Post by Mary on March 9, 2020
This winter has been the mildest since records began in several European countries, including France. The Alps have been no exception. We’ve not had temperatures below minus 8 even during the dark depths of January. There’s still been enough snow for the skiers, boarders and fat bikers but the ground below 1000m remains unfrozen and the trails are largely snow-free. Such mild conditions are certainly worrying from a climate change perspective but from a short term self-interested perspective, I am quite pleased that Spring has arrived earlier than usual in our valley. The Alps mountain biking season will be starting early for me this year. I’m just waiting for my seat post to return from being serviced and the next warm and sunny day I’ll be hitting the trails on my new Orange Five.
Jamie and I have quite a few early season bike trips lined-up. We’re kicking-off with another family bike tour, following on from the success of our Voie Verte (French traffic free bike route) adventure in Burgundy last year. This time we’re heading to the Atlantique West coast of France at the end of April to another Voie Verte. We’ll be starting at the stunning Dune de Pilat – the tallest sand dune in Europe – and working our way down the coast alongside a series of the best surf beaches in France.
The following month in May Jamie will be heading back down to Olargues in the Languedoc region of Southern France for a week of riding culminating in the Epic Enduro race that he’s participated in for the past 2 years. He was hoping to be in a new category this year but the age groups are slightly different from the standard in this race so he has another year to wait!
Then in June, thanks to the Grandparents, Jamie and I will be heading off for a very rare 5 days of riding together exploring the trails South of Briancon, heading down towards Nice. This will be part recce and part holiday (I hope!). This summer we’re launching our new Chamonix to Briancon route and the intention is to eventually extend this route all the way down to Nice. The trip will then become a 2 week mountain bike adventure that can be ridden in two halves or in one hit if you have the time and the legs for it 🙂
From the end of June we’re into our high season and we’re already fully booked from this point on until the 19th September. 19th-26th September is our last available slot for anyone looking to ride a point-to-point adventure with us this year. Get in touch if you’ve got a group and a trip in mind.
If you’re looking for an early season Alps mountain biking adventure then we do have time in between our own trips to fit your holidays in 🙂 We have availability for our centre-based Alpine Singletrack and Alpine Enduro trips from 12th-27th June and we have various slots in May too. We can customise these trips to suit your fitness and ability and we can run them for any length of time you want with your choice of start and finish days. Send us an email if you’re interested.
Happy Spring Biking!