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ABOUT US
For
2010, BikeVillage is brought to you by Sam, Lyndsey, Tom, Chris,
Mike and Shergie. Sam has been riding almost everyday in the
valley for 11 years (studded tyres for the snow in the winter!),
clocking up well over 2 million vertical metres of singletrack, so
knows more sweet trails than you could shake a stick at. He has
softened up a bit in winter lately, however, and will even
grudgingly admit that ski touring is potentially more suitable for
alpine winters than just cycling on regardless! Here for his
second year, Tom loves solo 24hr races so watch out 'cos he's
savage! Also returning for 2010 is Chris. Both of them have an
effervescent enthusiasm for riding which can't help but inspire
those around them. Unfortunately they both also like trance music.
No one is perfect! Mike is new to the good ship BV for 2010,
having impressed us with his guiding, riding and sardines-playing
credentials last year. He cycled 8000km from Norfolk to Beijing to
watch the last summer olympics so we're thinking of buying him
tickets to the 2011 Australian Open to see how hard he really is!
Lyndsey is the one who keeps the good ship BikeVillage afloat.
When the day's riding is done, it's usually Lyndsey and Shergie
you'll have to thank for the delicious food sitting on your plate
and when you email us, it's normally her name you'll see at the
bottom of the reply. In her 'spare' time she's an English teacher,
helping local French children and adults to speak English with a
comedy Edinburgh twang! Bringing up the rear are Addie and Rowan,
our little boy and girl. Addie has really got the hang of his
Islabikes Rothan, so summer 2010 might see him aboard something
with pedals and brakes, not that Dad is pushing it..;-)
There are also three slightly smaller members of BikeVillage that you'll meet in Landry - Anouk, Myrtle and Moufette the mogs. They can't open bedroom doors so don't worry if you're allergic. However, just about every other trick in the book has been pulled off by one of them at some point so just remember - watch your pinkies with Anouk and watch your scoobie snacks with Myrtle + Moufette!
A Brief History of BikeVillage – 10 years and counting!
(Stephen Hawking voice) “BikeVillage was dreamt up approximately 13 lunar years ago, when two bicycle guides (still doing the robot voice? Good) working in Colorado spent much too much time in micro breweries getting pissed and talking shite. The fruits of their labours later became known as the legendary BileVillage. (OK, you can stop the ropey voice now)
Trail exploration began in earnest in 2000 and in Spring 2001. Amidst lots of foot and mouth in the UK, Sam and Stu packed their Transit van to the roof and headed for the Alps. That summer BV ran from a rented chalet in Bourg St Maurice. The staff sleeping quarters was the battered transit van – so luxurious that even the local tramp used to laugh at us despite the leftovers we fed him! The summer was a great success for all save our wallets and our immune systems. Everyone loved the riding and with more and more of our trails centering around the pretty village of Landry we began the hunt for BV Towers...
A 280-odd year old farmhouse with an enormous garden and a sweet trail finishing less than 50 metres away... that'll do nicely! Since then the farmhouse and the trails have gotten better every year – Sam is never idle out of season. By 2005 word had got around enough that we had our first chockablock season, with over 2/3 of the riders on their second (or third, fourth and fifth...) BV trip. This meant Sam and Lyndsey could stop working 3 jobs each all winter to subsidise the biking, and since then we've looked a lot happier ;-)
Rather than try to expand the BV empire, we chose to dedicate ourselves to making the holidays better for the guests that we had. Now the BV team has swollen from 3 to 6 people, still for a maximum of just 12 guests – on quiet weeks we might outnumber you! This keeps us chilled out and all the riders happy, just how we like it.
In 2007 we added a sneaky 7th member to the team when Lyndsey gave birth to our little boy Addie, who was followed in 2009 by our daughter Rowan. Whilst still not quite pulling their weight in the kitchen, they do try hard! Just a few more sprogs and Sam's dream of a family team at Mountain Mayhem comes ever closer to fruition!
It all seems to work too darn well - Summer 2010 is our proper, official, all grown up 10th anniversary! Some guests will be back for their 12th visit in that time. We're still loving it all and promise to stick at it for another 10 years, aching bodies permitting!
e-mail us on info@bikevillage.co.uk or call us on 0033 615 719 932