Biking to suit all tastes! Mountain Biking, Road Cycling, Trail Bike Riding...
If you like your adventure on two wheels then there is heaps to go at from the door of your apartment here at FlyStAndre. We can help you with...
Suggested daily itineraries based on your preferences and fitness
Support with GPS route downloads
Hire of bikes and safety equipment
Shuttle service to support your planned itinerary.
Here's a a bit more information to entice you to get stuck in to the superb biking here in St-Andre-les-Alpes.
Mountain Biking
If you like to mountain bike we are surrounded by forested slopes that are criss crossed by tracks and trails to make you grin from ear to ear. From the centre of St Andre there are 15 way marked mountain bike routes from the easy tours around the town to long distance XC's and epic down hills.
If you like your biking downhill and technical we can provide a shuttle services and show you some great hidden gems on descents ranging from the flowing smooth trails from Courchons to the technically demanding rocky stepped, tight switch backed descent of Le Chalvet. The ski resort at Val d'Allos has a downhill bike park in summer. So you can spend yours days getting an easy ride up on the lifts and tearing down the slopes on the dedicated trails.
We are also crossed by two superb long distant mountain bike rides:
The Transverdon is a stunning 260km XC that follows the course of the Verdon river from its source in the alpine zone of the Mercantour National Park, past Europe's largest canyon - The Verdon Gorge and onto the historic Greoux-les-Bains. Click here to find out more about the Transverdon.
The Chemin de Soleil is an even longer route taking in more than 1000km trails from the Alpes to the Mediterranean. 270km of that route passes through the Alpes de Haute Provence and we are situated in the superb section between Sisteron and Castellane. Click here to find out more about the Chemin de Soleil.
Road Cycling
If you prefer to stick to the roads for your cycling we have some great itineraries from the gentle ones around the Thorame Basse valley to tough Tour de France mountain climbs. The roads are quiet and generally well surfaced, the views superb and you are never far away from a cooling dip in the waters of Lac de Castellon.
The French love their road cycling so much you can have a car free ascent up the Col de Allos (2240m). They shut it completely to motor traffic every friday morning throughout the summer. Amazing!
Great cols in the area include:
Col Height (m asl) Ascent
Col du Defens 1267 417
Col St Michel 1431 581
Col d’Allos 2240 995
Col des Champs 2047 802
Col de la Cayolle 2326 1291
Mont Ventoux 1910 1620
If busting cols is not your thing there are some amazing tours to do including a loop around the Verdon Gorge which I consider one of my best ever bike rides.
Trail Bike Riding
The diverse, open terrain makes Saint Andre Les Alpes one of the best places in the world to ride trials bikes. Senez the Mecca for trial bike competitions is only 35 minutes away. We have trials bikes available for hire with all the safety gear.
Cruise up mountains using the incredible single tracks. Cover 100's of kilometers without being stopped by gates or angry landowners. We can help you plan routes and get the most out of your riding. Check out this ride. 3 hours long. No roads and 1 gate.
If this is all new to you try our 30 min taster session.
We use a simple 3 step coaching process to quickly teach total beginners how to ride safely. If you are a competent mountain biker it will take about 1-2 hours to learn even if you have never ridden a motor bike before. Our process goes like this:
Sitting on the frame, 1 gear engaged, starting, stopping, riding loose figure of eights, accelerator control
Standing on the pegs - repeating the above (Josh is at this level in the video)
Gear changing while standing
Once you can demonstrate rapid emergency stopping, perform tight figure of eights we are good to hit the mountains.
#MTB #VTT #MountainBiking #TrailBiking #RoadBiking #RoadCycling #thingstodo
