Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Pretty much all rocky, hand-cut natural goodness. Almost no mud/loam to speak of so great grip in the dry, I wasn't really struggling for traction even with just a Nobby Nic on the back. The only place that's really taxed my brakes. Basically no bike park style features or jumps, plenty of steep roll downs and drops, and the trail network is enormous. Roller Coaster is the poster trail of the region, about 1000m up, and pretty much everything is accessible via bike, the climbs are all hefty but nicely switchbacked. Lots of shuttle vans about but they're mostly booked via guiding companies I think, which is for sure the best way to get the most out the region - we used Francesco Gozio (MTB Guide XP) based on a recommendation and he was fantastic, we booked one day and ended up doing three in total. Most of the vans leave from Finalborgo up the road, which is a stunning little walled town. By far the best location I've ridden.

I'm desperate to go back next year, we stayed in a separate accommodation at a place half way up the mountain that does DH guiding and BnB, would be amazing to book the main place out with more than just the two of us. Goes without saying that the food is excellent, and it's very easy to transport bikes on trains through the region. We flew into Genova as Kate had a conference there, and got the train to Finale.

The best gelato is Carlin, who do a banging vegan pistachio.

I've watched a few riders tackling Madonna Del Guardia on YouTube, it looks fine apart from (and it's always hard to judge on video) a rocky/slab section, which some riders just blast down and others end up in the shrubbery.

Being a man, I of course think I'd be fine (and have the pneumothorax and fractured ribs to prove that that's not actually true), but in your view how technically challenging are the trails?

I'd say generally fine with some challenging technical steeps, mostly where the rock is exposed and it gets chunky and loose. But then those can be walked down, none of the trails were unrelentingly tough. Were a couple of maybe blacks or however they're graded that we both rode but Kate walked bits. I went spectacularly OTB on one steep rock slab, but fucked if I can remember which. Might have been on Rocche Gianche, around there somewhere. Some of the ridgeline bits are quite exposed. Honestly most of the stuff I rode was "blue" graded on Trailforks and it covered a pretty wide range of technicality, but a great deal of it is very friendly perfect singletrack through the forest.

Great, thanks.

This is the trail my new bike is named after (from 5:04):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncXYS-2p1RE

Was your OTB at 8:16?

Hah, no, though that looks meaty. I found it, it's an alt line on Andrassa

Here's someone doing the safe line
https://youtu.be/0sQnkC_Cfj0

Here's someone stacking it at 3:06
https://youtu.be/9thEDVpPIXI

Here's me not stacking it. I think I got hung up on a rock somewhere left of where Francesco is pointing
https://youtube.com/shorts/UJ2xWd5gIcU

I've only seen lots of videos on YouTube but it looks superb!

Don't suppose anyone has a spare rebound adjuster knob for a 2020 Lyrik they don't need? The grub bolt on mine has threaded and it's precariously staying on with some threadlock, and there are zero available anywhere in the world (from my limited searching)

Ready to drop in at the local jump line pumptrack bike park thingy. Asked one of the guys already there what the easiest jump was and proceeded to session it.

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That looks sick. I need to get my cruiser BMX out of my parents' garage!

I think I might have something suitable. I have a spare rebound adjuster from a current gen Boxxer which I think might use the same knob. I'll get a photo in a minute.

Oooft. I really want to build a mid life crisis jump bike exactly like that. Very jealous.

That'd be amazing, thanks! My one looks like this, although considerably more fucked

A modern Cannondale that I actually like!

I just compared it to the one on my 2020 Lyrik. It’s identical.

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#madscenes

It's ok, mate. Yours aren't modern...

Recommendations for a single speed rigid mtb? Sort of like the Singular Gryphon.

Does it need to be tall headtube/drop bar geometry like the Gryphon?

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/261535/

Stooge is great.

In the middle of booking a week in the PDS in July and another in August. Excite.

I've somehow never seen this thread before

Thanks

No

Agree that Stooges are a good option, and there's a few happy owners of them on here

I quite like the Kona Unit as a otp complete bike. Complete ssmtbs seem to be rare now, so you may have to build one up

I've somehow never seen this thread before

ffs

I can send you several hundred photos of bikes from that thread if you like :-D