Which is better for big all-day rides on a 6″ bike in September? i.e. the bike equivalent of ski-touring

Thank you!

6″ of one and half a foot of the other, surely?

No such thing as better in this case. Either or

What about SH?

They’re both just different innit.

Alps would have more trail choice I’d have thought?

I prefer Whistler riding though.

BC, Fernie, Nelson, Kicking horse, Kamloops, Whistler all have miles and miles or perfect trails and doesn’t take much to get find some gems

” I said, “Mother Gue, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world.” And by God I was right.

I ain’t never seen ’em, but my common sense tells me the Andes is foothills, and the Alps is for children to climb!

Del Gue from the the film Jeremiah Johnson

Good to BC.

If you want lifts by September you’re struggling in the Alps.

You don’t have to worry about getting stalked by a mountain lion or eaten by a grizzly bear in the Alps.

Alps are nearer.

(In case you didn’t know this)

I’d go back to BC over the Alps anyday. I’d have thought in Sep BC would be better as the lifts will be closed in the Alps and ime there’s more non lift access riding in BC.

Would really like to ride in BC, the vibe is fantastic, only climbed in the mountains, but just love the backcountry, it really is call of the wild.

Goto BC. Alps are shit in Sept with nothing to do and every single lift in Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France (etc) are shut. There is no way you could find any kind of good riding. Travel for 6000 miles and I am sure you will get AMAZING riding.

Having ridden french, Swiss, Italian alps, and toured BC with a 6 inch travel bike, I think I can comment….

Best trails (in my view – I like woodsy singletrack with the odd decent sized jump thrown in and lots of techy stuff) were:

1) Italian alps
2) BC
3) French
4) Swiss

The swiss and french ones are basically the same tho – just avoid morizine – massively over rated even if you have someone who spent a season there and knows the less well used singletrack.

I’d be going to BC tho (and BC does not just equate to whistler) given the choice with Johnny Smoke of Bush Pilot biking – proper amazing experience. Trail for trail the Italian alps just pipped it in my list, but for an experience the tour of BC was miles and miles ahead. When we did BC we did a float plane trip (unbelievable) and a helidrop (over rated) – if you’re going that far you may as well do everything! Check out my flickr for some photos of all of the above (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ewanpanter/)

Forgot to say – the points about the lift situation in the alps is valid. However go with Riveria Bike to italy and it’s all van uplift anyway so pretty irrevlevent. We went end of september / start of october time just as all the leaves were starting to turn. Amazing (but not quite as amazing as the tour of BC)

p.s. I might have been a little bit sarcastic.

Hmmm, I don’t usually pipe up on this sort of thing but gosh, can’t help myself this evening.

First of all… in terms of natural singletrack and the amount / variety of it there is more in the Alps than in BC, certainly per unit area 😉

Whether one is “better” for the other for 6″ bike all-day riding in Sept, I’m not sure you can pick one. Lifts don’t really come into it do they? You can do truck uplifts on any continent.

However, what does annoy me a bit is the ranking of different alpine countries for their singletrack …. Ewan – with respect do you know that
1) The Tarentaise Valley i.e. Les Arcs (France)
2) The Aosta Valley (Italy)
3) The Rhone Valley, Valais canton (Switzerland)

…were all part of ONE and the SAME country not THAT long ago? 🙂

For the record, the funnest day I’ve probably ever had on a bike was in Switzerland. Does that mean it’s “better” than France/Italy/BC ??? Does it balls!

I like woodsy singletrack with the odd decent sized jump thrown in and lots of techy stuff

Do make sure you get yourselves to DestinationX one of these days 😉

I have no idea which I’d choose. Been to both and the best riding I’ve done. A day at Squamish was one of the best days of my life on a bike, really pushed it on the wooden skinny stuff and loved it. A day in The Alps in 2009 was a day of amazing trails way up top and all the way back down. Only difference I can see is it’s cheaper to go the Alps. If money wasn’t an issue and I had to choose… it’d be Canada… or The Alps… no Canada! **** it, both if money ain’t an issue.

As a taster, The Alps:

Canada:

Coogan is that first Canada pic from Squamish? Wherever it is, looks like my idea of fun! Looks north shore-y but not too high or skinny. I’m going to BC for a few months later this year and Squamish is on my list of places to ride if I can get a lift there 🙂

Yep, it is indeed in Squamish. It was a tricky wee one as it is quite high up and your rear wheel can catch the groove at the start, but once down that there is bigger to come but the adrenaline is buzzing at that point I found! You’ll love, awesome place.

well said, ash.

