Its my dad’s 50th birthday this December and I can think of no other better present than a biking holiday abroad out of this weather. He is a very experienced and skilled biker who loves his steep climbs and fast descents. Myself and my brother are also competent on bikes and I spent last summer in the portes du soleil riding dh. My mum would also acompany us, im sure should would do some riding but only fire-road stuff really, so she would need other attractions.

I have looked into the likes of sierra cycling, switchbacks etc as our budget and time limits us to europe really. Im still not set on the idea of guides and set times as im not sure my dad will be into it. So im trying to look into renting a place somewhere that we could do our own thing, the weathers good, the biking both challenging for my dad and easy enough in places for my mum. So can anyone recommend or adivse me on such place or such a company like that could facilitate us in the above ways.

Would be of great help as im currently at university and spending far to much time on the internet for bike related searches anyway!

Thank you

Stan

Sierra Espuna,Murcia region,Spain.

Camping Sierra Espuna has 6 berth log cabins to rent situated in the mountain village of El Berro.
The biking encompasses everything,full on DH to smooth fire roads.
Lots of Spanish bikers there at the weekend,and the campsite,together with the village, is biker friendly.Coast is about 40 minutes away,Murcia airport about hour and a quarter.
Don’t be put off by never having heard of the place.Theres no flash videos with headcams or loads of hype,just really great riding.Orange test their full suss bikes there so the frame designer must rate it.
I rode there for about 8 years,back in the UK now,and just don’t understand why so few British bikers visit the place.

Tenerife – Lavatrax used his guiding several times,brilliant. Google it..

Hi Stan, we at http://www.bikingandalucia.com are based in Orgiva, Sierra Nevada, Andalucia, Southern Spain, and have the best winter climate in Europe, and fantastic trails,last winter many of our clients went home with a suntan. We can be totally flexible, ie you can rent a house (or our accommodation) and just use our guiding services whenever appropriate, please e mail me at david@bikingandalucia.com if you require any more info, good luck!

We went to Spain last March with this company http://www.mountainbikingspain.com/

We stayed in a budget self accom place that’s not listed on their website, but the accom on their website did look a lot more comfortable, with all mod-cons – so if we went again, we’d arrange accom though MBS. The range of riding available is excellent, from old disused railway trails to ‘proper’ stuff. My OH was quite new to biking at the time, so we just did a couple of easy guided rides, then did our own thing. The owners (Vic & Einat) were super helpful and pretty chilled, and once they realised we just wanted easy riding with plenty of tapas stops, they took us to some great little bars along the rides:D! Vic & Einat were perfectly happy for us to do our own thing and recommended places to ride, eat and visit.

It was good value and we’d definately like to go back for a fortnight next year.

HTH

Thank you all for the quick responses already, I will have a look at each option! Much appreciated!!

Depends when you want to go, how about Finale Ligure in italy? Beaches for teh Mum, nice food and drink for the dad, hot chicks for you…..

Riveria Bike in Italy, or Cycle active do a trip to Lake Garda that is supposed to be great with the most phenomenal food!!
Switchbacks in Spain.

bland- this december, thanks ill have a look into finale ligure!

You are prob best with Southern Spain for that time of year

Or have a look at Sardinia. Someone has set up a guided place there and the riding looked really good plus the sicilian food etc looks amazing if you want something to make the hol special (which you wont get in Spain)

Friends did Morocco the other year but it snowed and was colder than the UK so might not recommend that too strongly!

Look at Turkey also.

All depends if you want full on hardcore DH type singletrack or classic mountainbiking with stuff for others to do while you are off out enjoying yourself

The Sierra Espuna/El berro is a very gppd call. The roding is great and signposted. I think Steve Wade of Orange lives there.

If that doesnt appeal, rent a cheap apartment in Alora, near Malaga (cheap flights) and ride round there. The bikefax book is a good guide to the stuff round there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5bBE3cAkwY

Im still not set on the idea of guides and set times as im not sure my dad will be into it

1stan,
You´ll miss all the best tracks if you go unguided. We would be as flexible as you would like on times and distances.
We´re based right on the beach so plenty for Mum to do as well as lots of fire-roads for her.
We could also rent you a house here on the seafront if you prefer to do your own thing – email – alan@sierracycling.com
Stunning singletrack rides with plenty of bus uplift during the day & fantastic après-bike on the coast at night.
http://www.sierracycling.com fantastic biking since 1992.

Rhodes Greece gonna do it myself one day.

Soller or other resort on Mallorca.

Many (most) of the possible destinations listed could well be wet and cold in December, certainly Finale Ligure. Whoever suggested that doesn’t know what the weather is like there…you can have lovely days but it can also rain very hard in December. In your position I would 1. check out typical weather in all these places (for instance, to guarantee sun my wife goes on Monday to Gran Canaria, from Sardinia! for a week with a girlriend)
2. buy your Dad guidebooks to all these places and let him choose. Where we live on the E coast of Sardinia, today it’s sunny 17°C and you have to go to 2500 feet amsl to avoid being too hot climbing in sun, we were biking yesterday and Thursday in shorts, but this is unusual for this time of year. People staying went swimming yesterday in the sea, but the sea was cold.
3. In my experience, you don’t need a guided tour if you have a good set of GPS trails to accompany a guidebook, finding the trails isn’t the problem, your Dad may like a guide to ride with simply because he could ride some more technical trails with a guide that he wouldn’t ride by himself. IMHO this is more a reason to have a guide than finding the trails
4. I would also think what other things your Mum (and Dad) could do together – walking, kayaking, for instance are two things we do here and are good for couple

cheers Peter

(for instance, to guarantee sun my wife goes on Monday to Gran Canaria, from Sardinia! for a week with a girlriend)
I believe there has been some severe rainfall and flooding in the Canary Islands in the last few days, may have been better in Sardinia !!