Neilson Active Holidays - the perfect family MAMIL cycling holiday?
Probably one of the greatest challenges facing the modern-day family MAMIL is balancing work, family life and cycling. The annual summer holiday sorts out the work issue (in most cases), but it's family and cycling and that balance where it becomes quite tricky because unless your family cycles too, cycling is predominantly a family-unfriendly activity.
Both Neilson holidays and Mark Warner seem to have identified this “gap” in the market and have now started to offer family active holidays where “proper” cycling activities are offered for those MAMILs looking to satiate those desires whilst still delivering in the family holiday promise.
Historically these beach club type holidays have offered cycling as an activity in so far as there have been a few rusty old mountain bikes available for loan without any infrastructure or support apparent.
In select beach clubs across the range of holidays offered by Neilson and Mark Warner, there are “proper” dedicated road and mountain bike centres. I just spent 2 weeks with the family at the Messini beach club resort in Analipsi, Greece and experienced first hand what this focus on cycling offers the holiday MAMIL.
In terms of road bikes, there were 2 options available. Included in the price of the holiday is access to a standard Boardman 8.9 SLR with Tiagra groupset. These are pretty decent bikes that are perfectly comfortable to ride, with components that perform well, if just a little uninspiringly.
The standard bikes are loaned out on a first come first served basis and you need to get them set up for every ride you go on. That includes having to put on and take off your pedals (if you want to use your own), as well as any other accessories etc. However, Neilson do provide you with a pump, inner tube, tyre levers and a phone number in case you do get into trouble.
The alternative approach is to pay a premium (£95 a week) for a premium bike. The premium bike is a Boardman 9.2 SLR with Ultegra groupset. Probably a slightly lighter and stiffer carbon and a lighter groupset is part of the reason to pay your money, but the other main reason is that it’s yours for the week or fortnight, so once you have had your pedals and accessories mounted and your bike fit numbers dialled in, you have a bike that is ready to go at a moments notice. For me, that was worth the money itself, although on some of the climbs around Messini I am probably grateful for having the slightly lighter bike, and better wheelset too.
The bike club was run by a group of spirited, young, enthusiastic and knowledgable men and women, who not only serve as your bike maintainers for your stay, and your port of call if you need a pickup when things have really gone pear-shaped, but they will also lead daily graded rides that you are free to sign up to and ride along with.
On each ride, there will be 2 guides, one taking the front and one bringing up the rear. On the more experienced red and black rides, they’ll have you riding in a peloton and using chain gang techniques at a pace that is comfortable for all the riders in the group. They do a great job and the red and black rides (the ones I experienced), are all punctuated by a cafe stop which is generally quite welcome given how much climbing there is in the area, and the intense heat that you can be cycling in.
You don’t have to ride in a group and for the days there are no graded rides that suit you there are a bunch of routes that have been created and stored in readily available Garmins (or that you can follow on Strava on your phone) that you can ride solo, or with you own recruited group.
I didn’t have too many expectations about the cycling in Messinia area but what expectations I had were blown away. The main roads are better surfaced than in the UK. The back roads are on par with the UK main roads. In other words, the roads were in pleasantly good condition providing decent rolling in most cases. Sure there are some backwater roads where the tarmac has seen better days and you will see the odd pothole which you need to watch out for, but doesn’t that sound familiar?
The only other concern was the amount of loose dirt and gravel on corners, usually at the bottom of a descent, so I definitely had to keep my wits about me, and it meant that the reward for a hard climb didn’t always deliver.
Another hugely welcome surprise was the patience, graciousness and support for cycling from motorists. In fact, it took some pretty radical rethinking of behaviour on my behalf when on my first ride out I was hooted from behind by a car. Instinctively ready to remonstrate with the driver, I thankfully held back from doing so as the car passed. The driver cheerfully waving as he passed, simply hooting to let me know of their presence for my safety and benefit. It really was time to reset my mindset because this was a pattern that emerged when drivers, both coming from behind and indeed from in front of us, hooted cheerily and waved their support of us as we rolled through their placid roads and villages.
The sight of groups of locals drinking in their local cafes, shouting their support, welcoming us into their villages and often a few exchanged pleasantries also marked the good-natured and welcoming disposition the Greek people have.
We were warned about stray dogs and their tendency to chase down passing cyclists but whilst I passed a number of dogs, they were on the whole more excited to see you than threatened by my presence and I didn’t get confronted by one nasty canine.
Most of the rides from the beach club in Analispi are front-loaded with climbing meaning you’ll spend the first half of the ride climbing into the hills and mountains, but it does mean you are then rewarded with a lovely descent back to base once the hard work is out of the way.
