Planning a trip in October and looking for some advice on a good place to base our stay. Initially was going to go with one of the guide companies but cost is an issue for our group so now looking at renting accommodation and doing our own thing. Seen a property in the centre off Guejar Sierra , would this be a good area? We’re going to hire a vehicle to get about but would like to do some riding from the doorstep. Any info on routes and route guides be fantastic.

Cheers

What sort of budget? Ciclo Montana have been pretty good for us. Circa £400 for 6 days including transfers, dinner and guiding. I have some Strava maps but you’d need someone to drive the van around.

If there are 5 or more of you Switch-Backs would be similar money.
Given it included transfers, accommodation and quite a bit of your food, it’s hard to see the point of any savings you may make.

A self guided trip will always have a fraction of the riding of a guided one.

+1 for Ciclo Montana

Cheap flights are sorted with air miles , accommodation for 5 nights is £85 a head and van hire £90 each. Total inc flights is £210 each.
Getting back to the van after rides is my biggest issue, that’s where the guided rides win hands down but this is the only way we can all go. That’s why we need to get the area right. The area I’ve mentioned is not far from the bike park so could use the lifts to gain some height , if they run in October.

I hear what your saying about guide companies but only 3 of us and 1 couldn’t go at guided prices. Ciclo can’t accommodate us on the dates we want , Sierra Cycling came back at £310 each plus flights. That would make it £130 more than doing our own thing, and personally I think its worth the extra , but it would spoil the trip if we couldn’t all go.

plenty of riding to keep you busy without a guide, depends on how independent you are, and if you don’t mind climbing! as we had a car we spent a few days in capiliera, staying in a pension and riding the stuff in the alpujarra area, then a few more days over at a climbers campsite near the main resort area, where we did some more higher altitude riding. michael at switchbacks helped me with a map showing the main trails/paths but i think you can buy one from the main resort towns. be aware you’re not supposed to ride paths above 2000m that are less than 2m wide or some crazy rule like that – we didn’t have any problems with locals and plenty of people biking the stuff we were doing

Can’t recommend Shaun @ Ride Sierra nevada enough. Went 2 years running. Top trails. great guide. Food was great and area was stunning

It’s deffo worth the extra.

I don’t know about your fitness level, ability or motivation, but if it weren’t for Marco and Steve (?) our guides, we’d not have ridden anywhere close to the amount we did or been as safe.

– First trip day 2, I got lost. The guide found me. It’s a lot scarier in a remote Spanish mountainside with no humanity around than at a trail centre.
– Second trip, day 4, I bonked. Guide made sure I was hydrated enough to finish the ride.
– Final day. Massive puncture, was being a wally trying to fix my tyre. Guide sorted it.
– Final day, final trail, one of the hardest I’ve ever ridden. Without the guide’s wheel to follow it’s anyone’s guess as to whether I’d have made it down in one piece.

Some of the trails there are pretty much zero tolerance for failure. Your safety is worth more than £130 saved. The guide’s trail knowledge and assessment of your skill could mean the difference between life and death.

The guide is for much more than just showing you the way. They make sure you and your friends are safe and don’t ride anything over your comfort level. You could get some maps off a random internet person and have a go. I wouldn’t.

Make sure you ride down to Grenada for a day/night, beautiful city, just be ready for a long uphill home.

Again another +1 for going guided. It is a BIG landscape, with proper mountains, precipitous drops, random weather and a seemingly endless number of trails. Some are obvious, the best though are hidden. It’s also pretty rough on equipment and people. Having someone like Marco or Matt there to pick up the pieces makes all the difference.

If you really must go for self-guided, have you considered hiring a small car or even a scooter along with the van so you can shuttle back up at the end of the day?

Assuming you’re definitely going to do this without a guide, it might be worth spending a few quid to get this guidebook. There are a handful of circular routes that start from Guejar Sierra and if nothing else it will get your juices flowing.

[EDIT] Quote from guidebook:

The mountains above the small village of Guejar Sierra offer endless ridgelines to follow and the almost year round snows of the High Sierra make the area feel more alpine than Spanish.

Until very recently, the road was just a dirt track. Now it is a long but easy climb taking you out of the village up to the highest point possible in order to give back the maximum amount of descent in equal measure

😀

Thanks for the input guys , much appreciated. I’m pushing for the guided option , just seems to make more sense now I’ve listened to all your advice. Has anyone used Sierra Cycling ?

