Typical trail riding weekend at 3Bs Biking

Lunch stop at Jumilhac-le-Grand

If you are thinking of coming to 3Bs Biking for a weekend (or even a few days mid week) of trail riding, this post is to give you an idea of what to expect.
People arrive in a variety of ways. Some arrive by road bike, some drive by car or van (maybe bringing their own bikes) and some fly to Limoges airport. If you fly then we can collect you in our minibus and we even take you back to the airport at the end of your stay.
Our most common length of stay is for 3 nights, 2 days trail riding but other options are possible.
Check in is available from 2pm  and on arrival at 3Bs Biking, you will be welcomed with a cold beer and given a guided tour of the facilities.
All rooms have linen and towels provided, tea & coffee making facilities, shower gel and shampoo, robes and slippers. We operate an honesty bar for drinks, except those taken with evening meals which are included in your price. Guests are welcome to take a walk round our land, including the off road course, so there's plenty of time to wonder which obstacles you will be able to get over the next day! If guests need kitting out, we will usually do this on the first afternoon to be ready the next morning and also complete any insurance paperwork. Dinner will be either on our terrace or in the dining room, depending on the weather and will be either a BBQ or 3 course meal with beer, wine or soft drinks.
So after a sound night's sleep, breakfast is usually at 8.15am and is continental style. Don't worry! You won't go hungry. There's plenty of choice. We will aim to be on the bikes by 9.30am and after a quick briefing, you will head down to our course for some warmup exercises and some of those obstacles if you wish. This gives you time to get familiar with the bikes and gives us an opportunity to assess everybody's skill/experience level. That's useful for later when we go out on the trails so we can tailor the day for you. Do bear in mind that if you come in a group of mixed abilities we will have to tailor the trails to the least experienced but can often get some trickier bits in for the more experienced. If you have any real off road beginners in the group they may choose to stay and play on our course for the day, rather than going out on the trails. We will usually spend at least an hour on our course to check all is ok and then after another short briefing, head out on the trails.
Lunch may be at a local eatery or it may be a picnic lunch; it very much depends on time of year, day of the week and how far you have managed to get by lunchtime! We recommend you have a light lunch as trail riding on a full stomach can be a tad uncomfortable.
Then it's back out on the trails for the afternoon. How long you stay out is really guided by how trail bike fit you are as accidents happen when people start to get too tired. There will usually be a coffee stop mid afternoon somewhere which gives you and us a chance to take stock and decide how much further to go. Don't forget you still have to get back to base and there's another day tomorrow!
Back at 3Bs Biking, you park up your bikes and leave them to us, jump in the shower and head for either the heated pool or the hot tub to ease those aching muscles. With a beer or two of course!
Dinner is usually served around 7pm and tales of daring do will abound! Drinks are included with your meals but be mindful that you still have a days biking tomorrow.
The second day follows a similar format but unless anyone particularly wants to, we skip our course and go straight out on the trails. This means we can get further afield and we will head to different trails than the previous day. If anyone has a problem with their bikes on the trails, we carry a small selection of tools to fix the bikes and worst case we can recover the bike on the trailer. If a person requires help then either a phone call back to base or to the emergency services ensures a prompt response. Please make sure you have your EHIC card with you and we strongly recommend bike specific travel insurance which includes repatriation.
After the second day on the trails you will get back to base tired but happy for another round of pool/hot tub/dinner/beer (or wine). Oh and more tales of daring do!
Breakfast time the next morning is usually dictated by flight times usually but check out is by 11am latest. However if you have a late flight we don't turf you out, we just ask you to vacate your room so we can start to clean. There are other showers and toilets you can use until your departure time.
Hopefully you end your stay with big smiles and some great comments in the visitors book and we look forward to seeing you back at 3Bs Biking soon!

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