Mountain bike course at the ski school

Naturally, the virus played into the hands of Swiss tourism and therefore also the holiday resorts that offer mountain bike holidays. Bike guides who take guests on tours and give riding technique courses say that they have been booked more frequently than ever since the end of the extraordinary situation. Mountain holiday resorts are reporting a strong increase in guests from Switzerland, which almost makes up for the massive drop in customers from across the border. The Swiss also seem to respond particularly well to bike holidays.

For children of biking parents - but not only

During the winter holidays - often called sports holidays - many families go on skiing holidays. The children attend ski school, while the parents enjoy the slopes, go cross-country skiing or indulge in another winter activity. Now that various ski resorts have developed a mountain bike programme in summer, it makes sense to offer bike lessons in the style of a ski school. Not least because many biking couples now have children who are still too young to go on longer rides in the mountains.

Almost every child can ride a bike. But making progress off-road, especially in the Alps, requires a lot more riding technique. Of course, a child with a love of movement will learn this by practising. However, they will almost certainly learn some painful lessons, in other words, they will learn from falls. Riding tight bends without the handlebars collapsing (which leads to a fall), negotiating steps without falling over or just braking safely on slippery surfaces are skills that a mountain bike instructor can teach.

Arosa is particularly committed to promoting the bike school. This is part of the ski school and all bike instructors give ski lessons in winter. They are not only very good mountain bikers, but are also didactically trained and know how to make the lessons attractive for children. In the «Skill Centre», the practice course next to the valley station of the Hörnli cable car, there is no need for encouragement anyway, as the children can hardly be stopped. One reason for this is the «magic carpet» that transports them up to the start. If they go on a tour, the little ones are also motivated with a treasure hunt. One destination that all children love to pedal to is «Bärenland», the summer attraction par excellence in the Grisons holiday resort.

Lenzerheide, one of the most popular mountain bike areas in the Alps, is a pioneer of children's bike lessons. The Kids Bike League was developed there, a multi-stage, child-orientated training concept that has since been adopted by other areas such as St. Moritz, Engelberg and Verbier-Grimentz.

Cheaper than a skiing holiday

The children who attended the Arosa Bike School for two half-days during a media weekend in July (including the author's daughter and son) largely agree: the highlight was cycling off-road, but right after that came Napa, Meimo and Amelia, the three bears who have made their new home in the enclosure in the middle of the ski area.

The offer has met with interest. Noldi Heiz, head of the Arosa Ski and Snowboard School, who now runs the Arosa Bike School in summer, explains: «We currently have fifty to sixty children in the bike school every day. That's three times as many as last summer. Dozens of families who send their children to ski school in Arosa are now discovering that you can also have great summer holidays here and are enrolling their kids in the Bike School.»

For many families, skiing holidays are the most expensive week of the year. Is it even possible to afford another holiday in this price range? In Arosa at least, prices are significantly lower in summer, with children's tickets and school offers costing around a third of their winter counterparts. The situation is similar in other areas, which is also due to the fact that the summer operation of a mountain railway is significantly cheaper than the operation of a ski resort, even if bike trails have to be maintained. Nevertheless, the prices for courses or a whole week of bike lessons vary from place to place.

The aim of many biking parents is to give their children a taste for off-road cycling. The bike school can do a lot here. Incidentally, it's like swimming, skiing or homework: Many children would much rather be taught something by professionals than by mum and dad. And if the kids then leave their parents on the bike trail, perhaps it's time for them to attend a riding technique course for adults.