Stunning views all the way along the coast.

On Wednesday I was building a mountain bike trail in a misty forest. On Thursday I was on a mountain, high above the clouds, contemplating a long rocky descent. On Sunday we rode our bikes on perfect singletrack along the coast, near Bilbao, on a 52km epic route. What can I say, I love the Basque Country and surely it must be close to mountain bike heaven! Read on for more about Sunday’s route, or just to see the pictures of one of the most beautiful places in Spain. Read the post »

Climbing under the blue skies that were hiding above the low clouds.

Almost exactly two years ago Carlos and I were sitting with our mountain bikes at the top of a certain cross covered, 1000m peak for the first time. Talk centered around the climb, possible improvements to the route, of course, the descent. I remember looking out west and seeing another mountain with another cross on it. “Do you think that mountain is possible on bike?” I asked Carlos. “Probably” was the answer! Well that winter in Spain was spend developing bike routes on some other mountains and then it was the holiday season and there was no time for exploratory biking. Somehow we forgot. Or rather, we just didn’t remember. The idea of that peak stayed in the back of both of our minds ever since. I have just finished my holiday season so have more time and coupled with the fantastic weather this part of Spain is experiencing, suddenly the peak was in the front of our minds again. Plans were made, routes discussed and yesterday Carlos took a holiday from work. The game was on!

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The start of another big descent.

A couple of weeks ago I took a bit of a holiday down in the Spanish Pyrenees, checking out some locations for my mountain bike tours there. I rode in some stunning places, taking in the high mountains and also some of the lower foothills, where the mountain biking is arguably better. This is really a photo essay of where we ventured. Read the post »

Shimano M785 XT Disc Brakes

My quest is to find bike parts that work, brilliantly, consistently and with minimum maintenance. This mountain bike holiday season I have been riding 6 or 7 full days each week and if I spend the evenings spannering then I don’t spend them eating, sleeping or spending time with Amaia. So it came to pass when my Avid Elixirs needed bleeding, again, I took a deep breath, gingerly took my credit card out and bought myself a new set of Shimano XT M785 disc brakes. I bought mine from BikeTart for about £100 an end but they are also available from ActionSports for about €92 an end.

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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 »