The perfect trip and new riding partners?

[jameso]

I've been reading climbing/mountaineering books again - climbing trips were where bivi-ing started for me. Climbers seem to go to places where they have routes in mind, hook up with other climbers and get on with it, or go on expeditions with people they don't know as the norm. My first 10-day bikepacking trip in Spain was with a rider I'd only ridden with briefly a few years earlier and it was his route idea, he was looking for someone to ride with and it was a 'yeah, why not' kind of trip plan. A trip with someone you don't know taught me more about myself and others and it was a great experience.

So what's your ideal trip location and riding attitude? Maybe this belongs in the Trips + Adventures section, a bit of day-dreaming here may lead to some great 'why not' rides?

I always wanted to ride in Colorado, through the Aspen groves on perfect singletrack. So the CTR is high on my list.
Closer to home and with reliable weather, Tenerife looks great or Morocco for mountains and dirt roads and a new culture. I'd like to go back to Spain and try another Camino further south as an easier, relaxing kind of trip too.
I always like to 'push on' when riding, riding is about covering ground and the physical challenge as well as adventure and finding amazing trails. My fitness is reasonably good but I don't race and I'm not competitive. Trails can be dirt roads or steep, switchback-laden tech-fests - a bit of both is perfect. And it's always good to have time to set up a good bivi, a fire, talk crap and eat the amount you deserve to eat!

[Bearbonesnorm]

I ride with strangers on a weekly basis, so when I get the chance to ride with people I know, it's great. Maybe I'm lazy but sometimes going through that 'getting to know you' stage can be tiring ... it certainly was when I went through it with a member of the Dutch national CX team However, I do love it when you suddenly realise that people who were strangers once, are now friends.

I don't think I have a dream destination. There's so many places I'd like to ride but so little time/money ... sometimes it feels like the longer my list grows, the less chance I've got of riding in these places. If I could just decide on one destination then I'm sure it would happen

In reality some of the best times I've had have been in my backyard. There's still plenty of the UK I'd like to ride, there's even places within 50 miles of here I've not ridden. I suppose that's the great thing, a bike opens up so many possible options.

One trip/ride I always look forward to is the 'Winter Bivvy'. It never involves riding very far and the attendees change each year but it's very laid back, everyone's there for the same reasons and the banter/piss taking is always good. :D

[jameso]

I know what you mean. I'm bad for keeping myself to myself but that trip was a good new experience, I guess I found the complete unknown aspect of a spur-of-moment trip meant I had nothing to lose, whereas other trips have been all about my plans, a well-read up on route and aspirations.
I'd sign up for another mystery trip tomorrow ) well, if this year's holiday wasn't already accounted for.. aside from that a long weekend in the UK late summer may be it.

[Bearbonesnorm]

WRT ... that's always a mystery :D

[jameso]

Intending on being there! Just got to sort transport.

[Ray Young]

I want to and one day will go to Morocco. About twenty years ago I had a three month route all planned and was slowly saving up for it. I then met a girl who became my first wife, you can guess what my savings got spent on. I still intend doing a tour out there before I'm too old.
Here's an idea, a "Bivi Get Together". Pick a point out in the hills and set a date. People make their own way there, on their own route, at their own pace then meet up at the chosen spot for an evening of making new friends, it's just a thought.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Here's an idea, a "Bivi Get Together". Pick a point out in the hills and set a date. People make their own way there, on their own route, at their own pace then meet up at the chosen spot for an evening of making new friends, it's just a thought.

'Tis a very good thought Ray and something I'd thought about last year. A central 'meeting point' with maybe 10 different starting points roughly in a circle around it. Pick a starting point and work a route out to the centre.

[jameso]

That's a good idea, just a bivi spot and some stories about how everyone got there, be it 20 miles, 200 or a week's ride.

[Taylor]

Have thought about that a couple of times and may try announcing a date and location for April.
Probably 6th-7th.
South Englandshire ish.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Have thought about that a couple of times and may try announcing a date and location for April.
Probably 6th-7th.
South Englandshire ish.

Ooh day after my birthday ... can't wait to be 26!

[jameso]

Somewhere with some good trail links leading into it - half way along the SDW, Ridgeway or similar, or well connected with sustrans paths? There must be some good trail-central locations like that.

[Taylor]

Do you want a pub meet, eat food then ride to camp or somewhere in the middle of nowhere with a short ride to camp?

I seem to have found an area with loads of byways, bridleways and Sustrans options.
South of the M4

[d45yth]

So what's your ideal trip location and riding attitude?

If you'd asked me this a year or two ago, I could have given you a list as long as my arm of various locations around the world. Now I have been to a few more places though, it's all about how good the riding/terrain is and being with decent folk also helps. I used to think it was just good to get away with the bike especially if the weather was good...the last time I went to Spain though, the riding was too boring for me and I left my hosts halfway through to go exploring by myself (hired a van and went to a National Park). I like nice scenery and amazing views as much as everyone else but if the riding's no good I'd rather not go.

