V interesting videos there from McTrail – thanks for the links, @stabilizers!

Hi!

The trails in Tremp are generally a little less rocky/rough than the ones in Ainsa – there’s more Badlands or Coda Sarten style terrain. This article provides a good outline of some of the trails:

https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-trails/tremp-spain-mountain-bike-trails-pyrenees/

It’s not as big a trail area as Ainsa, but there’s enough to fill a week’s worth of riding (unless you’re riding long days on an e-bike).

We love it (being based here…), trails are varied and access is easy, no guiding needed – although if you do decide to come and want tips on trails or other info, just let me know.

Thanks, gobuchul – we’re signing up to one as well, just thought someone from the STW massive might be interested in discovering the Tremp trail network… 😉

Thanks, Matt – it’ll be the first time we’ve done it, but it makes a lot of sense (if we can find someone who can swap!)

As a newbie, you certainly won’t need a big resort, and it sounds like you’re going for the skiing, rather than the après ski…
So I’d look at somewhere off the beaten track, it’ll be much cheaper and less busy – our local resort (Port Ainé in the Pyrenees) is small, but has a good snow record, has a ski in, ski out hotel and use generally empty during February half term (no half terms in Spain, and it’s mostly locals who ski there)
I’m sure there are plenty of other small resorts across Europe that would be similar too…
Skiing is never cheap, but it doesn’t have to cost main resort peak prices!

According to an Italian friend – the key is the protein content. 12% is the minimum, that’ll be OK, but the good stuff has around 14% protein.
It works for me…

Place in the mountains in Sweden you say???

Definitely worth a stay in Aínsa, by all accounts (keep meaning to go riding there, it’s only a couple of hours away)

If you’re in the area for a little longer and fancy trying out a new trail centre, let me know and you can stay here – if you like it enough we can talk about accommodation swaps…

We dry wood overnight in the pizza oven, as you’ve done – it makes a huge difference.
I’ve dried freshly cut fig branches (2 to 3″ thick) this way, and they’ve burnt well the next evening.
If the wood was reasonably seasoned before you dry it in the oven, you can virtually light it with a match.
Easier than building a separate kiln.

Went straight through school / Uni and didn’t take a year out afterwards ‘cos a dream job came up (or so I thought!). Dream job was perhaps not quite as advertised, but still had some great points, the main downside was the commitment required for it, didn’t really leave much time for family life once the kids arrived. In the background, mrsredrocktrails and I had a dream of doing something completely different, which to be honest is what kept us going during the harder times.
After 16 years in the job, we realised we’d bored so many people for so long about our dream that we had to do it, otherwise we’d look bad, so chucked in the jobs and started a new life in Spain.

Positives – spending loads more time with the family, live in the sunny mountains, and responsible for our own mistakes.
Negatives – carry the can for the results of our own mistakes, financial insecurity, and, ironically, sometimes so little time for riding bikes.

But so glad we did it – we’re having an adventure as a family, we’ve met some great friends (both locals and guests), and, despite working harder and with potentially much higher jeopardy than before, we’re not ground down by work, but we enjoy it.

On the flipside – I’d make sure you have something to do once you step out of the rat race. For me, anyway, it would be easy to start to drift a bit. While that may be good for a while, I don’t think it would be a good long-term prospect for me.

Have an adventure!

Is that toe measurement (0°5′) each side, or a total toe? 8 mins toe in each wheel sounds OK, but if they’ve only set it to 5mins in total, that could lead to a loose feeling at speed.
Worth checking that they’ve set it up to toe in, not toe out?
I wouldn’t have thought that you’d feel a massive difference with that camber change, what’s the -1°45′ spec – centre spec or minimum tolerance? Camber’s usually not that easy to get cock-on.
When was the last calibration done on their machine…?

I guess it depends where you want to live…
We live next to the main town (pop. 6000) in a fairly wild & empty part of Catalunya, and Mrs_RedRockTrails has to turn down quite a lot of business because she simply doesn’t have the time. She hasn’t got any TEFL qualifications, but most people just want to have a chance to practise their English – or to give their kids a chance to practise theirs. Our kids go to the local school, that definitely helped with making the initial contacts.
With your experience, I don’t think you’d have any issues getting private customers,at least if you’re in an area without too many other Brits – working in a state school is another kettle of fish, and may soon be virtually impossible (only EU citizens can do Oposiciones – the qualifications for State Functionaries)

Hi – I hope it’s OK to make a shameless plug here, but what you’re after sounds very much like what we do…
http://www.redrocktrails.co.uk
There are a couple of lakes within easy riding distance, the local Noguera Pallaresa river is one of the top white water activity centres in Europe, and there’s a big canyoning culture here.
Hope you find a great holiday, anyway!