bike > Bike: San Sebastian > Moderate Sample Route

Length: 21km or 3.5 to 6 hours with a lunch stop.
Height Gain: 800m
Height Loss: 800m
Average Technical Difficulty: Moderate
Maximum Technical Difficulty: Moderate
In 3 Words: Remote Ridgeline Views
And In More: A beautiful, remote route with amazing views and a lot of singletrack. Long sections through ancient beech forests and along stunning ridgelinesmake this a memorable day out. The day is tough physically with steep climbs but not so tough technically, although riding it fast is a real challenge.

We start this ride in an old Basque village, built up around a stunning 16th century church. We set out on the roads, using old farm tracks to follow a river as it winds up a valley. It´s a gentle warm up for the legs as we gently gain height and the temperatures in this shady, steep sided valley are always pleasantly cool. The scenery is amazing, with the river running down and old trees climbing to the river bed and the valley walls. After a short while we reach the first climbing challenge of the day as the road kicks sharply up, however, before our legs start to protest too much we arrive at an old borda that´s been converted into a bed and breakfast type accommodation. How they get any customers all the way out here I honestly don´t know! Normally we stop for a rest here and get our breath back, because the next climbing challenge starts here. This is also the start of the off-road section and we will predominantly be on singletrack for the rest of the day.

Passing through the garden of the borda we pick up an old broken down path. It´s here that I was stopped by the owner of the house who was amazed that I knew this path because, according to him, only a few people ever use it and they are all from the local village! We climb steeply through the woods on a climb that is yet to be conquered in it´s entirety… I have got within a few meters of the top but ran out of steam and traction! It´s do-able though. Definitely. At the top of this path the gradient is more mellow for the rest of the ride and we pick up a truly breathtaking singletrack through huge, ancient beech trees that winds on for miles and miles. For me this is one of the best trails I have ridden anywhere, not very technical and it undulates up and down following the contours of the hill but the setting is just amazing. After a few miles, but all too soon for me, this trail stops and we pick up a very faint track which becomes more and more defined until it turns into a dirt track and leads us all the way to our lunch stop. The lunch stop is a special surprise!I won´t say any more and will keep the surprise. Sitting having lunch we are almost always treated to an aerial acrobatics display by the biggest dragonflies I have ever seen, it´s a beautiful sight to watch them cavorting between us and the seemingly endless mountain views.

So, lunch finished and we are at about 900m, with the van parked about 800m below us,  but it´s not all downhill yet! We have some more pedalling still, and although it´s mostly downhill now, there are still some climbs to get up! We ride along a ridge, linking a horseshoe shaped “cirque” of mountains and are treated to 360 degrees of mountain views. The trail here is quite loose and rocky but with bedrock sections and it´s all singletrack, quite hard to ride fast and challenging in places. After a few kilometers of undulating we have a very short carry, about 5 minutes, before the descent proper starts. We start off on some horse track, riding at warp speed on grassy singletrack which clings to the contour of the hill and twists and turns withan amazing flow. This goes on until your legs and arms are burning and we normally have to stop a couple of times before we get into the woods. Here the trail changes completely and for the next section we are charging through leafy turns with natural berms and the perfect drifty surface. Again we will have to stop to shake out those arms and legs before we hit the last section, where the trail changes again. Now we are riding down a far more defined singletrack path which is never too steep but has loads of great corners and is bumpy in places. Some of the corners have perfect berms, letting you really lean the bike over and carve round them, others are loose and flat meaning you need to either control your speed or get a foot out and slide a bit! It´s an amazing section of trail, I couldn´t believe it when I first rode it, it´s like someone has built it for bikes but of course they haven´t! We normally have to stop for a breather on this last section before it drops us out right at the van and a great local pub where 4 beers will cost about €5! Happy days!