Has anyone been with Switchbacks in Spain ? I’m considering booking an Enduro holiday with them for 5 days in Winter and got a few questions.
First question is, what level of technicality are the descents? I’ve done Gisburn, Lee Quarry, Grizedale, Cannock and natural rides in the Pennines and Peaks. Any examples of anything that is comparable in these areas, difficulty-wise, to the stuff on the Switchbacks Enduros ?
How many miles did you cover and how many metres of ascending & descending was done per day ?
How much of each day was spent riding? as I’ll probably be on my own, I’d want the riding to take up as much of the day as possible as there may not be much else for me to do afterwards.
In the likely event that your bike breaks down do they provide any decent hire bikes, and any technical support fixing your bike to get it back up and running again ?
At what altitude do you get snow in the area they ride ? Is the snow always at higher elevations from where the riding is done ?

Surely someone has ? It must be a very popular thing to go to Spain in Winter and get away from the mud and crap weather in the UK? What about one of the other providers of other mountain bike package holidays in Spain ?

Never rode with them, but spent the day with them in Bubion when the Vuelta came through, great day out

I went on my own for one of their summer Enduro holidays 4 years ago. If you’re staying in the house with the group then I wouldn’t worry about the down-time – I met some good mates there and there’s plenty of riding so you’ll probably be knackered anyway 😉 .

At the time, it was the most technical riding I had ever done (lots of natural, rocky stuff) where I’d mostly ridden trail centres before. Ended up really pushing my limits and being the better for it! No pressure though and Michael (Saunders) was happy to give some on-trail skills tuition.

Contemplating a return this winter to see how my riding’s improved over the last 4 years!

I did the Malaga DH with them and did a few more ‘enduro’ trails as it was quiet and I was on my Pitch, basicly DH tracks you couldnt ride without either a climb to begin or mid trail. And Ive done Bubion before it was called ‘enduro’.

Technically Malaga isnt as rocky or unrelenting as Bubion, but it is steeper and faster as a result. There are big jumps but there are chicken lines. Mostly thats a function of the uplift, if you’re not riding to the top then you tend to enjoy steeper trails without worrying about getting value for your climbing!

Accomodation seems to vary, on neither of my trips did the villa have the advertised pool but TBH I didnt miss it as you can ride all day then grab a 6 pack and go drink in one of the squares before/after diner.

Seeing as I’m more used to stuff like Gisburn and Lee Quarry I’m worried I might struggle with the technicality if it’s significantly higher than this ?

I’ve now got a 150mm travel bike now though which should be enough ?

Mostly its no more technical than a red or even a blue at a trail center, you juat ride it much quicker as its on a propper hillside. Theyd be graded as Black in the UK but thats mostly down to the speed and jumps which are optional.

You wont struggle, its not like for example Stainburn where the features are more do-or-die, you’ll just ride at your own pace or arround stuff.

150mm will be plenty, its all I had. Any DH bikes will leave you for dust in the technical bits, but theres an equall ammount of pedally bits where I wanted less!

If you’re worried then maybe do a few UK uplift days to get into the swing of things. The thing that surprised me most was I actually didn’t like 100% uplifts*! I much prefer longer decents and time on the bike.

*on the DH week, enduro week was my favourite weeks riding ever.

Thanks for that, it sounds like I should be Okay on it.
As I don’t have a DH bike I think I’d rather have something like 70% downhill / 30% uphill than a pure DH holiday and this looks like it provides something like that.

A few of my mates had a long weekend in gran canaria in January, it actually looked really bloody good and was very well priced too. Worth a look.

You might wamt to consider Basque MTB too, they run trips in January from memory. Have a look on Gavebook Doug’s photos are always awesome

That Basque MTB looks a very good Winter option I’ll have to consider that

I just emailed Switchbacks just asking whether a full face helmet is needed as all their photos had MTB’ers wearing full face helmets. They replied saying that nearly everyone who comes on this wears one. So that got me thinking it may be too hard core for me as nothing that I have ever ridden needs a full face helmet. Does anyone know any other Winter holiday package in Spain or somewhere just as easy to get to, that isn’t quite so hard core ?

Does anyone know any other Winter holiday package in Spain or somewhere just as easy to get to, that isn’t quite so hard core ?

Based right on the beach we offer uplift assisted enduro and XC riding on some of the best singletrack in Malaga. Not many full-face helmets in our groups.
Some superb bars and restaurants for the après-biking so do’t worry about coming alone.
Sierra MTB

I haven’t done Malaga Enduro yet but about to go back to Bubion with Switchbacks for the third time. Would happily recommend going with them – we have always had a fantastic time and we’re thinking about Malaga for our trip next year.
Was chatting to Michael from Switchbacks about Malaga previously and it sounds very similar to Bubion in terms of technical difficulty. From your description of your regular riding I think you would be absolutely fine. The trails are certainly technical but not crazy scary. My 140mm bike, trail helmet (not full face) and light body armour are perfect.
I think the Malaga downhill days are a bit more crazy than the Malaga Enduro days. The downhill trips probably do merit a full face and bigger balls!