Our Story
1972
It all started back in 1972 when my parents, both high school teachers, had the wild idea to take twenty students cycling in England and Wales for two weeks.
This first trip was such a hit that they continued organizing student cycling and camping trips during summers for the next eight years, exploring the BC coast and the Maritimes.
I rode on a custom-built tandem bike with my dad, while my younger brother sat behind me. Decades later, former students still reach out to share the lasting impact of these trips.In the early eighties, my parents expanded to adult cycling trips in Europe, and thus began their career in the bike tour industry – a 25-year-long legacy. As a teenager, biking and travelling were all I knew, and one of my fondest memories was riding from Strasbourg through the Swiss Alps and Haute Savoie to Nice, a monthlong cycling and camping journey.
Given how technology has modernized travel and made bike tourism more accessible, I am even more in awe of how my parents planned and organized their trips using paper maps, telex for bookings, and managing without conveniences like credit cards, email, or GPS. It was a common occurrence to discuss trip itineraries while studying maps spread out on the kitchen table during dinner time. I was fascinated by this process and loved the challenge of planning interesting bike routes up and over mountain passes.
In 1993, I moved to Whistler and immersed myself in the emerging mountain biking scene. I co-founded Joyride Productions in 1998, leading to the creation of Crankworx and Red Bull Joyride, one of the most iconic slopestyle events in mountain biking to this day. But I wasn’t meant for event management, and the travel bug was strong, so I soon found myself back in Europe.
My journey has been about creating a business to share my passion for travel, adventure and mountain biking with the world.
Travelling and learning about new cultures became an integral part of my life and although I didn’t know it at the time, the seed had been planted and Big Mountain Bike Adventures was soon to become a reality.
With the help of Swiss biking legend Francois Panchard, I guided my first Swiss mountain biking trip in 2003, which was featured in a popular bike magazine. Big Mountain Bike Adventures was officially born. I spent the next decade guiding trips in Switzerland, exploring new trails and refining trip logistics.
Without local guides, I brought BC riders over to help. Despite challenging terrain, mechanical issues, clients with bikes that had no business being on the hiking trails of the Alps, and a small yet mighty team, we pioneered mountain biking holidays in Europe.
Over 20 years later, I’m lucky to be doing what I love. Driven by a quest for new experiences, I expanded to destinations like Morocco, Botswana, Costa Rica, Italy, Peru, and Nepal, with new destinations always in the works.
My journey has been about creating a business to share my passion for travel, adventure and mountain biking with the world. I never thought that the little grassroots bike tour company I founded years ago, would stand the test of time, but it’s a testament to the loyal community of mountain bikers out there.
I hope you join us.
— Chris Winter, Founder and Owner
