Last minute planning for bike trips

If you had a few days to go riding but needed to drive 4-5 hours to get there, how would you do it without planning/booking weeks or months in advance?

There’s no decent MTB trails near me and really miss challenging stuff. I do a few events/weekends away with friends which are always great, but often have a few days spare throughout the year and wish I was riding somewhere like Wales.

So, if you had a few days and the weather was good but 4-5 hours away. How would you do it? Try and book a Premier Inn and ride the next day? Or are there places that can be booked last minute?

If you can plan a bit in advance, how about an air BnB in somewhere like dolgellau? Central for loads of Wales riding.

Yha’s could be good, in advance or last minute. It’s what they’re there for really!

I’m like you, I tend to look at the weather and pick a decent time and place; I prefer that to booking weeks in advance then finding out there’s a storm that weekend!

It does make things more expensive, especially train travel, but you can often pick hotels up quite cheap on super last minute (sometimes even same day) reservations. Many places offer a reservation with the option to cancel free of charge up to 1pm on day of arrival so if someone does that, the room is often put up for reservations again at maybe 2pm, super cheap. It’s better to have someone in it than not. On the other hand, that tactic can backfire if it’s busy places, mid-season, only available for families or only as part of a 2 or 3-night stay…

A lot of Premier Inn / Holiday Inn type places are busy midweek with business people but then quiet at the weekend.

It’s the reverse for leisure / spa / luxury orientated places which are busy at weekends but very quiet (and therefore often have cheaper availability) during the week.

I own a van. Instant accommodation.

Worth checking out caravan parks, like Hoseasons, off season really good value usually.

We’ve done this a couple times using, for example, the new Premier Inn at Porthmadog. Set off early (5 hours drive down for us) and ride the afternoon CyB, then couple full days riding (Antur, Pont Scethin, etc) or hiking then finished off with a morning back at CyB before heading up the road.

Did you manage to get the bikes clean enough to bring into the Premier Inn after a day’s riding? I’ve used them before to stay the night before a race so the bikes been clean and they didn’t mind me bringing it in.

I’ve recently booked a couple of nights at my fave hotel in the Tweed Valley for Betwixtmas.

It’ll be booked out by now, so maybe not as “last minute” as you were thinking.

But AirBNB or Booking,com both offer a map view for finding accommodation, if you don’t already know where you want to stay.

I’d either go camping, or just check booking.com the night before I want to go.

I also have a van though so would just sleep in that!

I just look for an airbnb or similiar, I know airbnb’s a plague but in biking areas it’s often a good way to find small places that are bike friendly. (though I don’t stress about bike storage, I’ve got a big estate so I just leave the bike in the boot and cover it up, which makes it easier)

Did you manage to get the bikes clean enough to bring into the Premier Inn after a day’s riding

@mjsmke – yes, I have one of those £20 12V water pump kits screwed in the back of the van with a 10L water container. Quick skirt with the hose and dry off with old rags and both bikes good to wheel through reception. We put an old curtain down on the flooring in the room to catch anything. Last visit was during storm Bert so everything got naturally “pressure hosed” including us!

I’m normally happy to drive home late after a days riding but less keen on a really early start so I tend to look on booking.com for a last-minute bargain nearby and drive up the night before, get a decent dinner/nights sleep and then go riding the following day and drive back at the end of it.

Airbnb or booking.com for me if last minute, but I’m a planner type, so doesn’t happen too often. Luckily, I’ve got lots of good trails both locally and within a couple of hours of driving.

Lots of campsites in the lakes and north wales you can just rock up. Get a big small tent, warm bag and decent mat. They don’t need to be light. You can always eat in a pub, cafe or garage. You’re not going in crap weather are you

A van is better by capital costs are higher. Could be by factor x100

Tent, sleeping bag etc in the car along with bike. Stove, coffee bags, muesli, oat milk for breakfasts (first breakfast, anyway…)  One set of riding clothes and one set of regular clothes for each day – who cares about weight when it’s all getting chucked in the car!

I have 2 collapsible totes, one has my wet/cold weather riding gear, helmet, etc in; the other holds tools, bits’n’bobs, locks and so on. They’re what I chuck in the boot when going mountain biking anyway so they’re always ready to go.

Car has a jump start power bank in the boot, so I can charge my phone/lights/Bolt from that.

I could be on the road in an hour or so after deciding but usually I’m planning 2 or 3 days out and looking at the weather forecasts (don’t know why I bother, it usually ends up raining…)

Sleeping in the car would be an easy option for warmer weather and trail centers with showers.

Probably not going to see warm weather for 4 months though.

For a couple of days away riding with a car, at short notice?

Camping is a good option, if you can get a cheap premier inn/Travelodge great.

But for 5 days.away? Air B’n’B or similar would be my choice, but then you probably need to have booked more in advance… Which wasn’t the question.

Camping 5 nights can be done, comfortably of course, but it’s nice to have a slightly better bed and bathing facilities if you can…

I own a van. Instant accommodation.

This. It’s the primary reason I got a van. weekends away at short notice, just need to find a parkup or a cheap campsite. Or, if I wanted to stay somewhere, no secure bike storage required.