We’re popping into Vosges next week on our way to the Austrian alps and have put aside a day to get some riding in.

With that in mind, anyone ridden round there? Or does anyone have recommendations where to camp / park to get to some decent trails? I’ve heard amazing rumours of miles upon of flowing singletrack, which sounds spot on as it’ll be both me and the better half on hardtails.

Cheers!

There is this:
http://www.hautes-vosges.net/parcours-vtt-ete.html

Or you could go for a total battering and try the bike park (actually the green and blue won’t batter you much other than some braking bumps)
http://www.lacblanc-bikepark.com

I can’t help but I have flown into Geneva many times, looked down and thought ‘there must be some crackin’ trails down there’.

The hills are the right sizeish, low population, forested, so by rights if you look for paths between the villages and valleys you should find some good stuff.

Please report back!

Gerardmer has some cracking scenery, and from doing a triathlon there years ago, there is no shortage of hills…

just had a week in gerardmer, whilst there i tried to get some riding in (lift assisted)
i was told by 3 bike shop owners that apart from the bike park at lac blanc, that the region is a pretty barren mtb area.
ace for road riding tho…… 😀

There you go “le VTT est roi!’

ton – Odd. Bloke at the bike park on a DH rig said general trail riding in the area was great and pretty sure Basque Doug had a lot of good things to say about it. Anyway, I’ll go down there in a few weeks and give it a shot for a weekend.

opposite experience to ton, took kids a decade ago to freland near kayserburg rode the trails created by the alpine club so footpath singletrack to firetrack, we bought a map a just rode. Cracking, went to lac blanc area as well loads of stuff.
Try a search as i think that juan was in that area possibly closer to Basle….apologies if this is not true.

I would recommend the area as you can wander along on the road or just ride upinto the forest,

I was there with Commencal a few months ago riding natural and then at Lac Blanc. Not sure where we stayed but it was a lovely area. Lots of nice singletrack and good food and wine. The bike park is nice too. On new smart phone so can’t type much more I’m afraid!

Wicked – cheers all! Gives us something to be going on.

Does the OP know the birth and living place of jerome clementz and remy absalon 😉

Apparently Remy works as a guide there too…

i was told by 3 bike shop owners that apart from the bike park at lac blanc, that the region is a pretty barren mtb area.

Utter bullcrap. They know nothing about their own doorstep. Or they were simply lying to you 🙂

Pimpmaster, you need to get yourself to Thann, Guebwiller and Munster. Get maps for the area, and explore the singletrack clearly marked on them. It’s amazing (and, as mentioned above, is the home of the best mountain biker on the planet).

Wicked. Cheers Ash!

Utter bullcrap. They know nothing about their own doorstep. Or they were simply lying to you

pretty harsh that mate……
in gerardmer there are 3 bike shops, i went into all 3 because they advertise vehicular uplifts.
i asked them if they could take me up to a high spot and if i could ride offroad back down.
they said i could ride down on forest tracks, but there was no singletrack type stuff in the area.

if there is singletrack there to ride, i would think it would be fantastic.

but there was no singletrack type stuff in the area.

I seriously doubt that to be honest with you.

it is a truely great area, we rode loads of singletrack by following the map.

I would suggest Vosages is overlooked area and well worth more exploration

Just got back from a mini-break in Garmisch, Germany. Not a mtb hotspot but some fine riding if you get a decent local map and are prepared to ride up the hills. This should apply to the Vosges, too, i’d imagine. Go on, explore and give up the info here… 😀

Vosges = awesome….

Excellent stuff. Cheers all.

I’ve downloaded maps from the above link (http://www.hautes-vosges.net/parcours-vtt-ete.html) and will probably end up somewhere around La Bresse. Almost tempted to stay longer – a hunt on Youtube and Vimeo shows a lot of rather superb looking riding.

The VTT maps aren’t great for singletrack there in my limited experience – I’ve did about 3/4 of that black route round La Bresse in your link, for example, and it was mainly wide forest paths (actually rode it on my CX bike as that’s all I had and it was well-suited).
Going hiking there, though, and I’ve walked on miles of narrow, interesting trails. So it’s definitely there but not sure the VTT maps are that reliable – a bit of local knowledge would go a long way.

La Bresse is a v nice spot to stay – we camped up towards the top by the ski resort, good campsite.

