A shambolic week with Sierra Cycling

That’s the sort of thing that could be a bigger problem though- if the guides say they’ll take care of tools, punctures etc then people might just ride without them. Once they’ve offered something it’s important to follow through

This is all true but there is another dimension which is that the guide is the most important person in the group and has to be able to care of himself because if he can’t – he can’t take care of everyone else. basic stuff really.

My 2p

1) if it were me on holiday there I’d raise the issues with the owner whilst I was there and see what could be done to rectify them

2) if it were my business I’d split my time across two parties staying with me so I could make sure they were both happy.

Bar the recriminations it’s all a bit late for both ‘sides’ to do anythign to sort it out now.

Yep Poly…borrowing a pump may not be an issue but if the “guide” neglects the basics what state will his first aid kit be in?

overcrowding a minibus is fine until it rolls and you find you have no travel insurance to pay your hospital bills and possible medi flight home…. same for biking non authorised trails…ok doing cheeky trails at home the NHS will pick up the tab… holiday insurers will take any opportunity to wriggle out of a claim guys!

Seems like a fairly long list of complaints. That much stuff going wrong would certainly annoy me. When you pay for guiding you’d expect a level of professionalism to be involved. I was impressed with the setup at Trail Addiction, the only similar trip I’ve been on. Your experience seems a long way from that.

Having said that, I think you might have had a better time if you’d raised some of your concerns whilst there. Surely having two guides with your group would have made sense? Can’t quite understand why it was arranged like that but perhaps Alan assumed you were happy and his guide was doing the right things? I had an ability issue 🙄 in Les Arcs and was subsequently put in a group with other folks who can’t ride 🙂 Smiles all round.

Hope you have a better time on your next trips and that Alan comes on here to tell his side of the story.

I went a couple of years ago and had a great time. But I’d suggest that was largely down to the lead guide at the time, Jonny, who couldn’t do enough for you and took me on some great trails.

There was also another guide there (Dave – a kiwi corporate drop out) who couldn’t be bothered. Funny guy, but just not motivated as a guide (which was why I was there dur!!).

I liked the shambolic way of doing things, but as said, the superb guide made the holiday.

Oh and didn’t exchange two words with Mary the whole week

i was there last year – basically sums up my experience. By comparison went to the Alps with Bike village this year, couldn’t be more different – end of the day, it came down to the passion and drive of the respective owners, couldn’t help but think that Alan’s heart wasn’t in it

Only been on one overseas trip with BV – best week of my life (much to the annoyance of my missus who didn’t go with me).

Can see this thread turning into a cracker though. Sorry to hear about you and MC’s bad holiday – its shit when you pay good money for a break and it turns out to be rubbish.

Off to do some housework – be back later with a tea and some biccies.

have you emailed Alan?

To the people saying the OP should exhaust all options of feedback / complaint with the company, why? Also they are not sides, the customer is king in the relationship, it matters not that we have cycling in common… When I have terrible customer service from any company large or small, the first, and most natural thing to do is rant about it. Companies should take note, that their reputation is ingrained in their customer service.

Really does sound like a company that has become complacent about this.

am i the only one who finds this a slightly harsh review?? i mean dont get me wrong it sounds like you had an awful time – no excuses…

BUT and a big old BUTT….could you not have raised these issues at the time with the guy/owner?? i mean us brits are great for complaining about food/accomodation ABROAAAAAAAAAAD on holiday, why not excercise your right to do so then whilst there??

im not condoning if its been a piss poor experience for you…but surely if you were that miffed at the time you told him about the above??

if you did, ignore me, totally….but if you didnt, i feel its a little late to now try rectify it, without even giving the guy the chance at the time to sort it out for you and your party…

Sorry to hear of your bad holiday, thanks for the warning. I think I’d be gutted if I had a holiday like that. I had one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, MTBing with the White Room in the Alps a couple of weeks ago. I think the hugely high standard I got there – on my first proper biking hols abroad – would encourage me to presume that all cycling holidays would be like that. I would expect organisation, professionalism and warm friendliness from the owners of a bike holiday company, which I got in spades at the White Room, but it sounds like you didn’t get any 🙁

I don’t have an issue with the OP’s review, unfortunately for the OP it sounds like it was a toss week and I’m grateful for the review. I can’t understand why though, that nothing was said whilst they were there. Not due to any issues of fairness to the company, but if it was my hard earned paying for a rubbish holiday I would want to sort it and at least salvage a couple of days/ or some cash back. I would have been in Alan’s face every minute of the day, assertive but still respectful, but I have no shame.

