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so, i've been out on the bike and in the bus for alomst 4 weeks solid.
one week guiding, one week shuttling the luggage, one week guiding.... etc.
so far eveerything has gone well. i have had to bite my tongue or quietly shake my head a few times. what the people expect to find in the alps i don't know.
had one lady saying that it was "not in order that you send us down these trails that are completely unrideable". she's a roadie. has had her bike for 6 months. as soon as the trail got lumpy or pointed downhill she got off and pushed. i responded, politely mind, saying that the trails were rideable if one can ride...
had one bloke chatting away as if he were god. "i've been riding mtb for 20 years." "i've ridden all over europe" "my bike's carbon!". to hea himspeak you'd have thought he was the puppies testicles. on the first trail he was walking down. he then went on to say that he always sits on the downhills so that the suspension works(!!!???) what do you say to that? if a mate had said that we'd have been ROFLAing; you can't take the piss out of the customers.
on the other hand i've had some really cool guests. one fella aged 63, he was good fun. a lady who despite only having been riding for 2 years, was willing to give everything (within reason) a bash. got her riding switchbacks by the end of the tour and she was real pleased.
i'd say it was a stressful job. you need to be there the whole time for the guests. you need to always repeat instructions.
i had one lady collapse (litterally) on a downhill. she always wanted to be the fist up the hill or on the pass. we started riding down and she kipped over letting go of the bars. luckily she fell to the left and not the right, saving herself from falling a few hundred metres down the side of the mountain. her excuse was that she wasn't hungry on the way up. said to her that we're now going to have a break and she's going to eat biscuits, musli bars, bannanas and drink coke. she found that "totally not in order that i spoke to her like a child". she's a doctor FFS. don't think i should be needing to tell her to eat.
lost one guest because the two people at the front diodn't pay attention to the instruction to wait at the sign with the town's name. ended up having to ride a further 10km trying to find the lost guest. luckily he found his own way back and was unscathed. if anything had happened to him i would have been ****ed over by a judge....
so.... i've off tomorrow and will be away for only a week this time.
have fun, happy biking.
why do you consistently slag off your guests on here? Who do you work for?
Had been wondering where you were cos your posts/links always make me laugh. 😀
So ... tell me ... have you found your vocation? 😉
not slagging off the guests per se.... just wonder sometimes what people's idea of mountain biking is. they've booked an "advanced" tour. do they think the downhills are similar to the footpaths through their local parks back home?
i think part of the blame lies with the office/description of the routes. office is probably happy getting the money and that's that... maybe?
like i said, some of the guests are good fun/nice people. others you're happy to say good bye to at the end of the week. much like in life.... some people you like, others you don't. say la vee.
it's a fun job. i'm getting paid to ride my bike.
They are punters, they are giving it a go, give em a break.....
Sounds fun.
Why do we give Alpin a hard time for having a go at his 'punters'?
Others come on here and moan about their jobs and the STW massif rallies and lends support, yet because we imagine ourselves as his customers we give him a hard time?!
I don't get it.
Don't complain, you could be stuck in a call centre or office all week. I'd love to be doing what you are no matter how irritating the guests were.
🙂
not giving anyone a hard time.... it's just a pisser for the other guests when we have to wait all the time for the ..... not weaker ones, but those that aren't as confident or haven't as much experience as the others.
as guide you have to set the pace/route according to the weakest person in the group. sometimes the difference can be so much that the "better" riders get annoyed and (verbally) abuse the "not-so better" riders. in fact, that was probably the hardest/most stressful thing i had to do - calm down 8 people who are getting shouty at each other. made for an interesting atmosphere that evening over dinner.
i think part of the problem is, is that many people overestimate their riding capabilities. but then 2000m up isn't the best place to try and improve your riding abilities - if something goes wrong, i and 'we' as a group are ****ed....
i am happy doing what i'm doing....
spent the last week exploring new trails for the coming week... a few highlights were:
trail 201. if you like stoney, technical riding then the trail above Madonna di Campiglio is worth a bash. it's not a trail i'll be taking the guests on.... 600m descent took just over an hour!
trail 315 from Geisel Joch is also worth the ride up, particulary for the lower section.
trail 32A above Giggleberg (Sterzing) (brilliant name!) is a spitzkerhrefest, or switchback fest. well worth the leisurely ride up.
as guide you have to set the pace/route according to the weakest person in the group. sometimes the difference can be so much that the "better" riders get annoyed and (verbally) abuse the "not-so better" riders
Shouldn't that be sorted out [b]before[/b] you go out? It's not fair on either group, especially when they have paid to be guided properly and presumably with people of their own ability. Are you the only guide and have no choice but to take the whole group rather than split them up?
yup, pretty much Woody.... if the difference is so great that it really screws up the dynamics of the group you can have a quiet word and suggest they join another tour. the problem is that although the many tours start and finish in the same towns, they don't run alongside each other. for example the level 1 tour takes 3 days to reach the same town that the level 2 tour reaches half-way through the second.
it's also only when you reach the top that you realise someone has been BSing about their abilities, but abilities or not you have to get down off the pass/mountain as a group and in one piece.
i think the problem lies with: the description of the tours on the homepage; the advice given by those in the office who don't necessarily ride; and the fact that many people over estiamte their skills....
Been to Madonna skiing, it must be superb to bike around there.
it's also only when you reach the top that you realise someone has been BSing about their abilities
Not a good place to find out......spoken from bitter experience with several ski groups 🙁
Maybe a little 'tester run' could be arranged on the first morning to sort it out. It's your neck on the line if something goes wrong.
Made me laugh anyway 🙂
what made you laugh?