Ok, so i’m planning to move to southern Spain next month, mainly for bike riding and i need a bit of help from anyone with local knowledge. I’ve been looking at the Costa tropical (namely Almunecar. Does anyone have any experience of the riding round there (mtb and road) and/or know of any clubs. Is there somewhere else i should be looking that has a better variety? Or is nicer.

Are there any guiding companys close that could give me a flavour of the locale?

If anyone lives in the area and would like to show me round that would be good to 🙂

Any help/opinions would be greatly received.

Cheers, Allan.

How’s your Spanish? It might worth asking here. There’s even a section for foreign bikers.

been to competa which is north west and inland from Almunecar. it’s great! i would love to spend a month exploring. not familiar with Almunecar itself but it can’t be too bad! bubion going north east is where some company is based (forget who) and it’s ace around there as well. hth

My Spanish is garbage. I’m going to take a course when i get there.

Cheers for the link seems like a Spanish singletrack, but you know…….for people that actually ride ;-0

No ex pats Or guides?

Talking to the guides at Switchbacks the locals don’t ‘get’ trail riding.

The XC boys ride up roads and occasionaly down fire roads. Ocasionaly they’ll ride up a proper track, but not down it.
The DH boys refuse to pedal.
No one does anything inbetween.

Riding is awesome thought.

Christ, that’s something to think about.

Looks like i’ll be riding on my own a lot then!

I can’t agree with tinas’s sweeping generalisation. 😉

I was at bubion with switchbacks last yr.
Trails above bubion are awesome. VERY rocky & thorny, so lots of flat tyres if you are running anything other than dualply tubeless at 40+psi. I can’t emphasize this enough.

To find trails like Moody French Bastard, historectomiser, punctured lung and 48 stitches, by buying beers for Herick or Michael at Switchbacks ALT: buy a few days guided riding from them – which will save you the climbs 😉 or do what michael did: get a large map & tour all the walking trails to see which ones are rideable 😉

thisisnotaspoon means “the locals ride up fire roads & down on tarmac” -they tend to be VERY lycra XC whippet types & DH/AM type riding doesn’t compute. you might find to odd enlightened soul, but they will be odd. 😀

We are based in Fuengirola on the coast. If you get in touch with us when you are here we can point you in the direction of some good trails or you could even come out with us.
http://www.sierracycling.com.
Don´t know about the trails in costa Tropical but it is a lovely area.

Cheers Alan. Might give you a wee call sometime to arrange something/pick your brains if that’s ok?

Al

thisisnotaspoon means “the locals ride up fire roads & down on tarmac” -they tend to be VERY lycra XC whippet types & DH/AM type riding doesn’t compute. you might find to odd enlightened soul, but they will be odd

Suppose that might be the case in the south, but here in Madrid it’s definitely not the case, and it’s not just DH types but trail riding too.

southerners are strange it seems no matter what country you´re in 😉

Best riding in Spain as far as I can tell is in the north, Basque region and Pyrenees. Theres plenty of lycra clowns but enduro/am is well on the increase.