AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
We go on an alpine holiday with a difference, using e-bikes to ride further and climb higher as we explore the incredible trails of France’s Queyras national park
“You should go, Chris – enjoy the trail!” Cyril says. I push down on the pedals of my Cube Stereo 140 e-MTB and, not realising that the motor’s still set to Turbo from the last steep alpine climb, rocket off along the hillside singletrack at what feels like terminal velocity and disappear below the treeline. As I wrestle back control from my overenthusiastic steed and kill the electronic assistance, I race through the woods, my nostrils filling with the crisp scent of pine needles and wild mushrooms. The tyres make a soft whir as they spin over the autumn leaves blanketing the trail, and my heart skips as the rocky features hidden beneath them repeatedly jolt the bike off-line. Tight switchbacks are followed by 12in-wide wooden planks acting as makeshift bridges over glacial streams. The voice in my head that normally screams at me to slow down is silent, and I realise this is probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a mountain bike.
As the trail crosses a mountain road, I reluctantly pause in a layby and wait for the others. We ride together into the next village, where our driver Martin is waiting with the van. Cyril extracts several brown paper bags. “Time for lunch!” he exclaims, handing out homemade pasta, sandwiches, carrot cake and freshly-picked green plums. A nearby dog licks its lips and stares enviously at the feast. ‘I could get used to this,’ I think to myself. TRAVEL SICKNESS
Exactly two days earlier, MBUK art editor Jimmer, photographer Andy Lloyd and I are standing in the baggage reclaim area of Turin airport. The bags from our flight have come and gone, and Andy’s wasn’t among them. I stare forlornly at the empty conveyor belt as he registers the bag as missing. We’re assured that it’ll be located and sent
My gaze is torn between the steep trail beneath me and just about everything else
on within 24 hours, and head out to meet our host Cyril. Five years ago, Cyril and his friends started Guil E-Bike, a shop and guiding company at the heart of the snowballing alpine e-MTB scene. After a couple of hours’ driving, we arrive at their HQ on the edge of the Queyras national park and get set up with our bikes. Having been up since 2am, we’re not exactly desperate to go riding, but there’s an hour before dusk and Cyril’s keen to ensure everything’s ready for tomorrow. Pedalling out to the neighbouring town of Mont-Dauphin, we head up through the portcullis of a spectacular hilltop fort dating from the 1690s. We join a narrow mountain road, engage the motors and begin to ascend. Looking sulkily up at the peak towering above, I get the familiar dread that comes before a brutal climb. Next thing I know, we stop at a viewpoint and I’m stunned to learn that we’ve ascended 500m without breaking a sweat. In fact, with cobwebs dusted off and the wind in my hair, I feel great. No wonder e-bike fever is at its height here.
Suitably revitalised, we head down to dinner. Our hotel, Le Glacier Bleu, is cosy and rustic. Over a beer, we’re introduced to 18-year-old ripper Constantin, who’ll be riding with us for the week. A mouth-watering meal of beef bourguignon and pear tart is served by manager Chloe with complete modesty. “They don’t realise the quality of what they offer,” Cyril explains. “A communal, family atmosphere is just normal to us in this area.”
SNOWPIERCER
The next morning, Chloe announces that the first snow of the season has fallen overnight and, our fires stoked by a breakfast of local goat’s cheese and honey, we bundle into the van and head into Queyras. In a layby above the snowline we kit up, and the cold takes my breath away. I throw on two merino baselayers and a jersey beneath my jacket, and frantically try to blow some circulation back into my burning fingertips. We ride up onto the Col d’Izoard, a craggy ridgetop with panoramic views over the chocolatebox town of Arvieux below. The blissful, otherworldly silence is broken only by the pop of gravel and crunch of snow beneath our wheels, and by young Constantin: “Look, animal!” he shouts excitedly, pointing down to a chevreuil (roe deer) wandering the treeline below.
We press on, my tyres skittering and skating on the snow-blasted scree as poor Andy crouches on the icy ground, trying to snap a half-decent photo of my nowherenear-decent riding. “It’ll all have melted by this afternoon,” Cyril tells me. ‘Thank f**k for that,’ I reply, in my head. The trail changes to a soft bed of pine needles as we descend into the forest. Sheltered by the evergreens, it’s not long before we stop and hastily shed layers. The forest is humid and fragrant, and the autumnal sunlight pierces the canopy in dazzling sabres as white-capped mountaintops peek through the trees. My gaze is torn between the steep, rooty trail beneath me and just about everything else.
As we race further down the valley’s steep incline, every stop for a drink is a welcome opportunity to pull out my phone and snap away eagerly. I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere like this before; profoundly beautiful, wild and completely unspoilt by humans (apart from me, furiously collecting Insta-material). The trail ends at Lac de Roue, a millpond-still lake at the valley bottom, its surface a mirror-image of the mountains above. Cranking the motors into Turbo, we hit a gravel road and ride along at fullwhack to the village of Souliers and, thankfully, its drinking fountain, which dispenses a stream of glacial meltwater into our depleted bottles.
ESCAPE GOATS
We climb over a hillside meadow, speckled with bright yellow flowers. The sun’s blazing and the ground seems firm and dry, so I wonder why there are so many little flecks of mud flying off my front wheel. Then I realise it isn’t
Where are they?
Queyras is a national park in the southern French Alps, between Grenoble and Turin. The Italian region of Piedmont lies just over the border to the east.
Getting there
Turin Airport is a couple of hours’ drive away, with many UK airports o ering direct flights. The guys at Guil E-Bike provided all transport to/from the airport, hotels and riding locations.