At the heart of every great adventure is a great local guide. Our Beyond Biking guides are from the areas in which they work, so they are guaranteed to know the best local hotspots. Their passion and expertise will help you experience your destination at its authentic best.
All of our guides are carefully-vetted and certified, as well as being recommended by some of the biggest names in mountain biking (such as Singletrack Magazine, IMB, Bike Radar, Bike Magazine, Orbea and Scott).
Expect warm, friendly service from people who will feel like old biking buddies rather than biking tour guides. If you’d like to know more about them, then check out our (slightly tongue in cheek) profiles.
Maxi
Born in Catalonia, Maxi rode cross-country for many years in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees during his youth. At the age of 15, he accomplished a Pyrenees coast-to-coast tour on a friend’s bike (his parents didn’t want him to buy one). For years, he worked in a Catalan bank, until he declared his personal ‘Independence Day’ (like a real Catalan). He escaped work to go on a bike adventure, to find out where he truly belonged (as it seemed, not in Catalonia). He re-discovered the passion of his youth and decided to become a mountain bike and trekking guide. Since then Maxi has been travelling on two wheels in South, Central and North America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and New Zealand – basically all over the world. At that time, he still kept saying ‘the best bike trip is about to come’, and he found it when he fell in love with the fatal attraction of Lanzarote. A globetrotter, an island hopper and a Lanzarote resident of more than 20 years now, Maxi has a good knowledge of all seven Canary Islands. Like most Catalans, Maxi is a hard worker and an honest, fair and respectful person – the best kind of friend and colleague. When Maxi isn’t guiding, Maxi can be found drinking volcanic wine and eating tapas in a bodega in La Geria, discussing arguments for and against Catalonian independence. Not a lot of people know this, but when Maxi left Catalonia, he also worked as a skipper and sailor.
Thomas
Thirty years ago, at the age of 18, Thomas came to Lanzarote to work as a windsurfing instructor for the summer…and he forgot to leave. Lanzarote is a premier windsurfing destination, and the big waves of the Atlantic Ocean are more suited to a hard-charging surfer like Thomas than the Belgian North Sea. Since arriving three decades ago, Thomas has rarely left the islands except for the occasional Christmas family visit or off-road triathlon. As an exceptionally talented outdoor freak, from mountain-bike guiding to competitive triathlon, trail running, delta flying, enduro motorbike riding and speed sailing, he does it all and he does it well. Thomas is always in very good shape and he is the kind of guy that still looks cute at the end of his workout. Long before mountain biking hit the Canary Islands, Thomas would spend his free time finding new MTB trails, from fast and smooth to rocky and technical. His knowledge of local trails is amazing, and there are very few tracks that he has not ridden. Riding with Thomas is always a pleasure: he is always full of encouragement and keeps a great pace for the group. You feel like you can slow down and soak up the spectacular scenery or take photos at any time, and still ride hard and make good time on the trails. It’s always nice to digger deeper into life with Thomas over a beer, although his will be non-alcoholic. When not training on the bike, Thomas might be busy doing odd jobs in his self-renovated Canarian guesthouse, El Rancho Grande.
Justo
Justo was born in Salamanca, Castilla y Leon in 1962. His goal was to create a life that he didn’t need a vacation from, so he decided to get a job in a restaurant in the Canary Islands and moved to Lanzarote permanently in 1988. Justo was a promising road cycler, until he had a bad downhill race bike crash with a car. From that moment, he switched to mountain biking, chasing trails without cars, fast and fearless. Being slightly overweight and over fifty, one could easily misjudge Justo. Please don’t. Age and size are irrelevant to Justo, and he’s old enough to know better. Justo is our strong machine, one brick of lava (the hardest variant, basalt, of course). He’s an 11-time finisher of the Fudenas, a MTB day challenge in Fuerteventura which takes riders over 150 kilometres from the very north to the south of the island. Justo is also a qualified bike guide and mechanic, so he can always fix a puncture. Many people on the islands know Justo, which will make you feel very welcome everywhere you go. Justo’s English is improving every day and he is always a fun and charismatic guide with a wealth of local knowledge. When not guiding week trips, Justo works as a bike mechanic in a bike rental centre and guides day trips. Not a lot of people know this, but Justo is a qualified cook and as a former restaurant owner, he’s our ultimate guide for secret foodie hotspots.
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VVR registration nr. 9733
© BEYOND BIKING, 2015