One trip I did see advertised that did appeal to me was a trip to Slovenia. It wasn't the country that I wanted to see, it was just that the itinery looked good. Each days riding was in a totally different location but you were based at a farmhouse for the whole trip...I think it took in mountains one day, a forest the next, then a bike park, etc, etc.

Riding attitude? When out biking with my (local) friends we like to push on and can't understand folk who stop all the time. The last time I went to Morocco though, I went out by myself but was going to be riding as part of a larger group. The night I got there we were finding out about each others experience and whatnot...I was listening to someone say that they were roadie and had just bought a mountain bike. Others saying they hadn't been out for months and so on. My heart sank! It turned out that the riding was excellent, no one moaned, everyone had a good sense of humor and it was just a great experience. There was the opportunity for those of use who had more experience to get some extra miles in or ride more technical terrain...I think this was our guides' tactic of trying to tyre us out for the following day. The whole holiday turned out to be one of the best I've ever had! Everyone that was on the trip still meets up for weekends away and we all break up into smaller groups to suit everyones riding capabilities.

All the above is related to normal mountain biking though. When it comes to bikepacking I've had to learn to slow down a bit as there's no chance I could ride all day at my normal ride pace. I usually ride with folk who are a bit quicker than me too (they put in the road miles). Luckily the folk that want to go bikepacking with me are a different crowd and don't see the point of riding flat out. This will teach me a lot but may test my patience if it's cold and/or pouring down. I'm going to be taking a lot more photos and making films though so it will be better riding with them...my old mates won't stop for nothing!

Ray - How's your french? In Morocco I found the Berber mountain folk to be very hospitable but speaking french will get you a lot more/further, especially on the type of trip you're planning. I suspect you may already know this though.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't realise this was as long as it is! I'm blaming caffeine again!

[Ray Young]

My French is rubbish but when I get round to it and start saving I could take some French lessons at the same time ( i did work in the south of France with British tourists for a while and had some very basic French that enabled me to ask for stuff and i could understand simple replies, my accent was good so armed with a phrase book i could ask more complicated stuff). My future trip will i'm afraid not be anywhere near as long as the previously planned one.

[Dan_K]

Do you want a pub meet, eat food then ride to camp or somewhere in the middle of nowhere with a short ride to camp?

I seem to have found an area with loads of byways, bridleways and Sustrans options.
South of the M4

Sounds good. Where? I could be around that weekend.

[jameso]

Ray, did you have any particular areas in mind for your morocco ride? A friend and I may go there next year and my French is enough for my week+ solo trips in France but we've not looked at a map yet. Sounds like you were thinking of a long trip?
D45yth, where did you go / anywhere you'd recommend? Cheers

[Ray Young]

It's a long time ago but the plan was to fly to Marrakesh, head south east over the Atlas mountains taking in the cave paintings, go east to some amazing gorge, head back further west then back over the Atlas to return to Marrakesh. Sort of a triangle with a side diversion.

[d45yth]

I went with Freeride Morocco, I'd already been on a trip with them before when they were based in Spain (not the trip I bailed on!). It was a five day trip going across the Atlas mountains, we stayed in gites and a van took all our gear to the next nights accommodation. We started in a place called Imlil and went up towards Toubkal. I'm not sure what the place names were after that, they were just very small villages and we only rode on a tarred road once. I have a GPS route of it somewhere if you want it though.

It would be a good for bikepacking but the food would have to be well planned as I'm not sure how you know where the few shops were without prior knowledge. We were lucky as our van driver had lots in his van and cooked for us each morning, noon and night...I'm not sure where he was getting the chickens from for the tagines though.

Here's a link to some pics. Sorry they're bad, I'd just got my first camera!

EDIT: It looks like the whole trip was on dirt roads...I was having too much fun on the singletrack to stop and take pics!

[jameso]

Will have a look at those pics later.. and if a trip there looks likely I may ask for that GPS file, thanks.. I had a chance to take up a spare space on a trip there just like that a few yrs ago, didn't for the sake of a few £100 and regret it now.

Slovenia / eastern Europe looks good too, dsuza's trip sparked my interest there again so that's another one on a growing list - gotta keep it to 2 or 3 or I'll never focus (random 'OK then' trips don't count..)

[Ray Young]

Your pics are great, spurs me on to start saving, only problem is the second wife, she worries enough when I'm out bikepacking locally.

[jameso]

Morocco looks fantastic.. That was in Jan/Feb?

[d45yth]

Yeah, we were very lucky with the weather though, a week earlier there had been lots of snow. The difference in temperature between the mountains and valleys at night was extreme too. That was the advantage of a van carrying our gear, I took a massive sleeping bag rated to minus god knows what and lots of different layers. To take all that bikepacking would take up too much space.

[Ray Young]

The Atlas mountains have winter ski resorts and the difference between summer day/night temps can be massive.

[InspiredRamblings]

Sorry they're bad, I'd just got my first camera!

Looks like you loved it - Cheshire cat grin in every photo!