Lucky me - off to the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend, then down to the Vosges for a week. But where should I go? I've spent a few days near Thann in the south Vosges, which was awesome. Any tips for similar riding elsewhere in the Vosges? Maybe a bit further north?
We were on holiday in the Alsace last year. Unfortunately didn't get to sample any of the mtb there.
We were in La Petite Pierre and there were quite a few tracks leading from the top nice little village as well. In addition there seemed to be a few routes around Niederbronn-les-Bains. Not sure what kind of riding it really is though.
I stated in Gerardmer for a weeek a couple of years ago. We had bikes, but hadn't gone there just for biking. Great variety of trails though, meadow skipping and fire roads to steep, rocky tech. We only did 3 days of riding and found plenty of fun stuff. There might be better places, but you certainly wouldn't get bored if you were in Gerardmer for a week. Nice town too.
http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11/6.70600/48.09308/blue/bike
Cheers. I've been wondering about the Gerardmer area. The thing I liked about the Thann region was that you could pretty much pick a trail off a map and it would turn out to be 'semi-tech' flowing singletrack. I'd like to find similar stuff again as I'll be with less confident riders, so full-on rocky death tech wouldn't be ideal.
La belle hutte, up the hill from la bresse
I think there are quite a lot of marked trails. We did a mix of following our noses and going to ride certain loops. We were there with less confident riders too (I rode on the cross bike on those days) and we found plenty of fun for everyone. minimal bike walking. Worst/only crash was an OTB into some brambles on a grass path. Very thorny face. 🙁
just googled. I'd forgotten about this map, but it all came flooding back!
We got through quite a few of these between us. It rains a bit!
http://www.gerardmer.net/vtt-et-cyclotourisme_anglais.php
we stayed just above kayersburg (freland actually) wonderful riding just followed the trails some bimbles some epics
Xonrupt Longemer is where I always stay. Loads of ski chalets for hire and of course take your road bike and bounce over the bumps 😯
So many places, all different views, some flatter lands, most really bumpy and proper local real food.
It's quiet too, let's keep it that way eh.