If you want to come here on your mountain biking holiday then just let us know!

This weekend Carlos and I took our Cove G-Spots over a local mountain which sits in the Basque Country on the border between Spain and France. This isn’t a route I guide on often during our mountain bike holidays, it’s very rocky and tough. The climb is short but very sharp, most people will have to push their bike at some point. The descent is an old path up the mountain which switchbacks all the way down into France. The first time we did it Carlos commented that it was like a “rocky road to hell”, the name “Rocky Hell Road” just stuck, it’s actually not a road; it’s not hellish; it’s just rocky fun mountain biking!

Larun is the most westerly of the Pyrenees mountains, sitting almost a kilometer above Biarritz. It has always held a special place in Basque culture and mythology and you can see the evidence of that in the numerous dolmens, stone circles and neolithic monuments. Some people say the name comes from runes found carved on the stones there, other people say it means “good pasture”. It has been used as a defensive position throughout history and also as a haven for witches. In 1912 a rack and pinion train was constructed which runs the 905m, (3000ft) to the summit in a very direct 4.2km and carries tourists to the bar there. Unfortunately we are currently not allowed bikes on the train, although we continue to work on changing that!

The Cove G-Spots really come into their own on this type of trails. It’s a bike which can easily be cycled to the summit but really lets you enjoy the descent. I’ve done this trail on a few different bikes now but the G-Spot just carries so much speed over the rocks it really makes it fun. This was my first real test of my Marzocchi 55′s as well and my initial impressions of well controlled damping and plushness were very much reinforced. They seem to be plush on all types of hits, from near bottoming out square edge clumsiness all the way through to the high-speed chatter in the faster sections. You can read a review of my Cove G-Spot, or some initial impressions of my Marzocchi 55 RC3 Ti’s.

You can read some more information about the trail in this video here.
If you’d like to ride this trail on your mountain biking holiday with us then just let me know!

It’s incredible to think that we are half way through February already. We will be starting to offer mountain bike holidays again next month. Time is flying away and already the weeks are starting to fill up! These photos have all been taken since the start of 2012 and are from various areas, from the Basque Coast to the Pyrenees. Each picture has a story, which you can read about in the blog section of my website. Click more to see the rest of the photos! Read the post »

Basque MTB: Enjoying mountain biking in sunny Spain after a cold holiday in Scotland.

Here are some photos from the last couple of mountain bike rides on the coast here in the Basque Country. Spain’s weather has been very kind to us this week, despite it being the depths of winter, and I have been enjoying biking in the sun after my holiday in Scotland. I’ve been out on my mountain bike three times this week, and have ridden the same mountain, on the coast, each time. With a twist though. I’ve not ridden my ‘usual route’ any of these times. I’ve tried new combinations, found new trails and used old trails that I hardly ever use any more. It’s been really great for me to try out some new options. Like they say, a change is as good as a rest! Hit ‘more’ to see the rest of the photos. Read the post »

I have sorted through some of my favourite mountain biking photos from 2011 in Spain. I have organised them into a set on flickr.  The photos can be viewed below on the slideshow below or you can go directly to the set on flickr. Read the post »

As Cove (www.covebike.com)  say, “we found the G-Spot a long time ago. As one of the industry’s first Freeride bikes, the G-Spot’s been delivering world- wide pleasure for the past decade”. I first rode the original model of the G-Spot back in 2005 and, at the time, decided it was too much of a compromise for me. The burly, do-anything, frame was what I was after but the weight and pedal bob meant that realistically it wasn’t going to be the best companion for my riding. Fast forward 6 years and I am guiding for BasqueMTB, and mountain biking in the Spanish Pyrenees almost every day, and riding the new version of Cove’s G-Spot. Read the post »