For thousands of years, Spanish farmers moved their livestock from valley farms to graze in the high Pyrenees Mountains for the summer months. This movement created hundreds of incredible livestock trails, now rediscovered, and uplifted by local mountain bikers in search of adventure. This unique history of Spain has helped create a vibrant mountain bike scene you need to experience.
The trails crisscross over million-year-old sea beds, across wine-rich regions, through abandoned middle-age villages and along rocky foothills, before meeting the rugged Pyrenees mountains — the natural border between Spain and France. The terrain offers up the perfect ingredients for an awe-inspiring mountain bike trip. Technical singletrack riding in the heart of the Pyrenees is topped off with mouth-watering Spanish cuisine (‘tapas’ included), local wine pairings and fascinating, rich cultural experiences. Descend 4,000 vertical meters in one day, pedal by 1,000-year-old castles and take countless photographs — the memories you’ll create on this ride will not be forgotten.
Is This Ride For You?
You are a skilled mountain biker who loves a good challenge, long descents and a fair amount of pedal assisted pedaling to keep you in shape! You’re fine breaking a sweat if it means incredible views and getting off-the-beaten-track where the chances of seeing another mountain biker are slim. You thrive off epic descents with the help of your pedal-assisted mountain bike. You’re comfortable riding rocky terrain, including rock slabs, loose rocks, grippy rock, slippery rocks — rock on! You’re comfortable riding for up to 6 hours a day, for multiple days. You have a solid, well-maintained do-it-all trail E‑MTB. (with roughly 130–160mm of travel, dropper post and beefy tires. Rentals are included on this Ride!). You love eating like royalty, trying new foods and learning about the local culture and history of the destination you’re visiting.
*e‑MTB is included in trip price.
Itinerary
Day 1. The Outskirts of Ainsa
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. From there, it’s off to the medieval town of Aínsa!
Upon arriving in Aínsa, you’ll meet your guides, review the week’s itinerary, get your bike set up, 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!
Day 2. Exploring Aínsa
Rise and shine!
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel and then suit up to ride!
Today’s riding includes chunky rock gardens, rooty singletrack, and lots of fun! We’ll put the ebikes to the test with some good mileage today, and some epic downhill routes. Aínsa has classic areas of grey earth, and is home to some of the trails of the Enduro World Series!
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.
Day 3. La Fueva
Good morning Aínsa! Pack your bags up and then head to breakfast — after riding today we’ll be heading to our next hotel.
After breakfast at the hotel, we’ll spend another day exploring the incredible trails around Aínsa before heading to Bielsa.
Only 15 minutes from Ainsa you’ll find the Valley of La Fueva, always under the watchful gaze of the the fortress high above in Muro de Roda (“the wall of Roda”). This fortress-castle will be our hub for the day, as many trails begin and end there.
This region has a strong Mediterranean climate, which you can see in the vegetation and rocky terrain. After the ride, we’ll enjoy a cold post-ride beverage and cheers to another day on the trails!
We’ll head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. Dinner is on your own tonight and the guides can make recommendations on the best restaurants in Bielsa. Explore on your own or join other riders.
Day 4. Bielsa
Rise and Shine!
Today we ride the region of the border town of Bielsa — just an hour and a half north of Aínsa.
We leave the Mediterranean forests for the high mountains, where you’ll find some super fun and flowy trails with lots of loam and some amazing views. You’ll get to experience big mountain views and singletrack straight of a dream at the door of the Ordesa National Park.
After a solid day of riding, we’ll head back to our hotel and get ready for dinner.
We’ll enjoy dinner as a group tonight! Share your stories of the trip so far, what you ride back home, and just enjoy each other’s company.
Day 5. La Pobla de Segur
Wake up and enjoy breakfast at our Bielsa hotel before packing up and heading south to our next destination — Tremp. Along the way we’ll stop in the little town of La Pobla de Segur (The Town of Security). Originally settled north of where the town is presently, La Pobla de Segur was moved to its current location in the mid 13th century.
Get ready for some long descents, a constantly changing landscape from pine and moss forests to more cobbled and rocky outcroppings. Just like the landscape, there is a good variety in the trails as well — from flowy and fast to technical and spicy.
After we finish riding, we’ll continue just south of Tremp, where we will spend our last nights in Spain. Our hotel is a historic one, with it being originally started as a small inn by the family’s great grandfather.
Day 6. Tremp Day 1
¡Buenos días, Tremp! Wake up and enjoy breakfast before getting out and hitting the trails.
In addition to being a climbing paradise, and thanks to the local riders, they now have undoubtedly some of the best descents in the Pyrenees.
You will find yourself riding trails full of rock and sandstone. You’ll be impressed by the excellent work the local trail builders accomplished!
Trails will vary from flow trails, to chunky tech trails — we’ll see what sounds better!
After the day of riding, we’ll head back to our hotel where we’ll soak in some incredible views and get those bikes (and ourselves) charged back up.
Enjoy dinner on your own tonight, or with other riders!
Day 7. Tremp Day 2
You’ll wake up to one more morning of amazing views of towering mountains and alpine lakes. After a hearty breakfast, we’ll get out and hit the trails — this will be our last good day of riding, so make sure to get the goods!
Tremp is home to 3 amazing ride areas, so we’ll need to split it up into two days! With some of the best trail building in the Iberian Peninsula, these three areas have a huge variety and quality of trails and will definitely have us depleting our batteries (low batteries = big smiles).
After the ride, we’ll check in to our hotel in Benasque, enjoy a final dinner together, share stories, and say “Salud” to an amazing adventure!
Day 8. Adiós, Spain!
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.
The following data represents a typical itinerary, but adventure travel can be unpredictable, and our Guides may need to make last-minute changes to ensure your enjoyment. Inclement weather, road closures, changes to the itinerary to accommodate requests, and other issues may affect the itinerary. The ride data represents an ‘average’ itinerary and may differ when you show up to ride. Our guides make every effort to stick to the itinerary as posted, but your safety is our #1 priority.
Day | Hours of riding | Distance ridden | Elevation gained | Elevation lost | Highest elevation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 16 | 4900 | 0 | 0 |
2 | 5 | 21 | 5900 | 0 | 0 |
3 | 5 | 20 | 5600 | 0 | 0 |
4 | 4 | 14 | 4300 | 0 | 0 |
5 | 6 | 25 | 5900 | 0 | 0 |
6 | 4 | 19 | 3900 | 0 | 0 |
7 | 4 | 17 | 5200 | 0 | 0 |
8 | 5 | 21 | 5200 | 0 | 0 |
9 | 4 | 19 | 5900 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 40 HRS |