Finale Ligure. Uplifts and guiding ?

As part of our Alps trip this year we are looking to spend a few days biking around Finale. Any recommendations for guiding and uplifts for a couple of days would be appreciated.

I’ve been four times with FinaleFreeride.net – Mark and Sylvia have always looked after us brilliantly (although Sylvia has stepped away now)

They also have some trails on private land that none of the other companies can access – the “Defender” tour they call it. It’s lovely, smooth, flowy singletrack in the forest – it’s so smooth and lovely it’s almost like a rest day form all the rocks and hammering elsewhere.

Really lovely spot, can’t recommend it enough.

There are a bunch of different outfits which run shuttles from Finalbrogo.
However, we’ve always used JustRideFinale
Lou & Ale are really excellent.
If you can make sure you get over to Calizzano.

Thanks, had looked at their site before but its not had any updates since last year so didn’t know if they were still operating.

Justride website says they are on holiday till September, looking for 1st week in August

A recommendation from me for Lou at Just Ride Finale – really good guiding, not too many numbers and tailored to just what you like.

I’ve stayed next to the square and then last time we stayed here – great for bike storage, amazing views from the apartment and right next to the Final Borgo (the old(er) part of Finale).

http://www.casavacanzesulborgo.com/_dynapage/indexwelcome.asp?pageId=134&pageId2=133&menuItem=1&lingua=l2

you should e-mail Lou and ask if any of the people she uses for guides can show you around – I can’t remember their names, but she can put you in touch with them perhaps

Thanks, will mail them later. Hopefully our camper will have been delivered after a 3 1/2 month delay so should be sorted for accommodation.

Tracey – Member
Thanks, had looked at their site before but its not had any updates since last year so didn’t know if they were still operating.

I was there in April, and they are very much still alive. They’re significantly better at digging trails than updating websites.

Thanks, will get some emails off later this week. Always best to go with recommendations. Going to be a hectic couple of weeks before we set off but have been waiting for some movement on the camper front before sorting the last leg out.

Depending on how pushed for time you are I would give Finale at least 4 days – it is really, really good.

Finale Freeride have a great set-up. We rode with a couple of people who had parked their campers just outside in a shaded car park. They have a bike wash and showers. The Defender tour is probably the best days biking I have done. They also run minibuses. The two main spots the busses uplift to are the “Nato Base” and a cafe at a place called Din. If you do a day in the minibus you will probably do both at some point, we did nearly 4000m vertical in the day in the minibus. There is also a trail called Isallo Ecstasy which requires a pedal or specific uplift but its well worth it.

It is worth booking uplifts in advance by telephone if possible, everything is very laid back and you probably won’t get much response by email, but they do book up a couple of days ahead sometimes.

It was warm in June when we were there, you wouldn’t need to be pedalling much in July and August.

A lot of the photos you will see are on trails by the seaside which have been EWS stages in past years. There have been some landowner disputes with a couple of these trails and they are badly water damaged and unlikely to be repaired soon. Don’t set out to pedal these all on day one or you might nearly give yourself heatstroke…

Thanks for that. That’s the sort of thing we are looking at. Don’t mind a bit of pedalling. Is the Defender run on the same day each week. Ideally looking for a couple of days midweek.

They have two Defenders which hold 8 each, and go about 6 days a week. Most people seem to like doing the Defender as a first and/or last day. The trails aren’t as rough because they are basically private. I think most of the uplift companies take either Monday or Tuesdays off.

Tracey – Member
Thanks for that. That’s the sort of thing we are looking at. Don’t mind a bit of pedalling. Is the Defender run on the same day each week. Ideally looking for a couple of days midweek.

Can do the Defender tour any day really, but the 4x4s needed to access those trails have less space in them than minibuses, and there’s only two of them (they have four or five vans) so you need to book them a bit more in advance.

There’s the Nato base Area (love that, esp Christina), the Cafe Din ares (New Rollercoaster is brilliant).

