Ticino, Switzerland all-mountain video

Tucked in the southern part of Switzerland, the Ticino region is mountainous and dotted with lakes and palm trees and the locals speak Italian. It's dry and rocky compared to the rest of the country and has more deciduous forests. Enjoy this video....hopefully it'll inspire you to dream of big rides this summer.

The Brazilian

Upon retrospect we should have worked harder to keep this trail unknown. Back in 2003, on a pioneering trip in the Swiss Alps, journalist Mitchell Scott in a fit of pleasure, compared parts of this trail to that of a freshly shaved Brazilan wax job...the word got out and now we've been told that the name pops up regularly in German mountain bike chat rooms. For years we were the only mountain bike tracks and now we're seeing more riders up there. It's all good. We're mountain bikers and we love a good descent. Here's a good view of it...



Want a taste of The Brazilian yourself? Join us for the ride of your life.

last week in Peru...

A group of friends went to Peru on a private trip last week. "The trip was fantastic. The guys enjoyed a lot the trip and we have just good memories," said head guide and mountain bike shinobe Wayo with a big smile from him home in Lima. Back at the office in Whistler and Vancouver we could not be happier. Thanks for joining us guys!

By the way, you have to come ride Peru with us soon...the riding is ridiculous, the culture unforgettable and being hosted by Wayo could not get any better. All-mountain or downhill?

 

 This photo was taken on one of the many Inca trails that was built centuries ago. This one drops into the beautiful Sacred Valley.

The group at our hotel in Lima.

 Cruisin' dawg. He knows who's boss.

earlier today somewhere in Morocco...

this photo just arrived from today's ride on our Moroccan Dirt Merchant cross-country trip. looks like the trip is going well!

Put bike in box, fly somewhere, unpack, ride.

It's that time of the year again. Yea, i know, time, it flies eh? But what can you do? I actually like fall. I know that it's not the best time to ride bikes, but when you do ride it's just good, really good. Fall is mellow; springtime is when you need to get in shape and it hurts more, summertime is when you are in shape and it still hurts so good, and falltime is just time to ride qualitytime. Riding is better when you have a dream trip to look forward to...
The grandpappy of freeride mountain biking, Wade Simmons, will be co-guiding our annual 9-day Costa Rica Pura Vida DH trips again this winter. Dates are Feb 19-27 and Feb 27-Mar 7, 2010. If you haven't heard, Wade is an unreal guy to get to know and an unreal rider. The chance to ride with him for 9 days does not come around very often....think about it, life is short afterall...
We're also offering a shorter version of this trip, the Pura Vida DH Junior which is 7-days from Mar 20-26. Unfortunately Wade won't be on this trip but you'll still be in supremely good hands with our man Paulo Valle.

Peru in Pedal Magazine

Check out the June issue of Canada's Pedal Magazine for a great article on our Peru all-mountain trip, Unforgettable Andes, from journalist Jason Sumner. This trip is absolutely unreal. Trust us. We'll have our 2010 dates posted in the coming weeks.


Big Mountain guide and mountain biker extraordinaire...Andreas Hestler!

zee alpen...

Writing this while sitting in our little hotel in the hamlet of Lourtier...tucked up a tight valley with big peaks all around. We've just started our Cloudraker trip with the Tour coming through the valley in a few days. The anticipation is growing!! Can't believe that we'll be watching the Tour in a few days from our mountain bikes! So pumped.


PK and Daughrty starting a 7 hour descent...


This lift got us high. Really high.

very big days

I could not muster up the energy to post anything yesterday. Up at 5am and back to the hotel at 8pm, shower, dinner, KO'd. What a day. After leaving Lima we drove up and up into the arid Andes for hours on a crazy road to around 12, 700 feet. This is as high as i've been. Fortunately we were heading downhill from there for 56 km. The trail was absolutely ridiculous - with several sections that were best evers in terms of pure riding pleasure, and each section distinctly different and the final pedal strokes to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. I will ride that trail again one day for sure.
Today we were up again at 5am and again we drove up and up on another head shaking road through some of the biggest mountains that I've ever seen to a town at 10,000 feet perched up on a dramatic mountain knoll. It was hot and sunny. From there we boarded small mountain horses while local boys pushed our bikes up (i know, i know...but they were making some money for their efforts) to a pre-Inca ruin and Moab-esque rocky plateau at 13,500 feet. My horse was fiesty and wanted to pin it up the mountain path which i did not like at all. But the rest of the group was in stiches as i went barreling past them. The descent today was much different than yesterday; the landscape was lush and the aspect that we descended was steep and extra large. The trail was also much more technical than yesterday, I was so happy to be on my 6-inch Trek Remedy 9 and Rock Shox Lyric fork - they saved my butt a few times. Today's ride and the whole day was truly epic. EPIC.
Tomorrow...up at 5am again and were off to the airport for the 1 hour flight to Cuzco which i'm really looking forward to. We're heading further into the big mountains...talk to you tomorrow if we have internet.


4000 feet in the can, 8000 feet to go...


curious kids...

What downhilling in Costa Rica with Big Mountain can make you do...

We wrapped up our annual back to back 10-day Pura Vida DH trips in Costa Rica recently. Thanks to Paulo and Nene in CR and our man Wade Simmons, the trips were a resounding success. As it turned out, Lon couldn't hold back while checking out the country's highest volcano, Volcan Irazu. Was it the altitude? Was it a bad batch of tequila from the night before? Or was it that the riding was unreal?



We've got our 2010 dates posted and spots are already filling up. Grab the big rig and come down for some good times in the tropics. 2010 Costa Rica Pura Vida DH dates here.

Swiss Cloudraker + the Tour de France: what you won't have to do...

We are super excited that our July 17th Swiss Cloudraker all-mountain trip will be happening during this year's Tour de France. Lance is back for another pull and there's some hot new young guns on the start list so it'll be especially fiesty. Can you imagine watching the race go by and then railing a 6000-foot descent? And then checking out the circus after hours that follows the tour? It's about to happen...

Don't worry, you won't have to launch the peleton like Dave Watson did a few years ago.

Photo by Scott Markewitz.

more downhill fun from the Alps...

Downhill Mountain Biking in the Swiss Alps: part one from big mountain on Vimeo.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's to a great year ahead filled with health and happiness, out of control laughter and long rides with friends and family.



*Big thanks to Christophe from Zurich for sending us this sweet card. Christophe joined us on a Cloudraker trip last summer.