I’m planning a trip to Peru on November this year, 3 or 4 of us are going.
We want to ride downhill as much as possible, has anyone on here ever been before?
Any tips or advice would be great

There is a fair bit of potential around Cusco I would say. I was there last year as part of a guided group with a company called Red Spokes.
Although I was on a mountain bike tour, the riding was largely on road sadly so I personally got a bit frustrated looking up at all these amazing hills and tracks etc and passing them by on roads while getting nearly killed by buses etc… 😥

Anyway, yes I would say there is definitely potential, it’s just finding it that’s the problem. Maybe talk to a couple of companies. Red Spokes may be able to put you in touch with Eduardo who led our group. Really cool bloke who seemed keen to do more actual mountain biking. He lives south of Lima though.

Brilliant country though… I’m sure you’d find lots of riding.

You could always pop down the road to Bolivia and do the Road of Death. It’s fun with stunning scenery but ultimately, still a road…

I’m not a roadie….can you tell?….. 😀

There”s a Cicerone Press guidebook to biking and trekking in the area that might be useful.

I did a ride with these guys when I was out there, http://www.gravityperu.com/index.php?mod=rides

Admittedly it was about 5 years ago now but they were decent at the time and offered proper mountain biking compared to what a lot of the other companies seemed to.

went there on my honeymoon, wasnt allowed to take my bike 🙁

amazing terrain- Id say there must be some excellent biking, I did plan to hire a bike and ride the volcano at Arequipa, but it was a religious holiday when we got there and all shut up

no experience of em but these guys look great

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inkas-Adventures/159739751025?fref=photo

squaremonkey – Member
I did a ride with these guys when I was out there, http://www.gravityperu.com/index.php?mod=rides

Admittedly it was about 5 years ago now but they were decent at the time and offered proper mountain biking compared to what a lot of the other companies seemed to.

Interesting! I was one of Gravity’s main guides in Peru in 2009, I might have been showing you around!

OP, there is loads of very, very good riding in the area but extremely difficult to find without a guide. Also decent bikes very difficult to find if you want to rent. If you can get out though you will have some of the best days you will ever have on a bike!

I’m now working for another company which offers challenging MTB holidays out there, have a look here for some inspiration…
Skedaddle in Peru

Or if you are just looking for on or two days of riding I have some other contacts, sent me a message if you want any info!

Cheers,
Matt

Oh and the altitude can be a real bitch. Even riding on the flat was hard work

yeah, cocoa tea for the win out there

Thanks for all the feedback so far, I’ve been looking at using Amazonas Explorers and going on the 9 day trip ‘single track heaven’
http://www.amazonas-explorer.com/p4_bike.asp?secc=8&arti=80

Where all good riders, and going to take our own bikes with us.

The trip is very expensive and after reading a more detailed itinerary I realized that lots of the loops bring you back to Cusco every night. So starting thinking there could be a cheaper way to do this, with a local guide (cough smashit (Matt) maybe you know someone) that could show us the trails

I’ve read that anywhere from Cusco is downhill, and if you can link back to the main roads just jump on a local bus for pennies to get back up

If I can get the cost down on the trip, I’ll have a bigger crew to go with!

Anymore advice is welcome?

I used these back in 2005. They provided a good days riding as part of a multiactivity trip. They gave good a good service and provided descent hardtails

Anymore advice from anyone? Has anyone done Bolivia’s most dangerous road? Is it worth it? Flights are pretty cheap from Cusco to La Paz in Bolivia so might try and squeeze this into the trip

Hi ninjaj,

Given my current role I can’t go putting you in touch with any of the guides directly, sorry! I can reassure you that the trips with Skedaddle or Amazonas will be very good value for money! I could recommend some operators that are better placed for shorter one or two day trips however! Let me know!

I guided the ‘worlds most dangerous road’ in Bolivia with Gravity for a couple of years too. It is good fun but not technical by any means. Once again the singletrack around La Paz is insanely good and a group of 4 could easily organise a day or two with Gravity Bolivia. Others on here have done it from a customer’s perspective..

Yeah, road of Death isn’t much more than a fire road, albeit a very stunning and beautiful one…

Thanks Kayak23 I kinda guessed it would be like that, but still it’s one of those things that would be good to do!

We rode with Gravity Bolivia, originally just for the most dangerous road which needs no skill and can really be managed by anyone. However then went on the hire a guide individually, Pancho, if my memory serves me correct and we had a local lad with us also who was the Bolivian Down hill champ or some such feat. They took us on a few day single track riding which was awesome staying at places out on the route.

Take your own bike if you can.

Puked the first day riding up a very slight hill due to the altitude but was fine after that. Absolutely excellent biking. Highly recommended. This as all very long ago but remains as a fantastic memory.