As it will mostly be mountain riding (flat itineraries are far more limited and may be less relevant too!), you need to enjoy riding hills back at home. You also need a decent level of fitness. However you don’t need any previous experience of riding in the mountains. Yes some ‘hills’ round there can be quite big but if you cycle regularly at home, nothing is out of reach. The first day or so you need to acclimatise to the altitude and longer climbs but it all falls into place quickly.

Some of us at Epic21 who know the area well will be there that week and you are welcome to join us for rides or you can just ride with your friends or other participants you will meet during Epic21. This is what happened during our first edition in 2026. Small groups of similar level and expectations formed during the stay and they did their own rides using some of the many suggestions we had for them. Note: you will ride in self‑selected groups at your own pace, this is not a led ride.

If you are familiar with VAM, our Founders aim to ride in the 500-700 range even if they have managed one hour climbs like Alpe d’Huez at around 1,000.  

To give a comparison, pros will manage VAM of about 1,600-1,700 over 30-40 mins climbs!

During Epic21 2026 Strava recorded VAM on the famous Alpe d’Huez 21 hairpins ranged from 700 to 1300 (Andrew Feather) for the various participants.