Trail Tales: Olleros, Peru

I've only ridden it twice, but the Olleros trail near Lima, Peru has to rank as one of the best downhills in the world. With spectacular views of the Andes, 3,000 metres/10,500 vertical feet of downhill (that's not a misprint!), and some of the flowiest, most beautiful riding on the planet, I can't think of any downhill I've ever had more fun on.

The day starts with a 3-hour drive from Lima, up a crazy mountain road, with a steep drop on one side. Thankfully, our driver Pablo has driven this road "about 500 times," as he puts it, and inspires lots of confidence. The amazing part is that both times we drove this road we didn't encounter a single vehicle - we had the road to ourselves for 3 hours.

After climbing for what seems forever, you reach the remote village of Olleros, perched high on the Andean mountainside. After saying hello to a few curious kids, you pedal through town and then drop in on the trail.

The Olleros trail is fast, flowing singletrack, dusty in spots but not enough to affect your riding or the person behind you. This is freeriding at its free-est: at times the trail disappears and you can just follow the flow of the topography, hitting dozens of jumps and terrain features along the way. There are spots where the trail opens up onto wide ridges and you can really open it up; our guide Wayo hit 70 km/h on one of the ridges once... Amazingly enough, it's as smooth as can be and you don't feel unsafe at this speed!



The whole downhill is about 30 km (20 miles) in total. Near the bottom the trail starts to switchback frequently, providing for some slower, more challenging fun. Finally the trail spits you out into a wide, dry-river-bed valley. The river bed is hardpacked sand - very hardpacked, almost like concrete - and you can really fly on the gentle downhill grade, for the next 30 km or so.

Last time I was here, with Ride Guide TV and pro riders Richie Schley and Robbie Bourdon, we got back to the van just as the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean, our driver waiting for us with sandwiches and cold beers. I'll never forget the feeling of riding my bike in a remote valley in the Andes, as the sun went down and my tires whistled in the evening wind. Pretty freaking amazing.

Mike

if you want to join us in Peru, we still have a few spots left on our spring departures, and are taking bookings for our fall trips now. We have a deal with LAN airlines for 10% off posted rates, plus free bike shipping - enough to save you about $300-$400 off your flight costs.

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getting it right...

On our website, we have a 'Contact a Past Participant' feature, that allows you to send an e-mail to someone who has already done the trip you're interested in. It's a great way for our past clients (thank you!) to give people the inside, customer perspective on what our trips are like. It's also a great way for me to experience our trips as our clients see them

This is an e-mail that one of our past clients from Brazil sent to a fellow from the UK. It makes me extremely proud of our staff and the great job they do.

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Hey Julian,

Before my trip I was also full of doubts, like I was preparing for a space flight.

After, I found out that it's WAY MORE COOL.

Even when comparing with my homeland, it is a completely different world, where the only link to our realities is our bikes.

The mountains are the best, taking rider and gear to the limit every day, with changing climate, terrain and altitude, but ALWAYS WITH THE GUIDES TELLING YOU OF EVERY RISK, IN EACH SECTION OF THE TRAILS.

We had full time support on wrenching, eating and also hanging out. Cusqueña is the beer to have! Food is awesome, the homeland of every potato and corn in the world. Great steaks (lomos) of beef, pork, lamb and alpaca.

I don't know about what bike you plan to take, but here is some tips.

The Lima part is full-on DH. The Cusco part is All-Mountain. I think that a DH or freeride bike with front mech is ideal. I went with an AM 6" bike, with DH tires and brakes, but felt a little restraint for my taste.

It is a good idea to improve strength and fitness before the trip, to be able to squeeze the juice out of it. We had some guys that didn't enjoy as much because of getting too tired.

I didn't have to take any altitude medicine. All I did was follow the guide's orientations.

Man, go for it.

Best regards

Ricardo

The World Wide Ride Guide Poll

The results of our online mountain biking poll (at the World Wide Ride Guide blog) are in... We received 144 responses. Here are the final tallies numbers. Cross-Country	114 (79%)
Downhill	48 (33%)
Freeride	60 (41%)
Dirt Jump	22 (15%)
Racer	35 (24%)
Solo rider	75 (52%)
Ride with buddies	109 (75%)
Ride with clubs	29 (20%)
1-2x/month	16 (11%)
Weekend Warrior	50 (34%)
Every day if I can	62 (43%)

Trail Tales: Seven Summits, BC

I'll admit it. I'm going a little stir crazy. I haven't been on my mountain bike since mid-December's trip to Guatemala, and 6 weeks out of the saddle is always hard on me. So I'm already dreaming about the summer, and heading back to BC to ride one of my favourite trails, the incredible Seven Summits. I'm definitely not the only one to rate this a personal favourite - Bike magazine rated Seven Summits their trail of the year back in 2007.

I've ridden Seven Summits about a half a dozen times, on our Ultimate BC trip, and each time it inflicts new levels of suffering and ecstasy on me. It's an all-day epic, and you need to bring lots of water and lots of food. I've heard of people doing it in as little as 3 hours, but most people take 6-8 to do the entire trail.

The trail gets its name from the 7 peaks you ride either on top of or just underneath, traversing a number of ridges, saddles and summits over its course. For the most part you stay underneath the actual summits, but each of the 7 has a side trail leading up to its peak.

The ride is not for the faint of heart - or lungs. There are several punishing climbs, and only the strongest climbers will be able to tackle them all without walking. I've never managed to clean it myself, but I have watched in awe as über-guide Eddy spanked off one climb after another. The downhills are fun, fast and furious, with lots of technical sections to keep you on your toes.

The views of Rossland and the mountains of the southern Monashees are spectacular at every turn, and there are some spots that are just so picture-perfect you have to remember to breathe.

The best part? Ending off with 2,000 vertical feet of downhill on the Dewdney Trail, and having a cold one when you get back to the van. Unless, that is, you're one of the brave souls who ride the whole thing without benefit of shuttle vehicles - my everlasting respect to you.

Mike

Seven Summits is just one of dozens of trails we ride on our 13-day Ultimate BC trip. There are still spots available for this summer - check our schedule page and sign up today!