The Pyrenees and Beyond

We’ll pick you up from our part­ner hotel in down­town Barcelona at 11:00 am or from the Barcelona air­port (BCN) at 12:00 pm.

Enjoy a 3‑hour scenic dri­ve from the bustling beach-side city of Barcelona to the small, his­toric town of Aín­sa, on the edge of the Pyre­nees moun­tains. We’ll pro­vide snacks and lunch for the road trip.

The small vil­lage of Aín­sa was the cap­i­tal of the old King­dom of Sobrarbe and was lat­er incor­po­rat­ed into the King­dom of Aragon in the 11th cen­tu­ry. The now mod­ern and vibrant tourist town con­sti­tutes a mag­nif­i­cent exam­ple of medieval archi­tec­ture. The his­toric quar­ter was declared a His­toric-Artis­tic Site in Spain and you will under­stand why when you’re dropped off in the beau­ti­ful town square. The hous­es are har­mo­nious­ly packed togeth­er with the back­drop of bell tow­er, cas­tle and church. The walls that sur­round­ed the town cen­turies ago remain almost intact today and the streets are filled with mon­u­ments that will trans­port you back to the Mid­dle Ages.

Upon arriv­ing in Aín­sa, you’ll meet your guides, review the week’s itin­er­ary, build your bikes and enjoy your first Span­ish din­ner together.

There will be an option to go for a quick ride close to town to get your legs spin­ning and warmed-up for the incred­i­ble week ahead!

Rise and shine!

Enjoy break­fast at the hotel, take an ear­ly morn­ing stroll through the his­toric medieval town of Aín­sa and then suit up to ride!

The vil­lage of Ain­sa dates back to the 11th Cen­tu­ry, and the trails that sur­round it are old trad­ing routes, care­ful­ly brought back to life by the local moun­tain bike community.

In 2015 and 2018, Aín­sa host­ed the Enduro World Series and you’re about to find out why — it’s home to incred­i­ble moun­tain bike trails and ter­rain. From the ‘bad­lands’ north of town to the rolling rocky hills south of town, you’re sure to fin­ish this day with a smile on your face. You’ll get your fair share of ped­alling today, but with the help of a cou­ple of shut­tle runs, you’ll be reward­ed for the climbs.

This morn­ing, we’ll shut­tle to the small town of San­ta Maria de Buil, a small vil­lage out­side of Aín­sa, home to only a hand­ful of peo­ple and an amaz­ing array of medieval archi­tec­ture. It’s a short grav­el road ride before we meet sin­gle­track. Loosen up your legs and take a deep breath, the trail will take us along a ridge above town, grant­i­ng us incred­i­ble views of the 12th cen­tu­ry San­ta Maria church and fort of Aín­sa in the distance. 

We’ll ped­al up to a look-out for a snack break, before descend­ing into the val­ley and back to town for lunch.

After lunch, we’ll shut­tle to the oth­er side of town and ride trails from the Enduro World Series in what’s known as the ‘bad­lands’ of Aín­sa. Here, the ter­rain is var­ied — from forest­ed sin­gle­track to rocky descents that will take us back down to the riv­er (Rio Cin­ca) — any­one up for a refresh­ing swim?

We’ll head back to the hotel and get ready for a very spe­cial din­ner and an amaz­ing intro­duc­tion to Span­ish cui­sine. Bring your appetite!

Good morn­ing Aínsa!

After break­fast at the hotel, we’ll spend anoth­er day explor­ing the incred­i­ble trails around Aínsa.

In the morn­ing, we’ll take our time on a ‘ped­al­ly’ ride stop­ping along the way to learn about the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al his­to­ry of the area. After all, you’re moun­tain bik­ing on an ancient sea bed and a cou­ple trail­side stops to search for fos­sils are a must! 

In the after­noon, it’s a 25-minute shut­tle to an old aban­doned fort for a trail­side lunch before ped­alling through native Span­ish forests. We’ll stop to explore aban­doned vil­lages along the way and enjoy a snack at an impres­sive look-out.

Hold on! It’s a tech­ni­cal switch­back descents before the ter­rain turns into a grad­ual descent into a small rur­al town. The shut­tle will meet us here and we’ll head out for anoth­er shut­tle run. 

After the ride, we’ll enjoy a cold post-ride bev­er­age and cheers to anoth­er day on the trails! After the ride, cool off with a swim before get­ting a pri­vate tour of a win­ery (wine tast­ing and tapas includ­ed, of course)!

