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]

On Thursday 21st March, I provided guiding services for a mountain biker from Wales. Keith and his wife were on a 7 month tour of Spain in their beautiful motorhome and were spending the night in the historical village of Simat de la Valldigna. As Keith was a very accomplished biker, I´d suggested a route that left Simat and headed out through the valley to the town of Alzira. From there we began a long, steep and sustained climb on rocky trails that took us up into a hanging valley in the Sierra de la Agujas. This valley has a [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]

Last Friday I had the pleasure of providing a guided mountain bike trip for a great guy who was on a 14 month tour of Europe with his wife and young daughter.  Andy, a very experienced and accomplished road racer from Sydney fancied a day out in the mountains of Valencia as part of his stay in our area.  Although not a mountain biker, he was a superb cyclist and soon began to feel comfortable on the Trek bike that we provided for the day. We began the day with a short road ride over a pass before we took [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]