My partner & I are thinking of going camping in N Spain / Pyrenees this summer.

Whats the riding like? My partner has been round glentress blue a couple of times, is still a bit nervous but overall enjoyed the experience. I’m hoping to get her round a few more times before we go away.

On holiday I have in mind trying to find an uplift, to the top of a gentle single track descent then spend an afternoon riding down, enjoying the scenery and a picknick on way down.

Is this likely to be possible or will the terrain liable to scare the bejeezus out of her?

Also I currently have a single speed inbred with 120mm fork. if I get a free pass to do my own thing for a morning, will this prove sufficient? Or should I upgrade to a full sus? (I quite fancy a full sus and could possibly but perhaps tenuously use my old forks & wheels to upgrade her bike…)

There were some nice routes in a German mag I read last month. Most of it looked pretty straightforward. There are a number of companies out there specialising on uplift assisted riding. Google is your friend

Hope this link works – highly recommended. http://bikemagic.com/news/mtb-travel-guide-zona-zero-spain.html

The riding is fantastic. The wife and I went with Doug of basquemtb fame. Best holiday ever. We’ve already booked the return trip.

Agree with what onzadog said 100%.
Did Pyrenean backcountry trip with Basque MTB and Ed Oxley. Brilliant week- going again:-)

Sadly we won’t be going on a week long riding holiday; It’ll only be the odd day riding in amongst other stuff.

Will have Google so see if there is any suitable looking routes…

Will have Google so see if there is any suitable looking routes…

Try http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/home.do – usually a fair few routes there.

Don’t know how good your German is (google translate will help). There are 4 tours here and if you can follow the links you can download gpx files for them to use on your Garmin or phone….

The ride along the ledge on Tour 4 looks wild 🙂

http://www.mountainbike-magazin.de/touren/touren-der-mountainbike-redaktion/spanien/mountainbiken-im-val-d-aran-in-den-pyrenaeen-infos-tourentipps-gps-daten.669214.2.htm

Ainsa is superb. Waymarked, excellent, fun trails. Nice town too.
Basque coast is nice, not too techy and near to San Sebastian.
There’s a nice coastal track near Bilbao if you are heading that way. (I’ll take you on it if you want).
There’s a few “bike centres” with marked routes. Most aren’t particularly interesting/tech riding but always have great scenery and go thru nice towns/villages.

http://www.btteuskadi.net/menu2.aspx?IdSP2=OmhAKiMKtWcFnb/uKIxbvQ==&IdMP2=BvBfNNO4kg8R3dgZXmu+fQ==&IdSP=gvrSPFOcGKdX51htn/oaLQ==&IdMP=2EU6i5H1HCfskfZzrkxCmA==#

If you mean western Pyrenees, I’m in San Sebastián. If you end up coming out this way I can help you out with routes, I ride SS most of the time so can tell you what’s doable and what’s going to be a schlep.
No idea about uplifts, talk to Doug at Basque MTB for more info on that.

If you mean the other end, I can ask a mate down in Girona for ideas. I did a week down there and the riding was really good.

You would love Ainsa in the above link. It has the most “trail center” trails around. The other areas are hard to find your way about without a guide or some patience with a map. Take Mackem up on that coastal ride, it’s ace. We can also do day guiding on the Basque Coast and I can arrange a day guide for you around Ainsa if you want as well. What you are asking for, uplift and nice mellow blue trail back down, doesn’t exist. You would need to be organizing van uplift. There is chairlifted riding in Panticosa and Formigal but not like you are looking for. I guess you have already seen my site to give an idea of the riding?

That’s for the recommends up above as well guys 🙂

We stayed in Ainsa last year and rode the Zona Zero trails. Had a great time. The reds are a bit more technical than our reds, but they are good trails. Most of the trails are signposted, but the map guide will show you which ones require GPS.

IMG_1898-1 by ritcheyp20, on Flickr

Ainsa set on Flickr

Not sure why there’s two sets on Flickr….

Route info: HERE

Guys, thank you for the information. We are just at the mulling over of ideas just now and got some good stuff to think about; Dry dusty trails, cold Spanish/Basque beer & tapas.

Macckem/Doug I may well give you a shout once we have given some structure to our plans…

Cheers. 🙂