The following rides were highlights for me, and are just a short selection of what is in offer from the beach club.
The 3 D’S
So-called because you pass through 3 villages/hamlets that start with the letter D this was a tough wake up call for me. The first time I rode it was after midday in the sweltering heat and not something I would recommend. Front-loaded it rolls upwards for the first 25 km, rising up to a maximum of 361m with some real stings in the tail, especially when you think you have started your nice long descent back to base, but the views over the valley are really quite special.
Overall elevation for the ride ins in the region of 900m which is good going for a 47km ride. Taking you into the hills west of Messini, through the olive groves, it’s a tough but rewarding ride, but certainly, one of the more challenging reds to take on.
The Secret Valley
The Secret Valley was the favoured group red ride for Wednesdays and I actually did the ride 3 times over the fortnight. Twice anti-clockwise and once clockwise. It’s probably the easiest red ride that `Neilson have mapped out but it’s a nice route for the group to roll as one, especially on the roads through the olive groves leading out to the main climb of the route.
The main climb isn’t tough. It’s about 4K long and not too steep so it’s more of a grind out, and it allows for a little harmless competition to see who can climb it quickest. There is a little sting after the climb which sees you go up again, but then you get to the rest stop restaurant and a welcome coffee / drink/ water refill.
Another thing to note is the graciousness of the cafe stop owners who liberally hand out free bottles of chilled water to all riders, although they must love 15 or so paying customers descending in their steps.
In Ruins
This was the ride / excursion rolled into one. This 70k ride is, yep you guessed it, front-loaded with climbing taking in over 1000m of climbing with the majority of the work being done in the first 40k. There’s quite a sharpish climb at about 10k and a second big push at about 22k, but this rides really starts to deliver at the 40k mark when you start to roll back down the valley. You first come across a set of ruins which you can actually venture into.
Rolling further and still taking advantage of the high vantage point you get stunning views over the whole of the Messini archaeological site which really gives you a super context of the village and community placing in those times.
This was definitely one of the tougher red rides, but it’s glorious and despite only taking under 3 hours, it feels like you’ve had a proper day out in the saddle.
Above The Valley
Saving the best till last, I did the Above the Valley group ride on the last full day of the holiday and it was the absolute perfect ride to finish the holiday on.
Classed as a black group ride we rolled out in chain gang formation through the olive groves, and over the initial hump that then took us into the valley. From there we rolled to about 28km to a small village where there was the opportunity to fill the bidon’s and have the obligatory chat with a local before we started the main climb of the day.
4.5km and over 325m of climbing around glorious switchbacks with, at times, high double-digit gradients, this was the climb of the week and as a group, we splintered quite significantly on the climb but were brought together at the top thinking our work was done.
Not quite. After a short fast descent, there was the sting in the tail that under normal circumstances would have been tackled with consummate ease, but after the first climb, the legs were not what they were and so we ground our way up to the main road of the in Sparta ride (another mapped ride).
The descent from this point was the fastest descent of the week on the wide-open well tarmacked main road. But the views were too good not to stop and savour.
From there we reversed back on the roads that had taken us out, again in a chain gang and rolling smooth and fast, over the last hump and back to the beach club.
At just shy of 70k of ride and with 910m of climbing, on paper this was not the most difficult ride, but the single climb with the sting in the tail made it so and thus was a very fitting way to end the fortnight.
Summary
I hadn’t set many expectations about Greece or the Neilson Holiday Beach Club. I thought it was clever that they had identified this gap in the market where they could satisfy MAMILs (of both genders) with proper levels of cycling experience, whilst at the same time accommodating families with all the beach activities.
The fact that with the cycling you really want to be out and back before midday to avoid the harshest heat, this actually works really really well. I rode most mornings and then spent the remainder fo the day water skiing, windsurfing (badly), swimming, playing tennis, kayaking, paddle boarding and sleeping.
It allows everyone to get out of the holiday what they want and need to without the feeling of being selfish or neglecting the family, and it works. Our group rides were well attended to a good level of cyclist and the biking was a very popular activity through the day.
I think what sums it up best for me is that this felt like a cycling holiday with a beach club thrown in for good measure, rather than the other way around, and that is a testament to the Neilson team who have found that perfect balance, and the incredible Greek countryside and people.
So if you are a cyclist, who wants to cycle on holiday, but also wants to spend time with the family at a place where there are activities for everyone, then you really should consider one of the more bike focussed Neilson holidays. it delivers on all fronts.
