A guided mountain bike ride from Punta Ala Trail Center can take in the best of Punta Ala’s beaches and mountains while riding fun singletrack trails, with rides expertly tailored to all and any abilities.
Checking out the trail map at our Bike Center shop, while hiring two Giant bikes for today’s ride.
Starting at Punta Ala Trail Center‘s beachside base, our guide Bibo meets up with his clients for the day – two avid mountain bikers of an intermediate level on holiday from Switzerland. They’ve hired bikes from the Bike Center’s (our bike shop) range of Giant-Liv Cycling rentals, choosing mid-travel trail bikes for today’s singletrack blast. Tomorrow they might try an e-bike.
The couple is staying in one of our Club cabins on the shore of the Mediterranean, where Bibo talks them through the local trail network while assessing their riding level and the type of trail they’d like to ride.
Bibo gets to know today’s guided customers, meanwhile the coffee brews in their Club cabin.
After a relaxed meeting talking bikes and discussing e-bikes (over a coffee – this is Italy after all), the ride starts directly from the door of the cabin. No need for transport here: singletrack starts a stone’s throw from all our accommodation.
Pedalling for a minute or two, the ride quickly dives into the dense and intriguing forest, where Bibo picks up a flowing snake of singletrack. Never climbing nor descending for too long, this trail is a great start for groups to get used to the dry terrain and never-ending flow of our nearest trails in the Cala Violina area.
Pedalling through the pleasant pine cover of our accommodation base, soon the group will be enjoying nearby singletrack.
Bibo, one of three full-time mountain bike guides at Punta Ala Trail Center, has a wealth of experience when it comes to group rides. As a long-term professional snowboard instructor in the winter and having shaped some of Italy’s most famous mountain biking in Sauze d’Oulx (and Punta Ala!), his knowledge of sport and riders is endless. He’s also supremely talented on a bike, but incredibly friendly and patient too – perfect guide material. That’s how he’s earned so much positive feedback from our customers.
Flowing like water around the mountain, Bibo’s choice of trail gently makes its way upward, bursting out of the trees to a timeless view of the surrounding nature and across to the Isle of Elba. Bibo’s small group are stunned by the beauty of the area, but soon forget it as they hurtle through the woods on a fast, fun trail called Torretta. This is an apparently endless descent that comes seemingly for free – they barely noticed the uphill to a high point 250 meters above the sea.
Bibo, one of Punta Ala Trail Center’s full-time guides and mountain bike experts.
Every ride ends at the sea! Bibo gives a demonstration of his skills during a cornering exercise with the intermediate group.
After a riveting 10-minute ride with some of the best turns our group has ridden, the trail comes to a rolling finish at one of Punta Ala’s best-kept secrets: Cala Violina. A pristine beach accessible only by bike, horse or a lengthy walk from the nearest car park, the feeling of wonderful calm could not be greater.
The ride ends here as the group take a shortcut back to base at the end of this two-hour blast. But tomorrow they’ll be back here and will explore some of the dozens of trails Bibo pointed out during the ride, which he also handily marked on their trail map.
Tomorrow’s ride? Even more flow, this time with some challenging singletrack climbs on rented e-bikes!
At Punta Ala Trail Center the ride options are unlimited. Gentle trail? No problem. Hardcore downhill? We’ve got that covered too. Everything in-between? Yep. Just ask one of our guides and they will point you in the right direction, or even better hire them for a half- or full-day of guiding to really benefit from their knowledge of the area.
