having said that, go for it and blaze a trail.

Don't underestimate the amount that biking day after day takes it out of people, let alone kids. They get deeply fatigued and then start making mistakes and or moaning. You will need to build in plenty of rest and recovery time.

That's a good thing.

I'm assuming you're considering how to help the less wealthy riders attend if they can - that's often the only downside of such adventures.

What a brilliant thing to do. Go for it.

One issue that Brexit has brought to such activities is the need for additional paperwork if you are bringing bikes with you. I think there was a thread here recently regarding a scout group and their kit.

One issue that Brexit has brought to such activities is the need for additional paperwork if you are bringing bikes with you. I think there was a thread here recently regarding a scout group and their kit

IIRC, the issue there was the the bikes travelled separately to the riders, so were suspected of being imports

this is a great idea and a full on challenge to organize and execute. i know this reply doesn’t answer your question, but this is the internet…

in my experience, mountain bike holidays in the alps are very different to ski holidays and there are a few questions i’d ask myself while planning something like this.

have you ridden in the alps yourself? what are your expectations with regard to lift access, length of the rides and the difficulty of the rides? what age are the children?

where does the club usually ride? have you done any overnight trips that are closer to home with the club to sample more challenging riding?

i’d guess that you’d need a specialist company for dealing with school groups.

I've seen this company advertised locally, no idea of how good/expensive they are though School Adventure Trips Alps | Outdoor Residential Trips in French Alps (beventuresometrips.co.uk)

If it's pure biking all week, might be cheaper to book accommodation and then contact a bike school separately

I think this sounds an amazing idea, but I also think it is going to involve masses amounts of paperwork and (sorry for this), I can't not see big accidents happening.

Holiday won't be cheap (and if it is like my local school, the parents are paying for all the adults going on the trip as well), so as mentioned above - is there or will there be a plan for the less wealthy to attend?

Alps is a very big place compared to the UK, bigger trails, bigger days, bigger potential for proper accidents.

I'd hope this gets approved and goes ahead as I suspect it will be an absolutely brilliant trip!

I have been thinking about this. I think in France you will need to have MCF qualified guides leading your group. You will also need to think of a location that has a good mix of lower end graded trails, as the higher end difficulty trails maybe inaccessible for some school aged riders.

I would also think very seriously about hiring bikes on site. This will add considerably to the cost, but will eliminate the considerable transport hassle, and you won't need to worry about carrying spares for a massive variety of bikes. How many different derailleur hangers would you need? Don't forget to get the brakes switched.

Not taking your own bikes means that you also don't have to worry about the storage and security which could be a major pain in the neck for a large number of bikes.

To get started I would consider taking your group away for a long weekend maybe in North Wales. You could ride for a day at Coed-y-Brenin, then do an uplift day at Antur Stiniog, followed by another pedal power today at the Gwydir trails. This would help you do a shake down to establish the range of riding abilities within the group, the organizational challenges that you may face, and give you a baseline for the endurance level of the group as a whole.

A few years ago I took a small group of riding buddies on a two-week road trip through the Alps. We rode up a variety of locations over the course of two weeks including Les Arcs, Tignes, La Thuile, Pila, Valloire, Alpe d'Huez, Deux Alpes, La Grave, Serre Chevallier and Les Orres. I did not factor in any rest days with riding every day, often only for one day at some locations, and over the course of the two weeks everybody was broken at some point. I was the only person who rode every day and partly this was because I knew what was coming and I was able to pace myself.

There's some great replies here - thanks!

The plan is to go in our summer holidays 2025, this would give us plenty of time to raise funds and continue to build up the skill levels of the kids in our club.  We have a good mix of abilities, from those who race at Farmer Johns and such like places to those who are yet to head to a trail centre (we are going in October for the first time).

I like the idea of hiring bikes, logistically it makes it a good bit easier.  We would look to go for a week and maybe ride 4 or 5 days, with a days watersports and a days hike somewhere.   The aim is to show the kids whats out there in the world and that they can have opportunities to explore the world if they so wanted.

School are on board with the trip, it's just a case of working out the logistics, I'd like a company to be in charge of routes / coaching sessions /guiding rather than me, if I can find one!

Give us a shout, we might be able to put something together for you.

Might be worth investigating UCPA- sort of activity holiday youth hostels is france. They may be able to do the accommodation and activity/bike hire/guiding etc.