+1 for Jonny being a great guide but otherwise when I was there in 2009 the holiday overall didn’t appeal to me as much as my stays with Bike Village and A Quick Release.

Is the Dave guiding now the same Kiwi who was the other guide back in 2009?

Never been on a proper bike holiday so nowt to say other than sorry to hear you had a such a crap time. Thats all.

poly; Alan not introducing himself and and Mary not “giving me a hug” 🙄 are minor points, but I included them as they seemed to set the tone and stuck in the mind as part of a consistent pattern. Walking into a house which is to be someone’s home and not introducing yourself is rude full stop, and just bizarre when you are their paid host whether or not you are outgoing or introverted. I neither wanted or expected a hug, but a “hi, I’m Mary, you’ll see me every morning sorting your breakfasts” isn’t too much to ask?

On the first day Mary was the van driver, we were presented with an open back van door. I reasonably asked “whats the best way to load it?” to which she replied “I don’t know”. Again possibly trivial, possibly not when your’e talking about transporting maybe £20K of kit and it’s something you do daily as part of your profession? One of our group had just ridden with rivierabike who make a point of their bike-friendly trailers. I don’t mind damaging bikes in use, acquiring battle scars is part of the territory, but I do mind them being damaged in transit (and I cant believe anyone would just shrug off such damage). “Luckily” MC’s Fox forks only got scuffed on the sliders (she started wrapping her knee pads around her forks after that) if it had been the stanchions they could have been ruined functionally, not just cosmetically.

I don’t mind someone borrowing my pump but
1) they advertise that they look after you so they are setting expectations they can’t match
2) as whytetrash has observed, if he doesn’t even have a pump what of his first aid kit?

Dave didn’t observe and leave the group dynamic to run itself, he had no idea when a nervous rider crashed early on the first day, and no clue someone was lost until we told him, and absolutely no idea how to deal with the situation. If we had been a mixed group of strangers when might the missing rider have been identified? How does that square with guide/leadership training?

I won’t go into what I said to who on the trip but suffice to say discontent was well aired. Posters who mention the value of the guide are bang on, as I’ve said before Salvo was great and despite not having any common language I know all sorts of random stuff about him and he put a lot of effort into the days we had with him (later in the week when we were a combined group with one van).

It’s for Alan to explain why the groups and guides were split as they were and what size groups he believes is acceptable with one guide, I am trying to keep expressing my opinion to a minimum.

edit; guide Dave wasn’t a kiwi, he was a brit who had apparently guided in whistler.

And as I said I’ve posted on here as we read positive reviews here prior to booking, and Alan uses it to promote SC, so should anyone use the search function (!) they might get a balanced perspective.

Been thinking about this.

When i went with SC 8yrs ago i was a comparative novice and the riding was enough that it tested me a little. However, looking back and looking at it with 8yrs more experience i do wonder if i would have enjoyed it if i had taken that same holiday this year.
There are more than a few bike holiday firms offering trips in that part of Spain now, and if (only surmising here) SC haven’t evolved in line with their competition i think i would find the riding a little on the dull side nowadays.
Of course, i may be completely off-base and they have a whole new set of exciting trails to ride plus, everybody’s perception is different.
Its not good to feel that your holiday was poor as these are not cheap trips.

Bad luck on your trip and experience – just to say that I had a good time with Biking Adalucia, based in Orgiva, last year. I was the only client that week which possibly helped, but would definately encourage people who have not been to explore the region. I would go back myself if there weren’t so many other places in the world to explore.

Hope your next trip is more positive & that SC post a reply on here

I was with them last year too. Agree 100% with what capt bastard & Andy said.

To me it seemed like SC was run with minimum outlay possible (have they got curtains in the rooms yet ?). The OP’s experience doesn’t exactly surprise me.

