Well the good news is that I made it to the summit, all 1918m above sea level. It’s the highest point in the province of Malaga.

You had to leave your bike at a shrine called Pilar de Tolox, at around 1700m, after maybe climbing from a starting point at 1300m, up to 1800m. To get to the summit, it was a 200m (altitude) scramble, and flippin cold in the wind at the top!

Here is the full set of pics, if anyone is interested

My legs were like jelly after walking back to my bike, and the descent was more walking than riding, as it was super technical.

When you got to the second singletrack, heading into a forest, it was ultra steep, much like Stainburn. I did make the first few switchbacks without dabbing, but then it was all a bit too difficult. But hey ho. At least I made it back in one piece.

Well done

I climbed from 450m to 1700 before i hit snow.

Looking forward to my roast dinner now (some british traits that re too good to abandon)

looks fun

Yeah, I had Irish Stew at the Irish pub in Sotogrande to recover!

BTW – 400 to 1700 is an excellent effort!

is that high or low tide…?

looks awesome. just had a look on google earth.

Nice one Simon. I’ve always fancied that route (as a walk mind). Mibbe next year….

Alpin – I think it would have been awesome if you were a very technical rider. It was somewhat beyond my abilities and as such didn’t flow. For me it was all stop and start and a lot of pushing as my legs didn’t have the oomph needed (epsecially on the way back) when you need those short blasts to get you over rocky sections. After saying that, I did clear sections that maybe I would have walked over when I first moved down here so I think I have improved a little bit, but not enough to really enjoy this ride.

Druid – yeah, most Spanish MTB riders still stick to roads and farm vehicle roads so I think the Spanish walkers thought I was somewhat daft, but still got plenty of Holas and encouragement. It makes a great walk, one that’s even better when not pushing a bike up and down the tricky bits 🙂

Right now I am also exploring around Casares. There’s a huge descent that is doubletrack, but it was covered in leaves and super slippy but loads of fun. Around Casares is probably stuff more in line with what I am able to ride. I’ll probably take Roper there next week when he’s back in Spain rather than this again.

Looks awesome. Thanks for posting the pics 8)

Cheers cuckoo – one of my better sets of ride photos I think, aided and abetted by some great views.

Looks aweosome, is that somewhere near Pico di Veleta(sp?)? I fancy doing that in a car – highest road pass in Europe.

Not been that way for two years now, wanted to get to Jerez MotoGP, but hotels there abouts have become stupidly expensive. Ever been to Caminito del Rey?

Tell me about the snow collector please Simon. Why did they collect it and how? And why not after 1931? Is it too warm nowadays? Nice pics by the way.

Steve

Hi – I have had a quick look on my Sierra de las Nieves map and can’t see a Pico de Valete (although I could have missed it). The peak is around 20km SW of Ronda as the crow flies.

Not been to Caminito del Rey – where about’s is that?

I don’t have too many rides left until I leave. I want to try the Montes de Malaga route, another in Montes de los Barrios (to try and find a monastery that I have failed to reach on 2 previous rides), and also try and get to the Castano Santo de Istan (the holy tree of Istan).

I am quite sure I have missed out on some awesome rides in this area, but then I am looking forward to many more UK rides too.

Simon, they’re both things I’d like to do/visit in that part of the world. Been to Ronda a couple of times, and Gibralter a fair bit. They’re not mountain bike rides though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veleta_(Sierra_Nevada)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey

That’s not too far from Malaga. The best YouTube vid’s been taken down, but here’s one anyone:

Simon,
A few points of information.
Pico de Valeta is the highest point of the Sierra Nevada 3,500 metres altitude. a Mecca for roadies to climb from Granada.

Caminito del Rey is the Kings Walk near El Chorro lakes, some stunning riding around there. You´re welcome to come with us when we do it if we have room. We are there most weeks

Montes de Malaga – another great ride. We start from Fuente del Reina at 1100 metres & finish at sea-level mainly on singletrack.

Castano Santo de Istan (the holy tree of Istan). Best way to see this is to start from Ronda go into Sierra de las Nieves and then there is a 50 Km. descent to San Pedro passing the famous tree.

They’re not mountain bike rides though:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veleta_(Sierra_Nevada)

From the top of the Valeta (having ridden from about 2500m)

and half way down the other side!

more here

Alan

Hi – cheers for the info. I was waiting for some mountain bike colleagues to get relocated before maybe getting in touch as we all really want some local guiding. However, I think I will be leaving before they make it over, but I will be sending them in your direction for the guiding.

I’ve seen a lot of your rides on your website and would love to join but always worried about being a tad on the slow side and also am not great doing technical and loose and rocky switchbacks, so wouldnt want to get in the way so to speak.

Yeah – El Chorro is amazing – Roper and I were there in 2007. I also have the Montes de Malaga map and route guide in Bikefax and want to give it a go. I saw the Castano Santo de Istan route too, and will have to get a friend to do the driving so i can do it one way. Roper did that route plus the ride back to the cars at the start but that would have been way too much riding for me. I can do around 5 hours riding, including say 30 minutes for lunch.

Mistere – you can put your willy away now lol. I wasn’t boasting, just felt it was an achievement for myself without getting competitive or comparing myself to others. Lord knows i walked a lot of the way back down too as it was too techy for me. I see plenty of photos of other amazing rides, and know that say starting at the base of Snowdon and then riding up and down is more of an achievement than starting at 1300 metres 🙂

Great pics Mistere:

Wow.

🙂

[didn’t think that was going to work]

Cheers Steve.

(isn’t fotopic shite?!)

Mistere – you can put your willy away now lol. I wasn’t boasting,…

I wasn’t boasting either luv! anyway with an ego this big I like to think that’s just the tip of the p… iceberg.

but seriously, you’re quite right about the personal achievement, its what its all about.
I can’t understand some peoples competitive streaks…

Druid – yeah, most Spanish MTB riders still stick to roads and farm vehicle roads so I think the Spanish walkers thought I was somewhat daft, but still got plenty of Holas and encouragement.

Maybe down south, not here in Madrid though…

Mistere – sorry – i was just being silly – great photos!

Nice one Simon; I’ll have to do that one when I move down there

Oh cool – when are you coming down?

BTW – if you are in the Leeds area Stainburn would be good practice before attempting it 😀