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]

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]

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]

As part of the bespoke activity holiday that we´ve recently designed for Anne & Nigel from UK, we provided what is becoming an increasingly popular choice – a day of guided cross country mountain biking that included a few sessions of skills coaching.  Anne was particularly interested in developing her technique of descending rocky tracks. With that in mind we started the day with a sustained climb up onto the Sierra de Marxuquera, and up onto a trail that would provide some great descents.  Having spent some time perfecting body posture and braking and steering techniques we enjoyed the sweeping [read more]

We have recently arranged a week´s activity holiday for Anne and Nigel from Worcester, UK.  Together, we designed a bespoke package that included guided mountain biking and mountain walking. They stayed at the guest house Villa Florencia, situated in the beautiful valley of Marxuquera.  During the “welcome dinner” on the evening of their arrival we discussed the various options for the week.  Although both were very experienced outdoor enthusiasts we opted for a relatively gentle ride for the first day – a route of some 36km through a very pretty limestone gorge. We set out along a wooded trail before [read more]

On Saturday 10th November we provided a full day of guided mountain biking for a couple from Madrid. Both very fit and active, Baas was already an experienced mountain biker and had recently built his own bike. Lisa was relatively new to the sport so was keen to learn some technique. They had chosen to spend the night at Casa Aldomar in the beautiful old town of Xativa and as they only had one day in the area, we opted for a long ride with some technical training built into the day. We began with a brief demonstration of bike [read more]