Rode with trailaddiction this summer… couldn’t have been more different from what you describe. Attentive, friendly, professional and always quick to ask if there was anything else they could be doing to make our trip better.

Looking for somewhere to go next year; will cross Sierra off the list of potentials. Cheers!

Dave

Bike Verbier are the polar opposite of what you describe. Guides who can deal with groups of varying ability with ease, detailed trail knowledge, friendly and amenable from the start to the end of your holiday, an ever expanding network of trails on offer, excellent food and accommodation. To be frank, they are the gold standard that others aspire to. You’ll have a great time. Sorry that you had such a poor experience in Spain. Doesn’t sound like it was the holiday you were expecting.

sanny thanks, everything I have heard about BV is in the same glowing vein. We were due to go out there this summer but I broke my arm so have moved the funds/holiday to next year.

In regard to SC I don’t want compensation, but if nothing else a negative review may prompt future clients to ask pertinent questions to reassure themselves on the service they will receive.

I won’t go into what I said to who on the trip but suffice to say discontent was well aired.

Ah, fair enough then. For some reason that doesn’t come across in the first post. If only because you’d expect things to have improved after complaining. I think other people have alluded to the politeness of emailing the owner first with your concerns. Clearly that’s much less relevant if he’s already had a chance to rectify things.

Shame about the forks being scratched though. Might I suggest some Bombers as a replacement?

Sounds like there was probably some good riding to be had in the area, and other groups have had a good time, but unfortunately you guys have been on an odd week when you didn’t get as good a service as you should have.

Not the worst riding holiday ever though.

Went to morocco a few years ago, part of it was 3 days staying with some local peeps and riding up in the high atlas, including uplift to get the masses of climbing on roads out the way…

well. the peeps we were staying with were not farmers living off the land, or general locals, but some grotty drug riddled student hole none of the people residing at the time were known by the organisation just that ‘its a place to sleep’, would have rather stopped with a farmer & his goats personally.
Riding? Oh shit. day 1 guys pulled some 1990s low end rigid mtbs that prob cost £150 back then, and were wrecked in every sense. Both were huge and didn’t fit either of us.

So we HTFU and rode the 1st day anyway. 2hours in and my bro struggled like hell with altitude sick’ness (been up in the hills for a week by then), threw up then more, then some blood then passed out.

Guide didn’t have a clue how to deal with him, nutured him back then rode back down to the drug shack, got him taxi’d back to the hotel and others took care of him. I went back out and rode the rest of the first day, was basically just dirt tracks & roads but at altitude, enjoyed it anyway, then stayed in teh drug shack and said no thanks to the remaining 2 days.

Was nothing like it said on the tin, or from what others had described/reviewed it (they had Cube FS bikes, a land cruiser and a converted rustic farm house with pool + view), and borderline disgraceful guide (couldn’t ride and no medical knowledge).

But recognized that I was getting **** over, left, and only lost the deposit (around £40 inc currency fees) instead of paying the whole amount (£180) and carrying on with the whole sorry saga.

I can sympathize with the OP to an extent, but surely during the course of the holiday something should have been said to the level of care you were getting?

Oh dear, I’m glad alan let me down with the guiding job now. Luckily I have still got a job but I could have been left jobless, anyway enough about negative firms.

Whilst I have never used the following firms the quick and polite correspondance was appealing so I’ll give them a thumbs up – Doug at basquemtb, Darran at lava trax and stevo at white room.

Sorry to hear about your holiday.

That’s a real shame about your holiday.

As someone who used to live in Gibraltar, from a local’s perspective there is an absolute ton of amazing riding to be had in Andalucia, but yes, you certainly need a good guide.

I won’t go into what I said to who on the trip but suffice to say discontent was well aired.

I look forward to hearing the ‘defence’ but I think if I’d experienced something like that (and had no improvement after complaining) I would have been far less measured in my post.

Holidays are too important, not to mention expensive, to waste.

10 years ago we had a wonderful holiday with MountainBeach, I think that it was fairly obvious that we would not be returning or recommending them – to the point where one of the guides took me to one side to apologise for the other guide and his girlfriend. I think that at one point we asked them where was a good local taxi company to get us us back to Geneva – totally washed over the tosser though.
It’s always shit when something you’ve looked forwards to turns out to be so awful. Fortunately we had 5 years of great holidays at Pyractif with Steve and Brenda to make up for it.

