Planning the Raddest Month Ever

[juanbendedknee]

Long story short: I am getting married this summer (June 13) in Squamish and heading out for the most epic mountain bike road trip ever. We plan on starting immediately in Squamish and poking around BC for trails not still covered by snow.

We are scheduled for an enduro back in WA a couple weeks later, so we'll call this the half-way mark.

After the enduro, we want to fly somewhere to keep riding. At this point, it'll be the beginning of July, so N. Hemisphere. Pretty much anywhere in the world. Our current thinking is Germany/Italy/ France.

So my question to the crowd- Where should we go? What should we do? Where should we ride?

I ride a Process 153 and the Lady is on a Sight LE- we don''t mind riding up-hill, but we max around 7k in a day. We don't have a big interest in long, flat XC routes- hence my listing our bikes.

Thanks!!!

[Dromond]

I would definitely consider checking out Vancouver Island if you haven't been. Everything I rode was low elevation so that's a non issue. Cumberland was a really fun place to ride with so many trails and the town vibe is great. The riding on Hornby Island is much less technical but also really fun and with great views of the water. Neither really have much flat xc riding from what I saw/rode.

[shirk]

With the snowpack this year everything good will likely be open by July.

[Sirshredalot]

Do I remember you and your lady friend from back in Bozeman? Still with the same gal? It's been some years now.

I have heard that the riding in northern Italy is spectacular. Though I've never been, if the mrs and I were off to Europe to ride, that would be the first place on the radar.

[milestogo]

Norway. Going this summer with the family and hoping to get a couple days riding in. I ski toured in northern Italy last year--saw lots of great photos of people biking hut to hut in the Ortler/Bormio region. Looked phenomenal! And the people there were very, very welcoming.

[juanbendedknee]

Sir Shred- Totally- we talked building skis for a good while.

As far as Canada goes I've got:
Coast Gravity Park
Chilcotins (possible heli-drop)
N. Shore
Squampton
We'd love to ride Jack the Ripper in Pemberton
Pendicton (but where?)
and...

Europe I don't know for shit. Any mags from Bavaria?


Sounds like a couple votes for N. Italy.

[Incompetent Boob]

Southern alps have had a good winter but the rest have had an average to low snow year, so most of the high alpine stuff should be ok.
Northern Italy is rad, but still a huge area, Lake Garda, Finale Ligure, Sudtirol all offer something quite different. You have probably 5 main areas: north of the alps (incl Bavaria); the alps proper; south of the alps (northern Italy, southern France); Pyrennes; Spain/Portugal to choose from.
July might be getting a bit warm for the southern countries. Nice options for riding near lakes or the Med in north Italy/south France and better weather on average. Great high-alpine in the alps (LeeLau has some good TRs on Pinkbike for ideas for IT & CH).

[Finstah]

Well, if you're only good for 7k of climbing per day you are going to be pretty limited in your choices...

[juanbendedknee]

@incompetent boob
Rad - great info. I'll hit up Lee, but if I know anything about his forum presence- he may chime in.

[Sirshredalot]

@incompetent boob
Rad - great info. I'll hit up Lee, but if I know anything about his forum presence- he may chime in.

Congrats to you crazy kids.

I have some friends who are strong riders and currently live in garmisch. Pm me and I'll put you in touch with them for a more local perspective.

[evdog]

If I was you I would blow off the enduro and consolidate your time into one larger block. And optimize it by spending it far away from home on a trip you wouldn't normally be able to do with regular vacation time. It is not often you can do a month long trip, so make the most of it. BC trips can easily be done in a week from Seattle. You may get screwed by snowpack in a lot of places though.

[juanbendedknee]

@evdog BLOW OFF AN ENDURO!? Blasphemy! Actually a great idea. A month in Yurrp? Yes, please!