Hello,

Has anyone been mountain biking in thew hills / mountains just to the North of Lucca? If so, what is it like and what kind of bike is most suitable? An 26″ Intense Tracer, or a Niner air 9 carbon 29er?

Thanks very much.

Jon

Both will be fine – some cracking riding around there – drop me an email and I’ll sendvyou some routes

The garfagnana? It’s fantastic, was there with a group in June. We had pretty much all shorter travel, lots of hardtails. I’d take the niner, should let you ride longer and further. But I wouldn’t be sad about taking the intense!

Riding the is like this- http://vimeo.com/102604833

Got married in Lucca. Good times. Lots of roadies around, didn’t see many mtb’s or bike shops but cycling wasn’t really high on the agenda at that moment in time!

Stunning area.

Nice video that swanny.

Can you point to that ridge singletrack on a map, or give a few pointers as to where it is?

It depends on what you like to do. There are long uphill on dirt road and pretty technical singletracks you can enjoy. If that’s what you prefer I would suggest a full suspended.
Look at theTuscany MTB Guide

Used to spend a lot of time in Barga, took the downhill bikes out a few years ago and did some shuttling around the area but know there must be so much more we didn’t find.

Would be great to get out there with a guide and minibus!

Not my video alas, I’m not that good! Took some pictures though- https://www.flickr.com/gp/80976333@N08/6786Ui

That’s the ridge line ride. It’s somewhere up towards San pellegrino

I spent a month of my honeymoon in the hills around San Baranto & Vinci. I took my Hummer with 120mm forks and it was ace. Try & get hold of some OS map equivalents, & I recall there being a guidebook to the area, albeit in Italian, but was easy to follow. If you can, take a road bike too – Giro-tastic..!

Small spa town of Montacatini Terme is also worth visiting. Lots of nice restaurants (even the roadside shacks were fantastic), with a spa bath for a day of relaxation and pampering followed by an open air opera (normally an opera festival spring – autumn).