Has anyone been riding in this area of France, can you make any recommendations?
Super Besse is a wicked little bike park just S of Clarmont Ferrand. Lioran is pretty good for a day or two.
La bourboule/Mont D'or is a bit crap.
I am sure there is loads of stuff further south in the Tarn as the terrain looks pretty sorted for bikes.
My sis spent some time there a few years ago, and when looking at pictures abd talking to her it sounded perfect...
I found it like the north of England on steroids - good for a few days but Tarn/ Cevennes are much better and worth the extra drive.
I was out there earlier on in the year. Spent a few days riding south from Volvic. Didn't have much of a plan, just a map or two, bike and bivvy gear. I tended to follow the GR trails where possible and chop and change where needed.
Superb scenery, some nice riding and it was over 100 degrees much of the time.
Ridden a fair bit in the Ardeche as my folks have a place there.
There's some excellent riding but it takes a bit of finding, not much in the way of bike trails as such but all the local tourist offices have walking trails leaflets that I've found fairly easy to interpret. Combine that with a bit of pouring over IGN maps and you'll figure it out.
If you're looking for lift assisted bike park style stuff you're looking in the wrong place but if you're prepared to put the effort in in research and climbing up the hills you'll be rewarded.
I put up a thread some time ago on useful VTT websites for France. Seems some of the sites are now defunct but i'm off to Burgundy in a few weeks and have been having success with this site:
http://www.ffc.fr/a_VTT/a_SitesVTT/index.asp
Click on the map of France and away you go...