About us…
About us…
Our Story :
2 dreams that come together …
Josep, of Spanish origin, took up cycling at an early age. He was 7 when he organised his first race in his home village in Catalonia with his friends. His friends would later turn to football, but he would never give up his bike. After a few years of competition, he also set up the “Club cicliste Guineus” mountain bike club.
At the age of 32, he crossed the Pyrenees alone (1’000 km) and completely autonomously for 2 weeks from his village to Lourdes with a wagon and a mountain bike.
Corinne, who is of French origin, has been dreaming of taking people cycling ever since she returned from Canada in 2003. She also has experience of organising trips between the two countries, but in another sport – ice canoeing – which enabled her to bring a French team to Quebec for 4 years (from 2005 to 2008) to take part in ice canoe races on the St. Lawrence River. His role was to organise accommodation, equipment, sponsors, race entries and training. This success was later taken over by one of his team-mates.
As well as competing in numerous mountain bike and road bike competitions, Corinne is increasingly enjoying cycling as a leisure activity. Corinne has made several mountain bike trips to the Bardenas (Spain), Capadocia (Turkey) and the Moroccan desert. With friends, she made 2 trips to Corsica, completed the Traversée des Alpes, then 3 Tours du Mont Blanc and 2 solo 4-day crossings, France-Spain then Switzerland-Alsace.
Ever since they first met at their Lausanne mountain bike club in 2017, Corinne and Josep have had the same dream: to organise bike trips for others.
Over the years, they have completed a number of trips, including the Tour of Menorca and the Grande Traversée du Massif Central by mountain bike and in complete autonomy, the island of Elba over 5 days in semi-autonomy, the Atlas mountains and the desert in Morocco and numerous weekends in the south of France, particularly in the Estérel massif, the Queyras and Briançonnais massifs, the Verdon regional park, the Ardèche, the Drôme, the Beaujolais, the Pilat park, then Italy in the Finale Ligure and Portofino regions, and finally Spain from the Costa Brava to the Parc d’Alcosebre via the Costa Dorada and the Prades and Montsec nature parks.
In 2021, they’ll be taking their first group of mountain bikers on a fully-organised 9-day tour from the Costa Brava to the Costa Dorada. They acted as guides and organisers within their mountain bike club in Lausanne, and it was a revelation.
In 2022, they organised a long weekend over 3 days in the Mont Blanc valley between the peaks of the Chamonix and Arve valleys for the same Lausanne club, renting accommodation in a mountain chalet, booking restaurants and organising a home-made raclette evening. Fifteen or so people followed them with their eyes shut, and returned delighted from this trip to neighbouring France.
In 2023, the club asked again to organise a new trip to Catalonia, which was put on the agenda for September 2023 and was once again a great success.
To reinforce their knowledge, Corinne and Josep follow courses and are certified as “Professional Guides” by the Accademia Nazionale di Mountain Bike in Finale Ligure, Italy.
With a wealth of experience under their belts and their diplomas in hand, Corinne and Josep decided to set up their own business and join forces in Switzerland, where they first met. The result was the birth of “Anima Bikes Sàrl” at the end of September 2023.
OUR NAME
OUR VALUES
Dream and live your dream, feel free and at ease, share good times, enjoy nature while respecting it.
Our excursions and stays are all about the pleasures of the mouth: visits to wine cellars, selected restaurants, tastings along the way, etc.