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

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The Enduro World Series at Ainsa - Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd September.

 

Some seriously good riding here!

 

https://youtu.be/s9hyUwaExhI

 

 

 

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Did you meet Martin zietsman? Saffa

 

We did. Actually Wendy did - several times. She was working in accreditation, so she got to speak to all the English speaking riders and Martin and her recognised each others accents as being South African.

 

I actually rode with a South African rider (who now lives in Ireland) - Henry Turner - and Henry was two race numbers in front of Martin.

 

At the end of Stage 7 - Sundays final stage - Wendy had a chat with Martin and another rider SA from Durban, whose name she doesn't recall but was something like "Skater!?" and they were telling her all about their weekend. Wendy comes from the west rand and I think Martin said he was from Randburg originally and went to school there so they had stuff to talk about . . . .

 

I'm following Martin on Instagram now. :-)

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Yesterday I did my first Spanish MTB race :-)  a XC race held in the nearby town of Barbastro - which is about 60km away from us.

 

The event was really well organised, the route well marked out and with lots of civilian marshals. Also there were police stationed at the two spots where the trail crossed or briefly used a road. There were a couple of semi technical and quite steep climbs where quite a few riders got off and pushed. Because I'm used to the technical climbs local to where we live in Zona Zero I didn't have any problems and I rode up them which enabled me to make up some time :-) 

 

The climbs had spectators on them - which was cool. I understand enough Spanish to appreciate the encouragement and a couple of times spectators warned walking riders, who were lost in their own little worlds of pain, to move over because I was coming past. It was a nice gesture and very helpful. The terrain was very similar to what I used to race in SA. A mixture of Red Barn / Northern Farms - a hot day with a bit of a wind, fast dry dusty farm roads, singletrack, trees, sharp climbs and some nice long loose descents. Perfect.

 

My race was only 36km long - 2x 18km laps, with 330m of climbing per lap but I have to say, it was a hard couple of hours! It's been a while since I rode at race pace like that. I came 10th in my age group.

 

There were no issues with traffic at all and I only saw one rider crash - a guy that went into a gravel corner a bit "hot" and slid out. I did see a few mechanicals and Wendy saw some riders "retiring" after the first lap. She said they didn't look happy

 

There were free cold drinks & beer, sweets, biscuits & fruit at the finish line and the entry cost of 33€ (including a day license) included a goody bag with a free commemorative Cycling Shirt and a ticket for lunch at the prize giving after the race!  

 

All in all really good value and a great day out. Friendly, organised and safe.

 

Well done to Club Ciclista Barbastro for organising it all.

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Free Cycling Jersey!

 

 

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The Start. We got there early for a change!

 

 

 

 

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Ready to Roll in my SA cycling Jersey :-)

 

 

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After race refreshment area and the Podium . . .  which I didn't quite need this time!

 

 

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I've been doing some more exploring. This time I'm checking out some of the routes the EWS used when it was here . . .

 

Took a ride up a Pista (Stone Track) that goes "the back way" from the small town of Boltaña where we're living now, up towards the village of Campodarbe.

 

When the EWS was here the other week they climbed this pista on one of their stages. The views, as always, are amazing.

 

 

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Today was a lovely sunny late summer/early autumn day and this lunchtime I was out testing some new bits of route in preparation for guiding people.

 

Took the first pic up on the Ainsa Castle wall, then rode down a flight of steps afterwards. Second pic is a view point looking north towards the Pyrenees and France . . . beautiful as always.

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Yesterday I did a nice "local" ride from home which included the Zona Zero Route 5 climb out of the back of Ainsa up to the top of the "Partara". I've ridden it several times - it's not too long or too technical and there are some nice flat "recovery" segments, but the bits that go up, really do go up.

 

Great fun and there are several ways back down to try out . . . .  :-)

Edited October 25, 2018 by Bonus

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Plenty of sign posts around here! :-)

 

 

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Did a ride from Boltaña today that came along the river, looped through the Ainsa Castle and then climbed up to the "Partara". Wanted to see how much snow had fallen to the north. Low cloud hid most the tops of the mountains, but there's certainly some snow where the peaks were visible.

 

There are several descents from the Partara so I came down the "Partara Express" first time then did the climb again and came down the descent that was used in the recent Enduro World Series held in Ainsa in September.

 

Both descents are ace :-)

 

 

Check out the Relive video . . .

 

https://www.relive.cc/view/g26369463706

 

 

 

 

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When the Enduro World Series visited Ainsa in September a Jump was built at the end of Sundays Stage 7.

 

 

I see it's still there . . .

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Ainsa and the Pyrenees . . . it's not all about the trails and the singletracks.

 

Today I blew the cobwebs off the road bike and we went out for a spin. Beautiful weather, cool enough for arm warmers but warm enough for shorts! The drivers here are patient and courteous and, as always, the views were stunning . . . .

 

We're putting together a route that winds its way through the foothills of the Pyrenees and passes through some of our beautiful local villages . . . .

 

 

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What exactly is "Zona Zero" and where is it . . . ?

 

 

Zona Zero is the name given to an area on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountains that is home to a collection of around 1000 kilometers of signed and maintained MTB trails.

 

The name Zona Zero means "Ground Zero" in English. Zona Zero is considered to be the "Ground Zero of Mountain Biking" in this part of the world. 

 

Years ago, when Mountain Biking first became popular here, local youngsters used to ride their mountain bikes along the fire-break tracks, sheep trails and ancient footpaths of the area. Slowly but surely over those early years, lots of the little paths - or Caminos as they are known, were "bedded in" through regular use and joined together to form a network of trails. The "Asociacion de Amigos de los Caminos Tradicionales de Sobrabe" (the association of Friends of the Tradicional Paths of the Sobabe area) was formed to look after their upkeep.

 

Then around 10 years ago Spain (along with much of the rest of the world) entered a period of recession. Spain was hit hard and entered what is today referred to as "The Crisis". The bigger towns & the cities of Spain suffered, but the rural areas were hit especially hard. Testament as to how hard the rural areas were hit can be seen today when riding through the deserted and abandoned villages that litter the countryside. . . .

 

The story goes that a group of local businessmen, councillors and the members of the "Asociacion de Amigos de los Caminos Tradicionales de Sobrabe" sat down together one day to discuss what could be done to save the medieval town of Ainsa and it's neighbours from suffering the same fate as was happening to the rest of the country and whether the cycling trails could be a part of the solution. Ultimately, this is how Zona Zero was born.

 

Today Zona Zero is a large and professional operation. Bilingual staff in the office, new trails are being added all the time, accurate and easy to read maps are available in shops, hotels and tourist information offices and this year an App called "ZTrails" was released. Zona Zero has twice hosted a Round of the Enduro Series. In 2015 and again this year.

 

Geographically, Zona Zero is situated about mid way between the Mediterranean coast to the east and San Sebastian over on the west coast, and is 45km south of the French border.

 

Surrounded by beautiful scenery, mountains and valleys, fields and forests, rivers and lakes . .  and all covered in a web of trails, tracks and paths, winding between the many villages and hermitages of the area . . . . Truly a very nice place to live!

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Took this video in the middle of yesterdays ride from Boltaña up to the village of Campobarbe and back. 

 

A loop consisting of a nice 40 minute road climb, followed by 30 mins of XC followed by 20 mins of downhill!

 

Then 15 mins along the river to get home. 

 

https://youtu.be/lwAL-jNKxPw