Post by Mary on March 5, 2021
We’re coming to the end of our second week of Springtime mountain biking in Winter here in the French Alps. Last week we were up to 18 degrees in the afternoons with the snow fast disappearing below 1200m. It’s probably not something to celebrate from an environmental perspective but for mountain bike enthusiasts it’s a welcome gift from Mother Nature. The trails below 1000m are dry and dusty and in excellent condition for riding.
Jamie and I have been out riding our early season trails even earlier than usual. With Covid still impacting negatively on work opportunities, we’re taking the time to get to know some new routes and riding old favourites that I haven’t ridden for 10 years or more. We’ve got the kids back out on the bikes riding some fun forest singletrack, getting them used to pedaling again.
This week it’s slightly cooler but still warm, dry and sunny. Jamie and have been doing some more Springtime mountain biking, exploring more trails on the Saleve (towards Geneva) and discovering some routes we’ve never ridden before off the back of Le Mole. We found one of those magical trails that leaves you grinning from ear to ear. It’s accessed by a road and then technical off-road climb up to a Col on the shoulder of Le Mole. It’s mostly an easy gradient for climbing but with a few rocky and rooty sections to test the off-road climbing skills. From the Col the descent starts off quite steep and technical but soon mellows out into a fantastic, flowing singletrack trail that seems to go on forever. It’s definitely a trail Jamie will be riding with our guests this summer.
Although international travel is still a little uncertain we’re confident that the vaccination programmes that are rolling out across the world will mean a summer of mountain biking holidays is going to be possible this year. We’re open for bookings for summer 2021 and very much hoping we’ll see some of you out here to ride our favourite trails.