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Looking for inspiration for the end of August.
Holiday I am looking for is MTB-XC, touring-style where I get to see lots of singletrack and scenery - lots of photo ops and sunshine etc.
Many of the MTB places in Spain and France are Enduro+ and I've no desire for the full-face and knee pads. I don't mind going by myself if there are routes to follow and a refreshment stop along the way.
I'm thinking like a Sunday spin where every ride starts from my hotel.
Areas I've looked at so far are Mallorca Spain, Andalucía Spain, Black Forest Germany, Garmish-Partenkirchen Germany, Cote D'Azure France, Morzine France.
Any recommendations from that list? I like the idea of France, but again it looks like big-bike territory.
This website is excellent for finding routes: - https://sitesvtt.ffc.fr/
There's a lot of more xc-type of routes on there.
...but I wouldn't rule out the big resorts either. We rode Morzine/Les Gets a few years ago, on xc bikes, and it was fine. Loads of fairly easy downhills and some really nice longer routes with climbing as well.
I suspect a lot of places look like big bike resorts as that attracts the most riders and looks good in the pictures. As above, there heaps of XC in and around Morzine and probably most alpine resorts. Superb scenery too. Andalucía is also very nice. Some great riding and weather to match (it can be hit and miss in the Alps even in summer). I did some guided rides there a while back and it was ace. Needed some local knowledge to find the good stuff but I suspect its all on strava/trailforks these days.
When I was looking at Morzine, one of the sites said the lifts close August 26th. If you are prepared to pedal, are the fire roads/paths still opened to get to the top?
Andalusia ticks the boxes really well.
Couple of guys in orgiva who suit your needs.
https://www.bikingandalucia.com/about-us/
"If you are prepared to pedal, are the fire roads/paths still opened to get to the top"
Yes, they'll remain open until the snow comes I'd imagine.
In some areas of Europe, you also need to take account of hunting seasons, which can make riding impossible/difficult/scary. We once rode with Riveira Bike (Liguria, Italy) the week before hunting began and there were a few out prematurely...
Looks rubbish. 🙁
Thanks for the summoning, @qwerty ... 🙂
As it happens, someone's just published a video of the mountain bike randonnee thing we had in the village a couple of weeks ago. Here it is... All of the trails are doable on a hardtail, all the climbs are climbable - and they're all within about two miles' radius of the village... We even have some vacancies at the end of August 😉