We’ll head back to the hotel and get ready for din­ner in Aínsa.

Rise and Shine!

It’s a 40-minute dri­ve to the trail­head near the small town of Mor­cat where we’ll ride a famous trail from the 2015 Enduro World Series.

We’ll ride through aban­doned vil­lages and chal­lenge our­selves on the rocky ter­rain. It’s most like­ly that we won’t see anoth­er soul out on these trails — besides the local farm ani­mals that wan­der free. Time to enjoy a trail­side lunch (Span­ish pael­la, perhaps?).

The ride will fin­ish back in the town of Aín­sa where we can cool off with a swim before head­ing to the hotel.

Din­ner is on your own tonight and the guides can make rec­om­men­da­tions on the best restau­rants in Aín­sa. Explore on your own or join oth­er Riders.

We’ll enjoy break­fast at the hotel and then head to the small moun­tain town of Biel­sa (1‑hour dri­ve), close to the French bor­der and the gate­way to the beau­ti­ful Pyre­nees mountains. 

When we reach Biel­sa, we’ll do two shut­tle runs with the van and then get ready for our first heli-drop! Watch our shut­tle arrive on our offi­cial heli-pad (a farm­ers field, then load up and head to the peak of Pun­ta Suelza (3,000 metres/9,842 feet). To start off, it’s a short walk (5 ‑min­utes) with our  bikes  to the top of the peak where the ride begins. The trail offers up a vari­ety of ter­rain, from high-moun­tain tech­ni­cal descents to long grassy mead­ows mixed in with a few climbs. 

Today, the total descent from all rides is approx­i­mate­ly 4000 metres (13,120 feet)! Chal­lenge your­self, as the ter­rain around Biel­sa in the high moun­tains is rocky and rooty, and the views are incred­i­ble! There will be many pho­to ops.

After a full day of rid­ing, we’ll dri­ve to the small town of Benasque — the main town of the Benasque Val­ley — and check into our hotel in the heart of the Pyre­nees moun­tains. Benasque is sur­round­ed by some of the high­est peaks in Spain. You’ll get an amaz­ing view of those peaks on Day 8 dur­ing our sec­ond heli-drop.

Rest up, the adven­ture con­tin­ues tomorrow. 

Please Note:  Weath­er and/or rid­ing abil­i­ties may dic­tate the heli-bike to be changed to an alter­na­tive route. 

Today is a ‘choose your own adven­ture’ day!

If you’re ready for more amaz­ing descents, we’ll be doing two shut­tle runs — you can choose to join one or join both! If you’d like a day to relax off the bike, you can vis­it the local spa, go for a short hike or enjoy an espres­so in town.

At the end of the day, the group will recon­vene and set off on an adven­ture you won’t forget!

We’ll pack a small overnight bag and trans­fer to the Span­ish bor­der to explore the French Pyre­nees where we’ll sleep in an alpine camp. It’s a short 1‑hour hike to the camp and we’ll have the help of mules to car­ry our bikes and gear.

Hot show­ers, deli­cious home­made food and wine (of course!) will be avail­able for your enjoy­ment. You’ll sleep well in the fresh moun­tain air, far away from the cityscape.

Today, you’ll awake to amaz­ing views of snow-capped moun­tains and alpine lakes. After a hearty break­fast, we’ll pack up and hit the trails. Today, we’re drop­pin’ into France!

After an amaz­ing ride that fin­ish­es in Luchon, France where we’ll say a quick “Bon­jour” and “Bön Appetite” while enjoy­ing French cui­sine for lunch with a pic­turesque view of the Pyre­nees. After lunch, you will get true VIP ser­vice. Our heli­copter will pick us up near the restau­rant and trans­fer us to the Span­ish peak of Sier­ra Negra at 2,850 metres (9,678 feet). 

We’ll stop for pho­to ops and a trail­side snack before start­ing our sec­ond heli-drop descent. The trail starts off with impres­sive moun­tain views of the Pyre­nees, then drops into the for­est. We’ll end close to town and ped­al along the riv­er back to Benasque.

We’ll check into our hotel in Benasque, enjoy a final din­ner togeth­er, share sto­ries and say “Salud” to an amaz­ing adventure!

After break­fast, we offer a com­pli­men­ta­ry shut­tle back to Barcelona at 8:00 am. We will drop Rid­ers off at the Barcelona air­port (BCN) by 1:00 pm or pro­vide a drop-off to our part­ner hotel in Barcelona in the late afternoon.