I got back yesterday from a one week cycling holiday with Riviera Bike, based in Molini di Treora, Valle Argentina, in Liguria. I though I’d make some notes which other people thinking about a cycling holiday may find useful.
As a solo, I took the XC/AM which suited me as I don’t have big enough equipment in the trouser dept. for a week of “Freeride”. This offer included airport transfer via Nice, half-board in a convenient and cosy hotel, with access to nearby secure storage and bike maintenance facilities, and guided riding for 5 days using a mix of van-and-trailer uplift with some climbing on the bike. You buy your own flights to Nice and need money for lunches, trinkets, beer and bike spares.
The focus of the trip is the riding, but the locale is stunningly too, as is the culture, cooking and local people who are very pleased you are visiting their remote valley to ride bikes, have a good time socialising with them, and spend some money. Ady and Jo run the business and are the main hosts and guides, and they have some long-time guides to help, in our case Rich. When riding in a small group of 5 we had just one guide, and when that grew slightly we had two.
They have opened and hand built a fine network of trails above Molini and also in adjoining valleys. Mostly these are accessed using the van on roads and forest tracks up to between 1600-1400m and dropping through the forest down to Molini at 400m. Yes kids, that means every run is like descending Ben Lomond or Snowdon in length with very little pedalling required/possible. In some cases, you jump out the van and gently climb between 100-600m on the bike. The Monte Ceppo trail “Cop Killer” was an example where we climbed out of the forest to a summit in the alpine zone. If this sounds terribly lazy, you are mistaken: the trails are physically and mentally demanding to descend so frequent stops to rest and regroup are needed. If you are used to riding off Munros or mountain tops in Wales/Lakes, or add-in moderate DH runs to you XC rides, you will get a massive grin off this stuff. I think if you just bimble around red/blue grade manicured trails, it will be quite a shock just how demanding it all feels. Put it another way, by the end of week you will be able to ride steep switchbacks festooned with microwave sized limestones and frightening drops. Saying that, there are more moderate trails and segments which we used to good effect on the rainy day when the more full-on stuff was too daunting. A particular curiosity is “street” where a trail drops into the top of one of ancient villages stacked-up a mountain ridge and you plunge down steep cobbles alleyways and switchback through arches, past front doors, and through the churchyard to then pop out onto another rock and dirt trail to continue down.
In complete contrast, Jo and Rich took us ~1h 45mins in the van to Allasio, Here they have researched and developed a network of trails in the hills above the coast. It’s much warmer here and I got sunburn, in October! The trails are slightly less steep, loose, dusty and sandy but just as full of limestones. Speeds were higher, corners were drifted and the outing was enhanced by panoramic sea views. Each trail ends with some “street” and the sandy beach for coffee and gelato. It was late season with many restaurants shut so we had pizzas and cokes on the sea wall. A wonderful day.
I was quite impressed with the quality of guiding. Ady, Jo and Rich have complementary styles: Ady majors on trail knowledge and bike maintenance, Jo on hospitality and care, and Rich’s enthusiasm is simply infectious. Jo took particular care of less confident riders in our group and ensured they enjoyed and pushed themselves, which was really pleasing to see. Rich led us out on the rainy day when the others were unsure we would cope, the trails being significantly harder in rain. Rich picked all the right trails, told us when to walk sections etc. Us Brits thoroughly enjoyed being soaked and slithering around down steep, rocky forest trails – just like home!
Some tips: Ady makes it very clear that you need a 5/6” full-sus bike and I completely agree. While completely doable on a chunky hardtail you would quickly tire of the non-stop roughness. You’re on holiday, why beat yourself up? A DH bike is equally unsuitable because you need to pedal to access some trails, but more importantly, all the switchbacks make speeds in the forest relatively low so a DH bike gives no advantage. The guides were riding Nukeproof Megas and I managed just fine with a beefed-up Giant TranceX. Ady also makes it clear you should bring fat, protection tyres such as double-ply, UST or snakeskin etc. The rider who stuck with single-ply suffered with repeated front and back pinch flats which is boring for everyone waiting for them to be repaired. I fitted HansDampf with snakeskin sidewalls using DH tubes and had no issues – but then I do mince! Despite riding sensibly, we all took tumbles and wearing squidgy knee and elbow armour meant the tumbles did not spoil our holiday.
The unexpected highlight for me was the Santo Spirito hotel in Molini. It’s a proper Italian family hotel, reasonably nice rooms, and a great kitchen producing traditional four course meals from local produce, with wine/beer. I don’t think I have eaten as well in my life. The quality and authenticity was just brilliant. For example, I have never before had the courage to eat snails, but these were so fine I ate half a terrine-full. The porcini mushroom pastas were to die-for, as were the roasted meats and casseroles.
In conclusion, I had a great holiday and will be booking for next year.
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