Has anyone used Sierra Cycling ?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-shambolic-week-with-sierra-cycling

@hot_fiat MATT! Not Steve! That was bugging me.

There is a thread about Sierra Cycling – look it up, that’s all I’ll say.
However, having used both Sierra & Ciclo i would slap you daft if you didn’t choose the latter!
Ciclo are a different level in my opinion. The locale is far higher in serious mountains & the trails are incredible-to-terrifying (elephants tail anyone?) plus the whole holiday was simply much, much better.

Worth the extra for a guide if you can possibly stretch to it IMO. Some spectacular riding around there but the guide takes completely takes the headache out of navigation and staying safe and lets you relax and enjoy your holiday. Is it not sufficiently low season that you could get a guide who might not have much doing that week?

Or go on Spaingletrackworld in advance of going out there and see if you can get a local rider to show you their trails for the week.

Umm , sierra cycling not so good then! As I said , Ciclo can’t accommodate us on our chosen dates. Ride Sierra Nevada can accommodate us for £370 each.

Thanks for the book info stilltortoise

^no worries.

I bought it with the intention of riding independently, then was persuaded to go with a guide instead. No regrets.

PS I went with Ride Sierra Nevada.

+1 for guiding,

The climbs are big, even the morning minibus transfer to the start of a trail often climbed almost the height of Ben Nevis.

And a lot of the good trails are cheeky.

trickydisco – Member
Can’t recommend Shaun @ Ride Sierra nevada enough. Went 2 years running. Top trails. great guide. Food was great and area was stunning

Did this last year and it was just fantastic.. Off to another part of Spain this year other wise I’m sure we’d have returned

Countdown for me . 6 weeks to ciclo madness !! 26 er hardtail. High chance of death?

Going with Ciclo on 4th May, can’t wait as last year was awesome, and I met that curious yellow chap off of here, he’s funny

Cando, me, Marky and Bryan are the following week !!

Only chance of death would be on ECTP * shudders

The towpath? Uggghhh…

Is that the stream on the left and the shear vertical drop of death on the right? 😯

Yarp, scares the shizzle right out of me

That bikefax book is decent but do some additional research, have a proper map and heed the weather. I guided for a bloke once who followed directions from a book, up into the cold (wearing only shorts and a base layer) and nearly slipped off an iced up trail. His book mentioned nothing about environmental hazards.

Get a book and some maps. Ok, you might not do the best trails and sometimes you’ll get lost but I’m sure you’ll have a blast. Cheap beer, wine and food with your mates and riding around being less than totally organised sounds good to me.

Have a look at http://www.bikinganalucia.com Excellent value for money and great trails, I’ve stayed there several times.

Oh Christ, I’d almost forgotten about the Extreme Canal Towpath..
my mate fell off that, landed in a thorn bush about 30ft down!

ECTP – Get wet or go flying!

I am 100% confident that guided is the way to go. We wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea of where to go, and effectively riding blind in a new area takes loads of time to find the best stuff. Sine it’s your holiday of fixed time, why waste it milling about hoping to find good riding?

Ah, here we go. This was towards the end and it widens just touch. By then, some of our heads were completely frazzled.

Glad it wasn’t just me then, I’m terrified of heights/drops as well. The carry up the rock face from the road wasn’t fun either, especially when you are 5’2″, 9.5 stone and hauling a 33lb bike! 😀

We, uh, managed to ride most of that. Lovely technical climb. One of our party managed to blood his knee coming off uphill!

I rode it, but it was gingerly with the seat dropped for emergency bail out! Was desperately wishing i was on flat pedals as well..

It is not always that more expensive to go guided, for example probable costs (in GBP) of a week´s DIY holiday for 2 riders: pension costs 2 * 20 GBP per night * 7 nights = 280 GBP, Car hire 150 GBP, fuel 100 GBP, breakfast and packed lunch 100 GBP + massive hassle factor if you do not know the area or speak Spanish, hence TOTAL = 280 GBP + 150 GBP + 70 GBP + 100 GBP = 600 GBP. You can stay with us, bikingandalucia, with all the above taken care of ie guided and less hassle for 660 GBP (2 persons, includes airport transfer any other transfers, breakfast, lunch and guiding, workshop facilities)

+1 for Shaun at Ride Sierra Nevada.

Great location in a beautiful small village out of the resort (but close enough).

Shaun and co can tailor the ride to your desire, there is so much choice around there and he knows it like the back of his hands.

Food is excellent too!