I want to go to Sierra Nevada this year for a long weekend of biking – any recommendations (or ones to avoid)

Freeride Spain are excellent, they're very flexible with dates/length of holiday etc.
Quite XC based (in spite of the name) but Simon can still thrash most people downhill and they often run uplift days, driving up into the mountains then riding back down to the village. He'll cater for most things though, there's no real fixed "programme" it's all very laid back.

cheers crazy-legs, I'm more XC based anyway so sounds good and my brother is coming – he's fit but doesn't ride his MTB loads – can you hire bikes? don't fancy taking mine over

Long weekend? Hope you will already be in Spain as transferes take about 4 hours each way.

http://www.seasonallyunadjusted.com

bit south of sierra nevade – but briliant riding.

loads of climbing near by at el chorro, if thats your thing?

http://www.sierracycling.com/

http://www.puremountains.co.uk

Check out the review of the El Ejido Mountain Bike Marathon in MBR this month. The 'James' mentioned in the article is me 🙂 I've been with Pure Mountains 5 or so times and had a great time there. Tim and Jenny are brilliant hosts, guides and mountain bikers. Solidly XC though.

http://www.ridesierranevada.com/

superb. cant recommend these guys enough. XC, but with a van shuttle run in the morning.

Spot on.

Sierracycling is only about 30 mins from Malaga airport so quite good for long weekends etc.

Another vote for Freeride here. Been in Spain and Morocco with them and they're fantastic, do whatever you want! There's nothing like getting a kicking downhill off a short bloke on a hardtail….

Ditto Sierracycling – arrive at Malaga before lunchtime on the Fri & you might even get a bonus ride in the afteroon rather than spending hours getting to your base. Plenty of hire bikes too so your bro will be fine.

I've ridden with a few of the groups mentioned here and suggest Sierra Cycling is your best option as mentioned – the only potential downside is if the riding is too XC for you. Also, it's by the beach which is nice….

There have been a few posts like this. I went with Ride Sierra Nevada and can't knock 'em, but to be fair everyone seems to have good experiences so pick a location and pick a budget and you won't be far wrong.

Or ask the question "who should I avoid?" instead.

jonny at sierracycling is superb for putting a route together for most types of riding. Good mix of technical, DH, XC and even ball busting climbing (if that's your thang.)

Another bonus is that he's also conversant in early '80s rap. 8)