I’m looking for some info on Finale Ligure as a destination for a week’s biking holiday in summer.

I’ve been to the PDS for several years on the bounce and would normally take my DH bike and focus on tracking down jumps and drops to scare myself (see last years “shredit”: https://www.facebook.com/phil.jackson.54/videos/10105974456103903/)

This year I’m looking for somewhere I can take my trail bike, but still take advantage of uplifts and still track down some jumps/drops. Does Finale fit the bill??

Would it be prohibitively expensive to use uplifts every day for a week? Would this be a waste anyway?

Is there enough to keep a group occupied for a week?

Is summer (i.e. July) the best time to go??

I have so many questions as Finale would be completely new to me, while I very much know what I’m getting with the PDS!

Thanks in advance

Would it be prohibitively expensive to use uplifts every day for a week?

Imo, yes.

There are plenty of people offering uplifts, but doubt you’d get in as many runs as you would in PDS.

The trails are more natural and techy than shaped bike park. (although many trails have been shaped, albeit with a shovel by hand).

Buy one of the local maps and discover the trails yourself. Easy enough to do. The climbs are generally pretty easy going and most trail heads are accessible via the main road with a bit of fire road.

Use your legs you lazy sod..!

Short answer, there is a tonne of natural riding in Finale. Other than one trail (Rollercoster) I don’t think I found a decent sized man made jump there. Not to say they don’t exist, but I didn’t find any.

That’s the appeal to me though – all natural, great trails.

I went this year for a week, used an uplift for one day & pedalled the rest of the time. Lots of big days out on the bike. You could easily get away with a couple of uplifts a day at 10 euros a pop.

There is plenty enough to keep a group occupied for a lot more than a week. The trail network is huge.

It’s more of a late season destination – Sept/Oct is prime. Summer will be rammed with tourists as its that kind of place & probably far too hot.

I went this year with mtbbeds. It was an excellent week. The trails are nothing like morizne etc. They are full on rough, savage bike & body destroying rocky runs.
Jumps and drops? Dont know. I expect there is more there than we got guided during the week, but I think this is more natural rather than the big features you would get in the alps.
By the end of the week I would have loved some smooth berms, tabletops & braking bumps!
Be too hot in July I recon, it was pretty warm still in october.
Will return.
EDIT Use the uplift. pointless waste of a day riding uphill, leave that for this country.

No lifts, no cows, no berms, more pedalling! Guided rides with uplift didn’t seem that much more expensive than PDS lift passes last yr. Our guide was on a DH and fit, out pedalling everyone on 160’s. Perfect for 3 days of riding + beach recovery. I’d prefer to be on a 160/70 than full DH with gear in the July heat.

Finale freeride charge 50 euros per day for their uplifted guided trips, in a day we did about 13000-15000 feet of descending.

Theres enough there for a weeks uplifted riding i reckon .

Trails vary from flowy/jumpy to mega rocky.

Most people on our uplift trucks were on full dh bikes,apart from the brits on 160mm trail/enduro bikes. I didnt feel underbiked on a 160mm bike,but i did wish id taken my full face helmet with me

I’m keeping my eye on this thread as just booked flights in June. I was hoping on 5 days of uplift? Would that be expensive? Uncommon? Should I be booking up in advance, maybe one of these tours? Or just turn up? I don’t like to risk missing out on riding though. Thanks

Book it in advance – but maybe for two or three out of the five days and then get individual uplifts and freestyle it for the other days, as Hob Nob suggested.

Personally I got a bit fed up of jumping in and out of the minibus all the time and welcomed a couple of pedally days out there.

5 days with finale freeride will be 250 euro, deffo book in advance.

We did 4 days over a long weekend,so i dont think 5 days is uncommon, you will be knackered by day 3 though.

Thanks for the replies all. My trail bike is a five so no real excuses not to do some pedalling, I’m just lazy!

Good to hear the prices with finale freeride – I couldn’t find them anywhere on their website

Personally I got a bit fed up of jumping in and out of the minibus all the time

Yup, very much this. We only had one day shuttling/guiding, but towards the end of the day I had kind of had enough of the rushed feeling of loading the bike, squeezing into the truck, bouncing up the Jeep tracks, piling out….

We got about about 10-12 runs in, but it never felt very relaxed.

Much prefer a proper lift/cable car.

You can easily get in over 2000m of descending under your own steam. More if you just use the shuttle to get you to the top in the morning and make your way back to the coast using your legs.

Going back there in December. Should be nice and cool and empty!

Thanks for the advice all. I’ll suggest 2 days on our own (or rest) and 3 days uplift.

I just came back from a week with mtb beds, i’d say the riding was harder on your body than PDS – extremely technical and rocky if you ride the EWS tracks. Not many big jumps to speak of though (not to say you can’t jump into a lot of the rock gardens etc if you have the skills).

Was awesome and i loved it.

As plenty of people have said, Finale and surrounding area is a different kettle of fish to the PDS, savage natural trails that are very reflective of the style of riding along the whole Riviera region.

Well worth chatting to Rich at MTB Beds, they partner with Ride on Noli for uplifts.

July’s likely to be mega hot, but one thing I can guarantee you having raced out there the last 6 years is that you’ll have an absolute blast. Ridiculously good riding, a few faves would have to be the Dolmen trail, Madonna del Guardia, Caprazoppa and Cravarezza & More (built for the 2015 EWS, linking multiple tracks into a 15 minute monster from the NATO base right down to near sea level).

I’ve got a load of gpx files and other bits I’ve shared with others on here if you’re interested?

The is a shit load more riding in Liguria and it’s not just Finale. Plenty of big Alpine ridgelines with 2000m plus elevation etc…