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Have just come across Superbagneres and we are staying a couple of hours drive from it next week. I'm struggling to find much info apart from it has the longest descent (1200 m) in the Pyrenees and that in Sept it looks like the lifts only work on the weekends (but that is from an old Guardian article). Has anyone ridden there? What sort of grade it is? We are both on ~5" trail bikes (Nicolai Helius CC and Liteville 301). Or is it a downhilling place (we are up for uplifted trails - but not full on DH)?
get n touch with AQR and see if you can book a couple of days guiding. Well worth it.
I never made it to the DH trails there as it was stormy the day we were going to do it and the lifts were closed. I got the impression there was some fairly mellow options as well as some silly ones.
Have a look at this video (not mine):
Luchon is a nice town to visit. AQR are nice folk but the stuff we did I found the descents a little tame for my liking (only did a day with them though) - still worth doing.
Aye, Luchon (where the bottom lift station is) is A Quick Release's base so they know that mountain like i know the veins on my knob 😉 There is stunning riding around there, not just from superbagneres but all round. It just lacks the connected lifts of the alps.
We did an uplift on a wednesday but that was august not september. Used mainly unmarked trails to get down though, Ian mentioned it's not the easiest to navigate and often a fair bit of fire road to get down, the bike park stuff didn't look too good but what we rode had some ace bits in it- like broon troot, except it went on forever, was how I described it, steep and woodsy and loamy.
Mate next door owns a house there I think - time for a neighbourly visit......
The marked trails are good fun. Not too tech but you can ride them pretty fast. The layout makes exploring easy. One massive lift then lots of tracks that all head down. Basically you ride a bit of fireroad then turn off down anything that looks interesting and you pop out further down the fireroad or at the bottom.
There is also white water rafting and some great walking.
Was there this time 2 years ago, lifts were closed. we rode up the forest track which took a while
All the locals ride big bikes but the trails are all perfect for trail bikes. It's like all your favourite natural descents in one. It goes from dry and smooth to Lakeland loose to tight, rooty, slippy tech. It's been Sept both times I've been and weekends only for the lifts but its really cheap for a pass.
Although I haven't ridden with AQR, a mate has and really rated it.
B.A.Nana, that was Ax les Thermes that was closed, Superbagneres was open.
If its your thing its also a fantastic road descent. Mainly because for the most part it will be traffic free:)
http://app.strava.com/segments/884800
Good luck!
(Other half of OP)
Great - thanks very much guys. Very useful and sounds like it might be worth a visit. We are staying around the Zona Zero trails so loads of riding on the doorstep but good to know we can mix it up.
Really good riding around Luchon but, as is always the case, the best stuff if not the marked routes.
We've been riding there with AQR for years and they'll guide you to the best stuff. They tend to guide big XC rides rather than DH.
I've only ridden off the lift once but a 5" bike is fine - the descents we came down were steeper than other riding in the area but it wasn't huge drops or jumps. I'm sure that sort of trail can be sought out if you want it. AQR will supply body armour and full faces for uplifted riding.