Hi

I’ve been away from mountain biking for a couple of years now for various reasons. I’ve recently moved to Bristol so I’ve good access to trails nearby and into Wales too and I’d like to get back into it.

Anyhow, I’m 28, fairly fit and circuit train at a gym a few times a few times a week. I don’t think it will take too long to build technical skills back up as far as riding goes.

I’d really like something to work towards and have decided to book a mountain biking holiday around Chamonix, ideally the Mont Blanc route, such as this:

http://www.alpsmountainbike.com/mountain_biking/Tour_of_Mont_Blanc.php

Questions are:

Which specialised mountain bike holiday company would you recommend and why?

Just how fit do you have to be to keep up with a route / holiday like this?

How often do you stop for a break, i.e. is it just a relentless ride?

Do you think attending spinning classes a couple of times a week during the evenings might help with the fitness levels needed to any reasonable degree?

Any write ups / photo links from anyone who’s done one of the holidays anywhere?

Cheers,

I did it on my own over 3 days and carried all my stuff.

If you’re 28 and fit you’ll be fine. Iirc most companies do it over 5 day.

Cheers.

I didn’t know how intense it would be or whether the expectation is that I’ll have to climb for hours without a break.

Went with Phil and MbMb over 5 days. Well organised, a great route. Thoroughly recommended.

I’m also looking at a first Alps trip and have registered my interest for this for August or September
http://www.ridethealps.com/holidays/chamonix-to-zermatt/

had my eye on it for a few years but something always got in the way.
Any reports I’ve seen always highly rate the trip.

I’m more worried about the technical side of things rather than fitness levels – if you have a decent level of base fitness it shouldn’t take long to build up your endurance levels

Was on the same trip Rick mentioned above. Brilliant.

Not with a holiday company, and the wrong way round, and on some different trails to those the guides use. Ignoring that, here’s some pretty pictures and a write up to make you want to book the flights…
http://chamonixbikeblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/tour-du-mont-blanc-day-1/
http://chamonixbikeblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/tour-du-mont-blanc-day-2/
http://chamonixbikeblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/tour-du-mont-blanc-day-3/

i did it with mbmb.com loved every second of it

Hi Grum p, looks like a great ride, have you got GPX log of the route.

Daniel, spinning is great for general fitness, just bear in mind the Alps can be hot in the Summer, and the climbs tend to be steeper for longer than in the UK, although I don’t think 40-55km per day is a big ask with reasonable fitness.

I did it with the guy in the OP (alpsmountainbikes). Was a trip I’ll never forget, for all the right reasons.

You’ll need a good level of fitness to enjoy it – there’s a lot of climbing & some portage & most of the descending is on shared walking trails – really nice but very technical in places. Martial’s the guy that owns the company & based out of Les Carroz – ridden with him a few times.

Email me if you want to chat further.

No GPX log, but if you look in the comments field at the base of the blog entries there are links to other folks trips which might help.

If you have a map, google earth and some trip write ups that you like you will be able to work out the route pretty easily. If you can’t then you would probably enjoy the route more with a guide, which sounds terribly patronising, but the weather can get interesting up there. If you want more on how interesting, google for the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc race which is held round the TdMB on the last weekend in August, unless there’s too much snow/wind/rain/ice….

Rode it with a mate a year past September. It took us three fairly relaxed days and we could have definitely done it in two. We rode anti clockwise and took the option of a lift assist out of the Chamonix valley as the alternative was a long fire road climb through trees which didn’t appeal. I’d definitely recommend a pizza stop in Courmayeur. The descnt of the Col de ferret was non technical but really rather nice. The descent to Forclaz was mint with the best descent being the Col de la Possette.

We rode unsupported so everything fitted in 20 litre Alpkit bags and stayed at mountain huts which were ace!

In terms of kit, proper hikey bikey boots that are waterproof together with full length waterproof trousers and jacket as well as a belay style jacket are a bit of a must in my book. We had terrific weather but another mate a couple of months before had a 10 hour day ride of despair in the pissing rain where everything he wore was soaked through. The weather can turn so being prepared for it makes a huge difference.

