At some point in my life I will definitely undertake some epic rides in some far away lands around the world i.e. Peru, Chile, Nepal, China etc. At this moment in time I would really have no idea where to start with this idea and assume you would need some sort of guide for this kind of riding if you wanted to make the most of it, therefore pushing the cost of doing something like this way up… So for now i’m thinking its maybe out of the question, but like I said I have no idea how to go about this kind of trip, going somewhere completely outside of the box with the bike. I know that I would have the time to do something like this next summer, but no idea if its actually possible, it might well just have to stay within Europe…

Either way I would love to hear of peoples experiences/Stories/Photos or if you know of any that are published on the net as a blog or website that are not your own.

Thailand, on a fold up shopper with a worn out crank arm and no front brake being chased by crazy dogs whilst dreaming of my cannondales. I do it every year when i visit the inlaws ,they never repair the bikes and i love riding them .If i took the Dales i would miss the realness of it. But saying that ,next time i wanna hit a mountains and the trails ,but seriously on a fold up shopper copy ,i love the land of smiles

Morocco with cycleactive a few years ago, not sure if we wrote it up on here but had an awesome holiday.

Kerala, India this January, also awesome, review and pics here

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-terrific-10-days-with-mountainbikekerala

in fact just noticed the pic on his homepage for the kerala trip is me n munqe chick!

Mike @mountainbikekerala does a Nepal/himalaya trip which looks “extreme”

http://www.mountainbikekerala.com/category/pindari-glacier

Ignoring the out of Europe bit….Hyde canal….pissheads, junkies, scrotes, miserable fishermen and **** walkers…

madagascar,
Ive been all over africa working but the NE of the island has to be one of the most out there mtb destinations.
Weird deep red granular laterite formations that have been eroded away as the forest has been cut down means miles of bowl like formations baked hard by the tropical sun.
No roads for much of it, people walk everywhere and so mile after mile of singletrack.
not a good place to get injured though!
Ill try and find some photos
cheers
J

I took my Saracen Conquest to Nepal in ’87 (back in the day) but the maps were poor back then so I tried to follow the trekking routes round Annapurna. It was brilliant fun but in the end I ended up leaving my bike in a village and walking for a while as in someplaces the riding became proving a point rather than being a good way to travel.

Nowadays there may be more mapped so you might want to try smaller paths that follow shoulders rather than the main ones that track the valley floor.

It’s also worth learning local games eg backgammon as it’s great for connecting to the locals even if you can’t talk. That was always good fun (or there is a local game involving goats and tigers)

I am always in two minds about the expedition companies. in one way you are more likely to ride brilliant routes and not waste your time on un rideable stuff. On the other hand you are less likely to end up with your head torch in the middle of the night helping a bus driver fix his tyre. If you only have acouple of weeks I would think they are definitely the way to go. Better aiming for at least a month though.

I’ve ridden in Nepal for a day while on a hiking trip, still dream about returning with my bikepacker ride.. espcially since Paul E and Alpkit Col came back with some amazing pics from the Yak Attack a couple of years ago. Trails there are pretty ‘rugged’ and it’s an amazing country.

I took my Saracen Conquest to Nepal in ’87

would love to see some pics /hear more about that trip )

OP, if you’re thinking about Nepal, get in touch with Phil of the Yak Attack or Tangi Reb at Pokhara MTB club, they will be able to give you some good info.

Rode for a day in Nepal back in 2000, played Tigers & Goats with the locals and still have a T & G set in the house! Happy days 😀

Khardung La pass -> Leh in Ladakh 2km vertical descent from worlds highest motorable pass 🙂

Unfortunatly was a shit rent-a-bike i would so love to go back out there with my steed!

Me and CTM have also looked at Peru with http://www.sacredrides.com there are a few on here who have done some of his trips and said they are really good, that’s our next plan I think!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/mtbing-in-morocco-youve-got-to-go

Not far from Europe, but Morocco is quite fun.

Costa Rica was cool as well, but have to say the riding was a bit on the boring side.

I went riding in Bolivia a couple of years back – it was absolutely breathtaking. Mostly because all rides started at about 4000m, but the scenery and riding was top notch.

Harryparabolics, who did you go to Bolivia with? Or did you organise it yourself?

I was there on a longer holiday, so only had a couple of days riding. I went with Gravity Bolivia – who were pretty good, but more focussed on backpacker type trips. apparently there’s an outfit based out of Sorata which offer multiday trips – can’t remember their name though.

I set off on the Kokopeli trail from Moab to Grand Junction with a German guy I’d met in a backpackers, I got daunted by the hugeness of it all and bailed after the first nights camp near Le Sal mountains, the snow melt created wheel clogging mud that you couldn’t ride through. I was very naieve about longer cycles then, and probably did the right thing by bailing. Awesome area.

Sudan, or maybe tanzania, or ethiopia

Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan & Ethiopia – touring, though. Although Sudan was pretty much like mountain biking for the first 400km through the desert. Feels like a long time ago now.

I’ve ridden in the sacred valley in Peru. Hire bikes were £300 gt hardtails with 2.7 dual ply tyres. When my front brake stopped working I really started pining for my Ragley! Some of the nicest trails I’ve ever ridden

Some great riding to be had in the blue mountains in Jamaica. Have ridden through Cuba too – fantastic place but the riding’s not quite so exciting. Can strongly recommend the Canadian Rockies – spent ten days riding out of Canmore. And, as mentioned above, there is good riding in Peru and Bolivia – nice dusty trails.

I spent three weeks in Bolivia climbing / treking and 4x4ing which was an amazing place. But all of the mountain biking outfits I went and spoke to in La Paz basically only catered for backpackers, not proper adventure mountain bikers.

They would bus you to the top of the hill and you rode down a dirt road. It was crap and not what you would call mountain biking. More suited to backpackers trying to tick boxes and update their mates via Facebook with a photo of themselves.

None of the outfits I spoke to would even swop the brakes over to UK style, so I didnt take them up on any of their trips.

You need to look hard to get a proper trip there. I did meet two couples riding self supported, they seemed to be having an amazing time, but its more of a long distance adventure than a guided mtb holiday.

Few mtb bits in NZ in Queesntown (inc the park with gondolas (not v extreme in the wild sense but…)) & around Wanaka, the Flume trail above lake Tahoe (saw a wolf/coyote), various lazy rides in Thailand & Vietnam and an amazing but bone shaking 10 hrs riding around the Angkor complex in Cambodia with a local charity – http://www.kko-cambodia.org/html/

There is lots of riding to do in Europe that is still very exotic. I’ve been to the Sibillini mountains in Italy a few times and I’m always amazed how few people you see and I’ve never seen anyone else on a mountain bike. The trails are mostly ridable (the only section I wasn’t able to ride was the one marked as a mountain bike trail on one of their maps!) and the views are amazing. There are way-marked walking trails that are sometimes easy to follow and sometimes not. I’ve always planned my routes myself apart from once when I went with the local mountain bike club. Google Earth is a good way of doing it.

We did an interesting ride in Kruger Park. The guide had a gun strapped to his crossbar. Tracked a couple of big animals but never saw them, though.

My dad has done a fair bit, including round the world and crossing Australia, right through the middle. There is a write-up here http://www.transworldcycle.com/

… and a friend of mine has unicycled 1000km across Nepal http://www.unicyclesteve.com/, that’s fairly extreme 🙂

Certainly not as extreme or as impressive as many of the above suggestions. However, a couple of years ago I rode the Bridge to Nowhere in NZ. The ride finishes with your bike strapped to a jet boat and a blast back to your start point…