The Pyrenees - Road, MTB & Enduro Riding, Trail Building, Iconic GT Climbs & Nearby Attractions....

[Bonus]

The Pyrenees - I never get tired of looking at them. . . . .

 

As the title suggests, I'm going to try and fill this thread with all manner of interesting, funny and/or informative cycling related things from this beautiful part of the world and the surrounding areas.

 

:-)

 

 

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After an afternoon of trail-building in the forest on the south side of the Peña Montañesa, I took this video of the landscape towards Ainsa.

 

https://youtu.be/Uz9YRDGBKd4

Edited October 20, 2016 by Bonus

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In 2015, between 23rd and 27th September, the "Enduro World Series - Stage 7" was held here in Ainsa.

 

The Enduro trails are awesome and the stage was considered a big enough success for the EWS to make plans to return :-)

 

Although Zona Zero is known for its Enduro trails, I ride XC on an XC bike and I find plenty of trails to keep me busy. . . .

[captain morgan]

Where do you recommend for a week , tech trail / light enduro and maybe bit of bike park ....

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Hi C M

 

Here's a nice little video documentary that talks about the Zona-Zero trails around Ainsa and gives some background info on the project. One of the guys talking is Angel, who I was helping with trail maintenance last week.

 

There are around 800kms of trails all together and so there are actually trails suitable for everybody. There are some amazing Enduro and DH trails (where knee and elbow pads are usually worn), we also have "Enduro Light" trails, loads of XC and Technical XC routes (My playground) and there are some really easy paths along rivers, across meadows and through forests/deserted villages etc where you will see families riding.

 

In a nutshell I would say that anyone could come here for a week of cycling & sightseeing but that the area in general lends itself more towards the "serious" cyclist with a degree of fitness and some technical skill. We are in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees after all . . . 

 

(I'm not aware of any bike parks nearby, I will enquire . . .)

 

 

https://youtu.be/qNZJmTHP040

Edited October 23, 2016 by Bonus

[captain morgan]

Thnx ... did alps last year, so maybe pyrenees 2017

[Bonus]

Thnx ... did alps last year, so maybe pyrenees 2017

 

Keep me posted. I'll help anyway I can.

if you have any questions just ask.

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Last week I did some Trail Maintenance with Angel from "Zona Zero".

 

We’re creating a downhill singletrack between the routes of Maxi1 and Maxi2 on the slopes of the Peña Montañesa near Ainsa in Aragon, Spain. Three afternoons of trail work and then we tested it on Thursday afternoon :-)

 

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I think this quote from Angel at the end of the “MTB Zona Zero Documental” video sums up life here in Ainsa, Spain …

 

“If you see a stone that bothers you, you stop and you remove it, the same as everyone else”

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Last week Angel (from Zona-Zero, Ainsa) and I checked out an old disused & overgrown path, around about 1.5km long, near the village of Torrelisa. He wanted to clean It up to provide an alternative downhill run on Route 7.

 

The first thing we did was walk the path to see how bad it was (it was bad!) and whether it could be turned back into a useable bike trail or not (It could).

 

Then this week we went back with tools and started work. Stage 1 consists of cutting and removing the biggest branches with the use of a chainsaw and clearing the bigger fallen rocks off the whole length of the path. Stage 2 sees us doing a second pass for the smaller bushes and branches with a petrol strimmer (weed-eater) and clearing away the debris and any smaller stones we missed the first time.

 

Today halfway down the path we discovered an old natural spring that riders can use for drinking water :-)

 

These are the "Before/During" Pics . . .

 

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A work in progress . . . .

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more . . and Angel happy with the days work.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Bonus

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Found this bridge just off "Route 6 Light" the other day. You would use it if the weir just upstream of here became submerged due to a high river water-level.

 

You can see here how wide the river bed is and it looks like it's too wide. A few hours heavy rain up in the mountains though and this boulder strewn dry riverbed becomes a torrent . . .

 

;-)

 

 

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After a week of feeling under the weather with a head cold, it will be good to get back out on the trails tomorrow!

 

Would like to go and try out that last piece of singletrack we worked on before it gets sign-posted and opened to everyone.

 

#secret-trails!

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Where in the world is Ainsa, Spain . . . . ?

 

 

Ainsa is situated in the foothills on the southern side of the Pyrenees mountains, which run East-West and form the border between France and Spain. Ainsa is 45km south of the French border and approximately half way between Barcelona and Pamplona.

 

 

From Wikipedia:

 

Ainsa is the main town in the Ainsa-Sobrarbe municipal area, in Aragon, Spain. Besides the surrounding mountain landscape, the main sights of the town are the 12th-century Iglesia parroquial de Santa María church and the 11th-century castle are the main sights of the town.

 

 

 

In the cycling world, Ainsa is most famous for being home to the Zona Zero MTB trails which, in 2015, hosted Stage 7 of the 2015 Enduro World Series races.

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Beautiful weather here at the moment! Apparently it's normal for December. November can be a bit wet but the sun comes back in December :-)

 

For anyone who's lived in the UK (and maybe most of northern Europe?) for a winter, you'll appreciate how lucky we are here!

 

Rode in summer kit (with a vest) yesterday and will do the same again this afternoon . . .