The route we took had a fair bit of hike a bike but we knew what to expect so it wasn’t an issue for us.

It’s a great ride and well worth doing.

Guys.

Thanks for your responses, definitely something for me to consider.

I did it with MBMB, was brilliant, despite awful weather on the last two days. MBMB have stopped the 3 countries tour now though, Phil wants to play golf instead 😉 Brilliant place for B+B though if you’re in Chamonix for any reason.

Your fitness might be ok but what about your technical skills?

Depending on the exact route taken it can be pretty techy, like trail centre black+.

Good point Spin, some of the descents are pretty tough with a BIG penalty if you get it wrong. Lots of exposed trails, one of which I managed to fall off 😳

Did it over 4 days couple of years ago with 2 friends, not guided but with marked map. We went the clockwise way from Chamonix and carried all we needed in medium/large hydration packs, staying in guest houses. Wasn’t too sure what to expect but it proved to be fantastic – lots of climbing but some awesome descents with a nice mix of fast flowy stuff and some good tech stuff. Planning on doing an extended version of it this year over 5 days, can’t wait!

Nice video here:

http://youtu.be/z_JupfzlWSc

Enjoy!

Sanny thats your trip in the link on the chamonix bike blog! Unless there are 2 biking Sanny’s!!

I was on the trip that Jim76 speaks of – best trip I’ve ever done – like him I had no real idea what I was in for, but it turned out to be stunning – I can’t recomemend the trip highly enough, I also intend to be back this year for the extended 5 day version.

(Wave to Jim…)

+1 sambob on mbmb.com

Again, thanks for the replies everyone.

My technical skills are reasonable-ish. I did Afan’s The Wall today, took 2 hours and I didn’t particularly struggle with the technical side of things. Is that a good base point and something to work from?

Seems MBMB was the one to go for, but now you’re saying they no longer do that tour, is there anyone else you’d recommend?

Also, the link to the Specialised video definitely makes me want to book!

I did the wall today 😯

@daniel

I went with Phil and MBMB in 2011 and really enjoyed it. The route we took was the opposite way around to Matt Hunter/Specializeds route. I must admit I thought I was reasonably fit and competent on a bike but they are long days on steep ups and downs. This was my first trip to the Alps so it was an eye opener, so to speak.

It’s definitely worth pacing yourself. I would also recommend doing a few back-to-back reasonable distance rides a few weeks before you go to stretch the legs as well as practicing trackstands/switchbacks on steep terrain 🙂 O yeah, and clearing water bars.

I think it was just the scale and gradient that comes as a shock and not something easily captured in videos. Also the altitude. It’s good riding though and quite an achievement whether self supported or with a guided company. We had a good mix of people on our trip which makes it worth while too.

I would get in touch with Phil at MBMB anyway. He said he wasn’t going to do the 3CT again and that our Sept. 2011 trip was the last but I know others have ridden it with MBMB in 2012. Worth an e-mail anyway.

Book marked as I have burning desire to do this one day

Agree with KoB, have a chat with Phil. He’ll have contact with guides that’d probably be willing to help, but the luggage support and accommodation being sorted was one of the best bits of the trip for me. Navigation’s not particularly difficult, but having a guide means you can ask about particular bits of trail and just follow someone down instead of having to worry about going the wrong way. The climb up to Champex-Lac is LONG, pace yourself on that one. The rest seem fairly comparable to big UK climbs, other than maybe the climb up to the Grand Col Ferret.
Altitude was noticeable on the first, third and fourth days for me, the fifth day was just a case of survival, it does get easier as the week goes on though.
I was very worried about my lack of fitness, but the climbs are long enough that I just ended up going at my own pace rather than caring how fast others were going, which makes it a shedload easier.
Only downside I can think of was that some of the portions weren’t quite big enough, but that may have been due to us being in two pretty big (12ish) groups. If you get good weather for the whole week you’ll have an absolute ball, the trails dry very quickly so it’s not a problem if there’s rain before you go. There was heavy rain the day we arrived, but by the time we went riding the next day everything was dusty again.