Alps for me, but then i can see them from where i am. plus the food is better (even in Austria and Germany!). and the beer as well, i assume.

Got to be the Alps
For the cost of 1 week in BC
you can do a 2 week road trip and visit each of the following for 2 day or more
To pra loup
To Vars
To les Arcs
To Pila
To Verbier
To Crans Montana
To Les Carroz
all real good places the list is end less, you can take your van + parts. So for me its a Euro trip every time.

^^ sounds more like a french road trip.

Goto bc if you haven’t been. Its travel and its ace but to say its BETTER than the alps is kinda silly. If you haven’t travelled to the alps and experienced it outside of resorts then do that. Its truly an awe inspiring place with a lifetime of trails and culture to find.
Thats why i live there 🙂

Ash – Don’t worry destination X is very much on our to-do list!

I know they were all one country not that long ago (do the 1940’s count?) but I thought i’d caveated it enough by saying it was my view (implicty by what i’d ridden) – perhaps I should have done it by resort… as I guess the resorts are where the average riders are going to go to (not to say that there isn’t good riding else where in the alps, but it’s not that easy to find if you’re not a local!)

That being said I think the different areas do have a really different feel – Riveria bike’s stomping ground in the italian alps was very different to say Trail Addiction in Les Arcs, which was in turn very different to say Morizine or Champery. As was the feel of those countries. And BC was different again.

Not sure where i’m really going with this, but it’s probably something along the lines of that the company you go with matters as much as the location.

I agree that different areas have a different feel. I just don’t think one can do it “by country”, I think that’s all I was saying.

Ady’s “Italian Alps” is in fact the Maritime Alps, which is also the French Sospel / Trans-Provence / Turini stuff etc etc. Lovely down there… for me: better than the “main” Alps in some ways, not as good in other ways.

A final point is that I reckon people get a bit “destination”-based when judging riding in the Alps: it’s “Verbier is this” or “Les Arcs is that” or “Chamonix is the other” … how about the riding between all of these spots? (i.e. stuff which is still in the alps but not in the confines of a “resort”). There’s more of it than people seem to realise. This is the point at which the name “DestinationX” becomes a bit regretful… it’s not even a destination, it’s a huge multi-“resort” area 😉

Anyway, enough self-promo for one evening. Have a great Summer of Alpine and/or BC riding everyone wherever you go 🙂
Ash

If you like riding in trees, choose BC
If you like riding in the alpine, choose the Alps

😉

^ Ha, I think that sums it up really! Too many damn trees in BC, as awesome as the riding may be.

as a side note there is NO good tree skiing in the Alps 😉

and too much carrying in the Alps huh Walleater? 😉

Like the replies 🙂 OK, I’ll stick with the Alps but god that plane trip looks epic

Rob, he still hates you for that. 😈

Still my proudest moment…making a grown man cry 😉

It was just the cold wind 😉

and……SEETHING RAAAAAAAGE!!1!1!

Bloody hell, I go for a weekend of biking (in the Alps) and look what I’ve missed.

After doing over 90km (almost entirely on single track) this weekend I might be a bit biased… But there is certainly a lot of pretty good all day riding available in them there Alps.

That 90km weekend included about 700m of on the bike altitude gain and about 6000-7000m of descending. At a rough guess I would say around 80km of that was on single track.

That 90km weekend included about 700m of on the bike altitude gain and about 6000-7000m of descending. At a rough guess I would say around 80km of that was on single track.

Hows the TP training going? 😉

SEETHING RAAAAAAAGE

Yes, all closet gays have the same problem 😉 You did enjoy the 19km descent though (probably not the next pedal though…)

Hows the TP training going?

Training? whats that? Just riding my bike I am!

Yes, all closet gays have the same problem You did enjoy the 19km descent though (probably not the next pedal though…)

You referring to the route I did the week before? If so the second climb was a bit tiring on a 17kg bike. 1900m on the bike altitude gain by the end of the day.

Just riding my bike I am! and lifts 😉 Sounds delightful! Where was it?

Sorry, was refering to walleater on 2nd one…