Chasing a mountainbike dream

It all started with this photo. Year after year, this exact view kept appearing in my social feed. The culprit? Greg, a mountainbike guide in the French Alps. More specifically the wild areas around Briançon and the Queyras.
When I first bought a mountain bike about 10 years ago, I quickly realised cross country marathons wasn't what I was dreaming of when thinking about mountain biking. I mean it does have the word "mountain" in it after all doesn't it? Yet the people around me all focused on what seemed to be something more akin to what us Flemish would call "veldrijden". Tight lycra, light and stiff carbon hardtails... and then churning out massive volumes of effort.
Nothing wrong with that. Pretty badass if you ask me! But it just bored me to death. "There must be more", I thought. "There must be people who do it differently".
Through social media, I landed on a man called Werner S. and his crew of "Trail Hunters". They were doing exactly what I envisioned. Going out to explore natural trails in search of adventure and flow. No olympic records, no neck breaking downhill runs. But going on adventures with the bike as a tool to enhance the experience of roaming wild backcountry and big mountains.
This is how I met Greg. First as an online acquaintance and later while we were both guiding in the Alps. Him on the bike, me on foot. Watching him glide his group down the pristine single track I had just rucked up with a group of hikers rekindled the old dream.
After a decade of bikes continually becoming more capable and life taking twists and turns, I ended up in the Queyras. With a bike! I reached out to him to ask where this photo is taken.
As luck would have it, another friend, Lowie was also in the area and he was experienced in riding this day. He warned me about the significant amount of hike-a-bike but not in a way to discourage me. After picking his brain about places that might trigger my fear of heights, I was reassured and set out on a day with good conditions.
What happened next, you'll need to watch for yourself. But they weren't lying. It's a big effort followed by a world class reward. The type of riding I was dreaming of each time this photo slid across my screen.
Fair advice: If you want to repeat this day, keep in mind that it goes to just shy of 3000m. Don't go if you have doubts about the weather, your gear, your ability or your tolerance for hours of pushing a bike up steep loose terrain. Even better, get in touch with Greg as @gregmtbguide on Instagram or gregmtb.com. He's a very experienced guide that will take away your worries and help you find flow. Either on that mountain or the endless other possibilities in his repertoire.
Bike: Bird Aeris AM9

[@Lakedistrictrider]

Amazing flowy singletrack

[@Trian30]

Wow! If this not a reason to move close to the alps… Great trail! As you’re Flemish, do you happen to know if there are any similar-type, flowy trail systems around the Benelux area? They wouldn’t be anywhere close to the ones in the alps but you have to work with what you have 😊

[@DieterVanHolder]

Yep, Flemish! Nothing of that scale close to where we are, but I am always searching for fun rides. Feel free to reach out on Instagram if you ever want to go trail riding together

[@bennyhouben7846]

Geweldige trail, alleen van het kijken ernaar krijg ik al kippenvel!