Cheers Garry – good to know.

Please report back, preferably having recorded GPS tracks, when you’re done. Will save me a job tracking down local riders on velovert before I go down there at weekends.

atlaz – GPS tracks will be a no-go as I don’t own one. 🙂 But yes, I can report back.

For those that have ridden in the Vosges, any advice on bike choice?
–
I could take either a 120mm full suss, XC machine or a 140/160mm Pitch for a a bit more gnarr – any advice?

OK, I’m here and can add from 1st hand experience that: –

Waywarked “bike trails” graded by colour are available and the colours seem to relate to distance rather than difficulty – most are on wide, fireroad or similar but…when used in conjunction with a decent map get you to the top of a some pretty big hills (1000 mtrs 😯 or so).

You can then pick from literally loads of waymarked single track trails (down) that are some of the most difficult and technical terrain that I have ridden on…and is quite scary in places. I fell on monday, on a ribbon of singletrack, with a massive drop and if it wasn’t for the ferns would have been a further 20 feet down from the trail in a matter of 2 or 3 seconds. Nothing like a hike back up a sheer cliff face to take your mind of any bleeding…..!

It’s not all like that, some of it is much more rideable and in just 3 days have done some excellent exploring (map, GPS and bike map in tow) – and I’m here for another week and a half. I’ll try and post up some pics to give you something to look at…

For info am on a 140mm pitch, with Eskar’s front and rear with a 22/34 low gear and 34/12 high – I’m still having to walk up some bits as well..

Lucien – good to hear you’re still alive 🙂

Just back from the Vosges (Guebwiller) this weekend myself.
In a rush, so will post more fully later with some pics, but agree it’s “good” riding with the ability to satsify quite a few different tastes, easy to nav on your own with a map and using waymarks, and very peaceful and not busy.

I was on a CX bike btw.

Not really that helpful but I feel the need to mention how awesome Freiburg is.

You’re on a pitch eh? Get yourself to Lac blanc for half a day at the weekend if you can. Worth it and you can rent a full face and armour

We ended up going to ride at Lac Blanc, so rocked up to the bike park intending to use it as a base only to find it… closed.

Great.

For future reference, it opens at weekends and then certain weekdays, season dependent.

However we did a nearby great little blue route that, after initial problems, was well signposted and fun for both myself and the better half with a decent mix of single and doubletrack, rocks, roots and a good amount of descending. It was definitely enough to whet the appetite to want to go back for a couple of weeks and get some exploring in.

reminds me I still havent posted about the riding around Guebwiller…busy again now, but will try tonight. 😳

Here we go:-

[/url] IMG-20120814-00024 by LucienCarter, on Flickr[/img]

[/url] IMG-20120814-00020 by LucienCarter, on Flickr[/img]

[/url] IMG-20120814-00018 by LucienCarter, on Flickr[/img]

Totally awesome riding, if you like going up and coming down. Some parts quite tough (both up and down) and suggest a map and/or GPS, plus an inquisitive nose for a trail are the way to go as I found some excellent, natural singletrack.

That looks awesome. Signposted? Or sniffed-out?

Bit of both – seems our German / French cousins like to ride up fireroads and come down tarmac roads if you follow the signed routes. Having got caught out a couple of times I decided to ride up the same tarmac / fireroads and then seek out some of the other “trails” down with the help of a good map and gps. Worked a treat, some of the footpaths are very tricky 😆

We’re already talking about a return trip next Easter to either Vosges or Morvan.

Riding seems slightly better in Vosges, but Morvan was really, really set-up for le VTT and had French quaintness in spades. France on the whole seems incredibly well set-up (and cheap) for camping / campervans too.

Wherever we go I’ll be taking a map though. 😉

Mrs L very keen to go back next year. We camped at Xonrupt Longmer, where there are 3 or 4 campsites, plus a municipal one. Walked a couple of times into Gerardmer, which was OK and got the bus to Col De Schlut to do the luge as well which was dead easy. Very sunny, nice camping, a chance to ride, lake stuff, big town close by – what’s not to like!

I’m staying in Gerardmer tomorrow for a weekend of road riding. May sack off the second day and ride the bike park again but I’ll see how I feel 🙂

Coolio. Let us know how you get on!