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"You wont find better alpine trails anywhere in Europe..." What Mountainbike.

Epic rides on the most incredible technical singletrack mountainbiking in the world - that's what makes us tick. Big days out - the chairlifts can lend a hand during July + August and the van in June + September, but even then they are totally optional and serve primarily as a means of extending our singletrack adventures. We'll still be climbing as much as people want to in order to reach the best riding, the best views and the best picnic spots around. 'Backcountry' has become the term for it, we've always just called it mountainbiking!

The singletrack around BikeVillage and Les Arcs is ridiculously good - so much mountain biking we could ride from our door and do something different every day for two months. There's the high level (2000m+) super flowing singletrack above the tree line, with amazing views onto Mt Blanc and all the other surrounding peaks. Then there's the tighter, cheekier singletrack down in the woods below Les arcs and La Plagne, with more switchbacks than you ever dreamt existed. Cross to the other side of the valley and it's a more open, almost mediterrainean feel to the singletrack, with rock slabs and faster flowing trails.

We have reopened many of the local trails with our own fair hands (never leave home without a pruning saw and a trenching tool!) and so are pretty used to having them to ourselves!

We've been riding the Les Arcs area six days a week for eleven years solid and we still find new trails all the time - that's part of the reason so many BikeVillage guests come back again and again, to mix some old favourites with our latest singletrack offerings – see the what's new page for the latest updates.

And it's not just the trails that set us apart from other mountain biking outfits. Along with our passion for the riding comes our dedication to tailoring the experience to each rider. With no more than 12 guests spread between 2 trail leaders (3 if we're all healthy simultaneously!) our ride ideas are completely flexible. We can split up and have an 'easier' and 'harder' ride, whether it's the trails' cheekiness (technicality) or the ride length that makes the difference.

We can ride different trails in the morning and then meet up for lunch and all ride together in the afternoon. We can all do the same ride with a few cheeky options thrown in for the brave. We can offer extra loops at the end of the day for those still craving more singletrack or even (gasp) head home earlyish and stick the kettle on if you're having a bad hair day.

If you want to practice some mountain biking skills we can spend time on a particular trail until you're hopping round tight switchbaks and riding over roots like a Jedi. If you've got a big race/event coming up we can head to the hills and get you prepared BikeVillage style - with an ear to ear grin and a litre or two of sweat marking your route. Indeed, bright orange BV riders have been spotted at about every UK enduro ever and Sam loves to take a hammering in the epic marathon events found in the area – just ask him about the World Cup course at Bourg d'Oisans and see him smile!

For a real battle, we also offer our 'Everest Challenge' during June and September. The aim is to climb and descend 8848m of trails during the week - by no means unfeasible but definately a bit painful! If you fancy a go then just email us - we need about 6 riders in total to run the challenge so a bit of warning is needed.

New for 2010 is the BikeVillage Hut Trip, a fun wee 2 day edventure in the Beaufortain mountains to the north of Landry. Click the link above for more details but basically we set off all naive and cheerful one morning from BikeVillage. We then head up into them thar hills, ride amazing singletrack and overnight in a mountain refuge. Here we eat much cheese and drink whisky before getting our heads down for the night. Next day we greet the dawn at 2000m and set off for another epic day's riding back towards the farmhouse, where we agree never to speak of what has passed for fear our friends will disown us. It's a bit like the film Deliverance except that banjos, “P.I.G. pig” squeeling and leather vests are replaced by cow bells, B.R.A. brake squeeling and lycra vests. Awesome!

“Just do it. You know it makes sense!” Andy McCandlish in MBR

If you have any questions about the riding then please do give us a call/email - it's a subject we are more than happy to chat about at great length!

e-mail us on info@bikevillage.co.uk or call/fax us on 0033 615 719 932