I recently had the pleasure of meeting husband and wife Roger & Birgit, from Germany together with Roger´s brother Mark from UK.  They were holidaying in the orange growing region of Valldigna, between the town of Alzira and the beautiful old village of Simat.  Together, we had designed a bespoke couple of days that were to include long cross country rides but with a strong element of skills coaching along the way. Day one began with a gentle ride through orange groves and olive groves, all on easy dirt trails, allowing them to become familiar with the Trek mountain bikes [read more]

On Saturday 6th April, we arranged a day of guided mountain biking for a couple from Valencia.  This was part of a surprise weekend break, and included two nights at the rural guest house La Casona Ferrando in our home village of La Drova. Fernando and Vibrana were new to mountain biking so we opted for a beautiful route that passes through a wooded limestone gorge, not technical but sufficiently challenging to provide a great environment in which to learn some basic off-road techniques. After the usual safety briefing, we began with a gentle trail before taking on a steep [read more]

Over the Easter weekend I had the pleasure of providing a mountain biking short break for a super couple from London. Samantha had arranged the trip as a surprise for her partner´s 30th birthday. They had chosen to stay at Casa Aldomar in the beautiful old town of Xativa. The first day was a relatively short ride of some 35km albeit with some quite steep climbing. This took us up into the Sierra de Marxuquera, along some gravel trails before descending into the Albaida valley for a coffee break in a farming village. We then took to some slightly more [read more]

On 28th March, we arranged a day of guided mountain biking for a Dutch couple who were taking a short break in the city of Valencia and wanted to make the most of the region´s beautiful mountains. They took the train from Valencia to Gandia, passing through the natural park and rice fields of Albufera along the way.  We met in Gandia and made the short road journey to the start of the route in the La Safor mountains.  Although both very active people, they were new to mountain biking, so the day commenced with a brief safety demonstration, and [read more]

I´m going to begin this post by thanking my three clients for a superb week of guided mountain biking in Valencia. This was the second trip in little over a year for two of them, especially gratifying as they´re from Montreal, Canada! It was great to see them all and to enjoy a week together, biking, chatting, and enjoying the wine and tapas of the area. We had designed a bespoke package that included 6 nights at the Casa Rural Villa Florencia in Marxuquera, and 5 full days of guided mountain biking. After such a long journey, day one was [read more]

On Saturday 9th March, I had the pleasure of providing a full day of guided mountain biking for a couple of Dutch clients. This was the second trip with me for one of them, so it was great to welcome him back to our area. For the other, it was his first visit and he´d made the trip from his home in Ireland.  They´d opted for a weekend break in the historical town of Xativa and to spend Saturday out on the trails. We chose a route of some 40km, that took in some superb trails up in the Sierra [read more]

January has been a beautiful month with plenty of winter sun.  In between trips with clients, an important task is that of designing and riding new routes.  We´re often adding routes to our diverse selection as a way of catering for all levels of rider. The objective of today´s trip was to put a few finishing touches to a route that we´ve been working on a for a while. The day started with a climb up a very quiet mountain road as a way to gain a lot of height in a relatively short time period.  The trees were in [read more]

Looking ahead to the new year, an important task is to add some new routes to our collection.  We have routes to suit all abilities including complete novice, families with young children, casual riders and experienced cross country bikers.  This week´s project was a route that uses a quiet mountain lane to gain height in one of our spectacular local sierras.   Once up high, we used rocky trails to descend into some little known hidden valleys.  This part of the route took us into some remote country, with a feeling of isolation and peace.  The trails demanded attention but [read more]

On Saturday 24th November we arranged a guided mountain bike trip for a group from UK who were visiting a friend in the city of Valencia.  All experienced mountain bikers, they wanted to combine a short city break with a day of guided biking.  After a brief introduction and summary of the plans for the day we began the route with a gentle climb over a pass. We soon left the road and took to the trails, initially along a wooded track before beginning the day´s longest climb up trail that put us on top of the Sierra de Marxuquera. [read more]