Woody – Member

I look forward to hearing the ‘defence’ but I think if I’d experienced something like that (and had no improvement after complaining) I would have been far less measured in my post.

Yep. Think the OP deserves some credit for posting such a restrained, balanced review.

Sounds like next time you need some Ciclo Montana Action!

Sorry to hear u had a bad trip!

Anyone done any biking with ‘Pure Mountains’ in the Sierra Nevada? I’m out here at the moment and literally bumped into Jenny and Tim with a group of guys here for the week I think. I’m hoping to get on a half day ride with them at some point this week (can’t get a full days release as i have my other half along who’s not a cyclist)

To the op; sounds like you had some annoying issues on a trip that no doubt cost a fair chunk of change… I know I wouldn’t be happy.

djglover –
Member
To the people saying the OP should exhaust all options of feedback / complaint with the company, why? Also they are not sides, the customer is king in the relationship, it matters not that we have cycling in common… When I have terrible customer service from any company large or small, the first, and most natural thing to do is rant about it. Companies should take note, that their reputation is ingrained in their customer service.

Erm…maybe cos they could have sorted most of the problems out there and then and enjoyed the holiday?

Are you happier with more to complain about?

Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy your holiday. I assume you’ve pitched your complaints to SC. Let’s hope they respond.

The “amateur” standard of guiding seems quite serious to me: insufficient numbers/cover, disinterest, poor trail knowledge, missing equipment, losing a client, illegally over-occupying a vehicle, illegal riding. Did they have first aid skills and gear? What would have happened in a safety/legal situation? Maybe things didn’t unravel for you, but they might for a future client.

In regard to SC I don’t want compensation

I’m not sure why not. To an extent, they wasted your time which you cant get back. They may even have put you at unnecessary personal risk. The threat of paying back some of their fees might make them buck their ideas up.

To an extent, they wasted your time which you cant get back. They may even have put you at unnecessary personal risk.

risk has no cost or value, so really you cannot compensate for exposure to wider risks than expected after the fact.

Having said that MC’s review seems level headed enough, and in the context of my excellent experiences with AQR I can see where the shortfalls he experienced ought not to have happened.

Erm…maybe cos they could have sorted most of the problems out there and then and enjoyed the holiday?

Are you happier with more to complain about?

Not at all, just saying that for a lot of people a rant is easier than going back to deal with a difficult to deal with organisation.

risk has no cost or value, so really you cannot compensate for exposure to wider risks than expected after the fact.

True but presumably they did not provide what they said they would ie. guided cycling with properly eqipped experienced people.

from the SC website
We offer different daily guided tours each day, the pace and distance entirely dependent on your choice of ride, fast with flowing and technical singletrack or easy and leisurely enjoying the spectacular scenery and excellent weather, it’s your choice.

We use up to 4 guides, so the rides can be fast or slow, long or short, it all depends on what you are looking for in a mountain bike holiday.

You need Ciclo Montana! been 2 twice now and no differance in the super guiding and hosting dispite leaving a long time between vists. book them now!

or joyriders.co.uk

That sounded like a very restrained and proportionate review to me. I also think MC’s review is a communally responsible thing to do – for the benefit of STW forum users currently deciding with whom to invest their time and money.

Isn’t it about time (Mr MC posting) got his own username though? 😀

i had a very similar experience with s/backs last year.

bad, unorganised show off guide and chaotic uplift.

house we stayed in used like a corridor!

plus a mammoth transfer.

4/10

have been there in the past year, and I find the OP’s post not really surprising.
I’d say compared to other guided weeks i’ve been on, I had just an ‘OK’ time, and SC’s hosting style seems to be very ‘hands off’ to say the least. I prefer my MTB hols to be a bit more organised feeling. I think the week certainly felt very fragmented…..
shame, as the range of trails are great in the area. guides were both decent chaps, but they can only do so much I guess….

Just noticed the pics on the SC site. Is Mr MC in any of the pics of smiling guests in weeks 1 and 2 of September?

PICS