As mentioned above, Isallo Ecstasy is also ace – it’s way up the top, there was sill piles of snow up there in mid April, and there’s a longis push (but not steep, it’s a fire road) ‘cos the vans can’t get all the way to the top, but it’s a lovely, lovely descent

There’s another area too, the ESW stages bit – La Magna (sp?) – but it was pretty washed out in April, there used to be a brilliant tech descent, but that was closesd, and the “Men’s Downhill” is extra blown out, lots of loose shale – as a whole that area probably isn’t worth a full day right now. Still loads of fun to be had on the others.

I’ve been a few times and the first 2 trips were for the superenduro races, riding closer to the coast. My eyes were opened riding though from the Nato base there – just amazing trails, that at the end of the day you can pretty much ride from the top of Nato back down to the town.

Thanks for the recommendations, after a hectic week managed to get a couple of days uplift and guiding booked with Finale Freeride.
After a three month delay with delivery on our camper we have finally got the nod that its arrived and ready to pick up so its an early start and long drive tomorrow. I can start to get exited now its all coming together.

Enjoy….. If you get the time, pop over to Molini, and calizzano and Nava are also near by

Thanks will stick them on the places to visit if we get time

I’d be really interested in how you guys get on as probably heading over to Europe at the end of the summer and looking at areas to ride. Probably going the wandering vagabond route so do you know if you can just pick up shuttle days at only a few days notice?

Tom KP

Will let you know

Same here on the interest front Tracey. Thinking of heading over next year and trying to get a read on how technical the trails are and how rides can be tailored to different speeds. The Defender sounds far more in line with what most of the folk I ride with would be interested in, so it would be cracking to know how much of the area is like this.

Just got back so bit of a round up on what we rode. I would say at this time of year the uplifts and guiding are essential. The heat is stifling and the days are long. We did the classic tour on Monday and the Defender tour on Wednesday. They are like chalk and cheese. The classic is rocky and very dusty. Most of the trails start from the NATO tower and then uplifts are back from the various trail ends. The Defender is further away and most of the trails are on private land. These trails were more flowy and swoopy. Not as dusty.
The last run of both days was down the Roller-coaster and then a short road blast back to Finale. Its not as steep or as technical as Verbier but that was a good thing for the last week of our trip. The guys from Freeride Finale were first class and we rode in groups of seven.
Its a good idea to book beforehand as they were turning people away. Well worth a visit, not sure if you could find a weeks riding unless travelling further afield or repeated a lot of trails.
Hope this helps

You can link up three trails from Din all the way back down to the road.
It’s on as a single Strava segment called Finale Full Ale Ale Martina Rollercoaster.
20 minutes solid flatout. I can still feel the pain in my legs 🙂

I bloody love the place. Glad you had a good holiday. I spent a week out there doing a combination of uplifts and pedalling, and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t keen on the Defender Tour though- bit bland for me. There weren’t enough people for a Classic Tour when I was there.

They invited me out to guide for them next year, so that’s too good an offer to refuse. Effectively a 2 month long holiday and I should leave with a bit of money in my pocket. Hell yeh.

getonyourbike – Member

They invited me out to guide for them next year, so that’s too good an offer to refuse. Effectively a 2 month long holiday and I should leave all my money behind in Barca Bar Hell yeh.

FTFY

Hello, I am heading to Finale in three weeks time (4 September) but we have left it rather late to sort accommodation for our group of four 😳

Will try the vacanze sul borgo noted above but does anyone have any other good suggestions? (we are already looking at the Air bnb option).

Would also appreciate any gpx routes or links to routes in the area between Finale and Nice. Will be doing some shuttle days but also hope to do a few more up and down days in Finale and a couple of other places.

We stayed in a wee hotel called Aubergo Oasi – short pedal from Finale Freeride’s compound. Basic, but cheap and clean, was only about 15-20 euro a night

Thank you, will take a look at that, any others keep ’em coming 🙂

Check out Camping Tahiti – they also have caravans and log cabins 🙂