8 March 2025: International Women's Day. But why celebrate just one day - let's make a whole season out of it! In any case, the programme ranges from a female camper event in Carinthia, wellness trails in the Eggental valley, a female biker get-together in the Engadin, an exciting hybrid course in Hesse and a cult event in the Paganella bike park to a gravel experience in Portugal. This way:
Carinthia: Camper event at Lake Faak
The camp for female campers: Claudia and Roman from Bucketride spend the whole year travelling in their campervan themselves. If they particularly like a place, they offer one of their next trail camps there. And one of these particularly magical places is in Carinthia, on the shores of Lake Faak. Here you will not only find the idyllic Anderwald campsite with its excellent restaurant, but also the Lake.bike trails in the Villach region. So you can start your riding technique session right outside the campervan door.
The only important thing is that the participants bring some fitness with them, as there are no lifts in the trail parks. However, many trails are built in such a way that even cranking uphill is fun. And nobody knows this better than the coach for this camp: Bettina Marko from Alpletics.
She lives on Lake Faak and has personally worked on these trail parks. Together with the participants, Bettina will set off on extended trail laps in the morning after the camper breakfast and stop at the key points for riding technique sessions.
- Date: 29.5. - 1.6.
- For whom suitable: Women with advanced riding technique (level 2 - 2.5). Course focus: Line choice, turns & dynamics
- Price: from 539 Euro
- Info and registration: bucketride.com
Dolomites: E-MTB camp in Val d'Ega
Biking, Pilates, fascia training and 4 days of great atmosphere - anyone who has ever been on tour with Gaby Buchner will only wish for half the energy that the Samerberg native has on the trails. Fortunately, she also likes to give some of it away on her camps. For example, at her Dolomites camp in the Eggental Valley, at the foot of the Rosengarten and Latemar.
You will spend the night in a nature hotel on a high plateau with a large wellness area and bike park trails right on the doorstep. These trails are the perfect place to hone your riding technique before setting off on extended panoramic tours up to the most beautiful huts in the region. Plus: mental training and a mechanics course for the most important repairs on the trail.
- Date: 5. - 8.6.
- For whom suitable: Women with bike level 1-3
- Price: 379 euros + 3/4 board at the Green Luxury Hotel Pfösl: from 540 euros.
- Info and booking: well2-fit.de
Engadin: Queens Days in Scuol
Midsummer instead of autumn temperatures! The third edition of the Engadine Queens Days will take place in mid-June this year. More daylight is also necessary, as there is once again plenty for the participants to experience in the Engadin. New MTBs, gravel bikes and road bikes will take you up and down the mountains of Bünden from Scuol. Either on tarmac pass loops or on flowing to gritty trail descents.
The participants have a lot to tell each other at the midsummer barbecue in the evening. And maybe you'll even grab a test bike from the other category the next day? Just have a taster of the other discipline! Riding technique courses are also available.
- Price: incl. full board, guided tours, repair workshops, riding technique training, goodie bag: 350 Swiss francs (373 euros).
- Date: 16. - 22.6.
- For whom suitable: For all women with MTB, gravel bike or road bike
- Info and registration: queensdays.ch
Molveno: BIKE Women Camp in the Dolomiti Paganella Bike Park
Majestic Brenta cliffs, trail descents of all levels of difficulty in three mountain days, a seamless cable car network, huts for refreshments, cosy alleyways with cafés, ice cream parlours and pizzerias - and as a base: a camp site right on the shores of Lake Molveno. It couldn't be more beautiful. The BIKE Women Camp in the Dolomiti Paganella Arena already enjoys cult status.
But not only because of its stunning scenery, but also because of the brand new bikes from Scott and Pivot, as well as the equipment from Deuter, Schwalbe, SQLab, Patagonia and Alpina, which can be tested every day. Also on board: Kloster Kitchen, Ringana and Tunap Sports. They all turn the event into one big party. Brand new and the main sponsor this year: bike clothing manufacturer DHarco!
- Date: 10. - 13.7.
- For whom suitable: Female bikers from level 1
- Price: 589 Euro
- Directly to the camp highlights and registration
Hesse: Hybrid driving technique course in Gedern
"Hybrid driving technique course" sounds strange at first, but it seems to be effective, as Rafaella Wieschollek, alias Roxy, has been regularly booked out for several years.
Here's how it works: a 'hybrid course' lasts three months and consists of several online and one live seminar. It sounds strange at first, but it's a very well thought-out approach, because after Roxy's many years of experience as a guide on Mallorca, she knows that course participants often lack the necessary body awareness, strength, balance and therefore the necessary self-confidence to steer their bike safely through difficult terrain.
That's why her hybrid course includes several components: detailed explanations of certain riding manoeuvres (online), individual coach feedback (online), exercise plans as homework (e.g. strength, agility, balance, concentration and exercises for the trail) and at the end there is a live riding technique day for fine-tuning in the Gedern forest in Hesse. There are currently still a few places available for the women's course on 30 July.
- Next available date: 30 July (Live in Gedern)
- Price: 399 Euro
- Info: roxybikemallorca.com/mtb-riding-technique-course-more-flow
Engadin: Meeting of Las Ciclistas in Celerina
Taking part is everything: the first edition of "Las Ciclistas" in Celerina is all about having fun together. It doesn't matter whether you're travelling with a racing bike, gravel bike, mountain bike or trekking bike. Meet other female bikers, exchange ideas, learn from each other and be inspired. The autumnal and colourful Engadine mountains will provide the festive setting, and Andrea and Patricia from the Bike Agency have of course devised the day's programme:
Social rides, guided tours for all disciplines, bike parade, workshops, lectures, second hand market, dinner and party. The first 400 registrations are free!
To make the journey to Las Ciclistas Day worthwhile for women travelling a long way, additional multi-day camps in the Engadin and stage tours to Celerina will be offered around this day. These offers will gradually be added to the website.
- Date: 13.9.
- For whom suitable: All women, no matter on which bike
- Info and registration: las-ciclistas.ch
Portugal: Gravelbike dream with Karen Eller
In the north of Portugal, where the coast is still wild and unspoilt, camp expert Karen Eller has discovered a beautiful hotel with beach access. On the doorstep on the land side: routes that are perfect for long, epic gravel bike tours. A relaxed ride along coastal paths, gravel roads and sections of the legendary Way of St James. Through almost unspoilt landscapes and idyllic little villages with lovely places to stop for refreshments.
After the tours, the hotel's relaxation programme welcomes you with yoga, spa and great food. Or you can grab a surfboard and throw yourself into the waves until the sun sinks into the sea.
- Date: 14. - 21.9.
- For whom suitable: Gravel bikers who enjoy tours with 500 - 1600 metres of elevation gain per day.
- Price: incl. HP in Feelviana Wellness & Spa and airport transfer 1852,50 Euro
- Info and registration: dierasenmaeher.de
Gitta Beimfohr
Editor
