So, flexing my new-found god-like French bike guide status, it looks like I've just got myself set-up as the provider of mountain-biking activities for a nearby Spanish appartment block/hotel.

From previous threads on here, I got the impression that the Spanish MTB scene involved a lot of long, sweaty fire-road rides and not much singletrack. Is everyone going to turn up on super-skinny hard-tails? If I take them out on our usual Alpine singletrack rides, am I going to scare the bejeezus out of them?

We will, of course, be making every effort to make sure people know what they're letting themselves in for and tailoring things appropriately, but just curious.

stevomcd – Member

So, flexing my new-found god-like French bike guide status, it looks like I've just got myself set-up as the provider of mountain-biking activities for a nearby Spanish appartment block/hotel.

thumbs up.

Cheers, when does your season start? Still 6 weeks away for us.

I got the impression that the Spanish MTB scene involved a lot of long, sweaty fire-road rides and not much singletrack. Is everyone going to turn up on super-skinny hard-tails? If I take them out on our usual Alpine singletrack rides, am I going to scare the bejeezus out of them?

Depends. I fell off last weekend following two Spanish mates down a streambed, and our tracks weren't the only ones there. There were lots of padded up DH riders in the carpark, too.

But… they're a minority, I suspect. And I certainly wouldn't want to take someone out on a technical ride without checking that's what they really want!

Where are you based?

Where are you based?

Sainte Foy, France (http://www.whiteroomchalet.com).

There's a new Spanish-owned appartment development in the resort and they approached us to see if we could offer our bike-guiding services to their clients.

my (extremely limited) experience was XC riders doing long fast days in the saddle on fire roads (very much off road roadies)

or DH types – uplifts – big bikes – full face ….. riding steep goat tracks – that i was riding a 100mm hardtail on.

Massive downhill scene around Malaga (trails all over the place and loads of people riding) but I suppose the owners of posh timeshares in the alps will not be that type of person.

Probably middle age middle managers wanting a pootle so they can say they can feel they got a bit of exercise.

The quick gnar rad guys will be at the White Room in August 8)

I'd say you need to offer a range of routes, from 10km with little climbing, 60km with lots of climbing and easy descending, 20km all technical, etc.

The more options you can give them, the better. Why not speak to their marketing staff (if they have one) and work out what sort of people they're expecting.

Cheers guys, the company have mail-shotted all the Spanish MTB (and road) clubs and have had some positive responses, so hopefully we'll get some pretty enthusiastic riders.

Up, down, fast, slow, it's all good!*
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* May not apply to up….

The quick gnar rad guys will be at the White Room in August

I'll check the bookings, but I don't recognise that description… 😉

😡

Whilst you're checking those bookings Stevo, look for 2 of us who will be…'Shredding the Gnar Gnar' and riding trails that are…'a wee bit faffy' 😉

Hey Steve, there's a big 'off-roady' scene in Spain for sure… lots of bikers who sweat up the fireroads and then roll down on the tarmac! IME, they're unpleasantly rapid uphill and frustratingly slow on the singletrack! Having said that there is a core of bikers all over who like their very technical singletrack and big mountains. I ride with a pile of people from all over Spain who are seriously quick when gravity lends a hand and definitely aren't going to be scared by anything in the Alps! That's just the Enduro crew too, there's a very dedicated DH and freeride scene and a lot of the mountains round here have DH tracks on them ranging from nice and bermy to totally mental.

I've found everyone I've ridden with to be really friendly. They take lunch stops a bit more seriously that I do though… the first ride with them I was halfway through wolfing down my sandwich and realised that they were spreading out a table cloth and they'd all brought different things to share out!

Good luck with it!

Cheers Doug, that's good to know! If they start bringing out the carbon frames and flat bars, maybe I'll send our French guide out with them… 😈

It could well be worth it! I've had a couple of horrible rides where they killed me up the fireroads and then went down the tarmac past all the nice singletrack!