104 – Setting The Standards In International Mountain Bike Travel with H+I Adventures

Todays Guest

Euan Wilson – Owner and Founder of H+I Adventures

On episode #104 it is my pleasure to welcome Euan Wilson, owner and founder of H+I Adventures onto the show. I was first introduced to H+I Adventures when Victoria, a staff member of Euan’s got in contact via LinkedIn and thought their mountain bike adventure company would make a good fit for show. Victoria was correct. When I checked out their website and what they offered I was blown away. The word adventure can sometimes be used to much these days but definitely not in this case. H+I Adventures offer MTB tours in the most spectacular destinations across the globe, from Scotland, Nepal and Norway, to Switzerland, Morocco and the Yukon in Canada. And that is just to name a few. These guys have the best destinations on the planet.

Fancy staying on a boat in the Fjords of Norway for 7 days, riding a different trail everyday, sailing up to your trail head, eating and sleeping on the same boat? Well Euan and his crew have it covered. If it’s adventure you want H+I have it . When chatting with Euan it is easy to hear his passion and love for what he does but it goes deeper than that. Euan approaches his business, his team and his trail planning with professionalism, detail and knowledge. You simply can’t get this level of expertise by pointing at an area on a map, hiring a few local guides and hoping for the best. Euan and his team spend months working on destinations, looking at everything from local culture to pricing. Euan personally visits every destination they have in mind, he looks at maps, meets local riders, local business and of course scouts out the best trails possible. And after all this Euan always asks himself one question: Why? Why would somebody want to come here to ride?

So tune in as we chat about, leaving your job and following your passions, starting small and getting it right, finding the best destinations on the planet, offering the best service possible, pushing the bounders of expectation and loving what you do.

Enjoy the show!

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Find Out:

Why Euan and his wife left there jobs to start an MTB guiding company
Why the Highlands of Scotland was their choice to house their headquarters
Why it was so important for Euan to get the customer experience right from the start
Where they decided to expand and offer more destinations
What the network looks like to make such a business operate and work
How many people A+I employ
Why Euan employs their own in-house filmography team
How Euan and his team decided on their different destinations
Why Euan scouts the trail networks out on the ground
How A+I train their guides
The kind of work Euan does with Yeti and pro riders
What to expect from a tour with A+I
Why these are no ordinary guided tours
Where to book your trip and find out more about A+I Adventures

With so many MTB guided tour companies popping up, it is hard to see how they will all survive in the near future and I am sure we will see a number of casualties along the way. So why does a company like A+I Adventure stand out? This is not a simple question, there are lots of different elements that come into play here, but if I had to put it down to a couple of things it would be the knowledge and experience of the team Euan has build around him and the intention to detail that goes into every single trip A+I offers. It doesn’t matter if it is a tour designed for relative beginners or the most hard core of riders, the attention to detail does not change. And these are simply not your run-of-the-mill tours, these are adventures. We chat a good bit about the Norway adventure A+I offer, mainly because I watched their film (see below) and knew this was something more than just a guided tour. This was a true adventure. And as Euan says, what you see on the film is what you get. Hike-a-bike, baron landscape, not another mountain biker in sight and well…awesome riding. Now these adventures do not come cheap but like everything in life: you get what you pay for and if you are looking for an adventure on your bike with a handful of friends then this is what you are going to get.

Euan leaves nothing to chance. He obviously can’t be on the ground for every tour that is operating, so that means the experience the customer receives is mainly down to the local guides running the tour. Now most guided tour companies would be happy enough with that and hope that their trusted guides are providing top notch service and hospitality, but not Euan. Euan goes out of his way to make sure this part of the adventure for the customer is as high as humanly possible by bringing his guides over to Scotland for in-house training. That takes a lot of time and money but this is another reason why A+I standout…attention to detail. It all comes down to the small details which A+I continue to wrap up in a small bow and deliver it to their clients, time and time again.

I really enjoyed my chat with Euan. It is amazing what you can achieve with a simple idea, foresight and hard work. Things have grown a lot since Euan and his wife first started A+I Adventures. From starting in Scotland to expanding around the globe the company has grown much larger, certainly with more moving parts but with all that has happened, there still seems to be that family feel to the business, that vibe that just seems to exist when you know somebody is following their passions and following their dreams. It may be 90% working and 10% riding but its all worth it when you are, as Euan puts it, “living the dream”.

So its that time again, put your feet up for an hour, chill out and plan your next adventure. Trust me your bucket list is about to get larger with A+I Adventures!

To Connect with Euan & A+I Adventures:

Website: www.mountainbikeworldwide.com

YouTube: H and I Adventures

Instagram: mountainbikeworldwide

Facebook: mountainbikeworldwide

Resources in this Episode: