guiding > Photos from this Season’s Mountain Bike Holidays
We have just finished our 2011 mountain bike holidays here in Spain. I have put together a selection of photos and a quick round up of everyone who spent their holidays mountain biking in Spain with BasqueMTB. There are a lot of photos here so it might be a bit slow to load up for you but these are some of the best mountain bike holiday photos from 2011 so hopefully it is worth it. I have also encouraged everyone who holidayed with us to put a comment at the end of the post, so this will hopefully turn into a bit of a guestbook. I hope you enjoy and if you have visited us the please comment!
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| First up this season was a mountain biking stag party organised by Dave Turner. Sadly Angus fell on the first dowhill and broke his collar bone but he was x-rayed and sitting in his hotel with a beer within an hour! | ||
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| Next we were visited by three friends on holiday from Denmark, Jonas, Jon and Iain. The guys were fit beyond belief and Jonas’s bike, a carbon fiber Santa Cruz tallboy bling machine, was a thing of beauty! This certainly woke my legs up for the season. | ||
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| Tony and “one more hill” Barbara from Calderdale were next to visit this part of Spain on holiday. They were used to test out my Mendaur loop, a monster that I would then drag many (happy) bikers round through the season. Tony and Barbara also stand as the one couple who finished Etch-a-Sketch and opted to do the extra loop! | ||
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| John, Fergal, Mark, Ray and John were a bunch of Irish mountain bikers from all over the place. As is always the case with my Celtic cousins the banter was fantastic and the van smelt of booze every morning! | Robert was a retired jet pilot and you could sort of tell that with the way he rode his bike… fast and skilled! | |
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| The next holiday was Stu, Alzy and Jamie, friends from Scotland. Stu has visited every year since I’ve been open… he genuinely likes it and I don’t twist his arm! Sadly Alzy got food poisoning in Stanstead so missed a few days. Jamie had the biggest mountain bike fall I have ever seen on what has come to be known as “Jamie’s Canal”; if you’ve ridden it with me then you know where Jamie fell! | ||
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| John and Andy visited us last year and this time round they brought James with them. James is a great rider, fit as a butchers dog, and has worked in a bike shop for ages. He is still the only guest to bring me a set of bike tyres… thank you once more James. Sadly James missed the last days holiday because he banged his knee in an unlucky little fall. | ||
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| Al and Kirsten Gilmore were due to visit with Jamie, however Jamie sustained a nasty knee injury riding in another part of Spain, with Switchbacks, so couldn’t make it. Al is an instructor at Glenmore lodge and a very good bike rider. Kirsten was improving her skills although her fitness was good, (more on that with their second visit later in this post). | ||
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| Gordy, Euan, Dave and Chris from Fyrish. These guys broke me. They climb like domestiques and descend like downhillers. Normally I get a rest on the downs if I need it but not with these guys! Fantastic week and really kicked me into shape (after I recovered). The guys had visted Spain before but not the Pyrenees or Basque Country and they were impressed with the area. | ||
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| I was looking forward to this week. Dave R, Dave H, Mini and Lor had a holiday withus last year, (and Dave R came the year before that). The change in the guys riding this year was scary. They have gone from being competent downhill to being very fast and smooth. Sadly Mini broke his collar bone on the penultimate day, he was riding so well. He’s all healed now and booked up for another holiday in 2012! | ||
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| Marc Greaves called me to organise another mountain biking stag party for 17. Phew! Any fears were unfounded; great guys and a very fun day! | Bill and Craig visited us for a wet week in July, it didn’t seem to dampen their spirits though. Also a funny coincidence when we found out that Craig went to the same school as me. Both Bill and Craig made a big impression on the owners of our accommodation and will be welcomed back with open arms! | |
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| Tim called asking about a normal holiday with one ‘touring-style’ trip including an overnight stop. We organised a ride into Pamplona using some singletrack I know and the Camino de Santiago and the guys spend that night in Pamplona. The guys were fit but after that trip we did a couple of days with a lot of uplift to rest Tim, Peter, Peter and Rocky’s legs, it is a holiday after all! Good times. | ||
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| This week another Tim, this time visiting from Belgium. Tim and Ben must be about the hardest core riders in Belgium and were well up for the techydescents! Tim also gave me loads of website advice which was fantastic. They both knew this region of Spain, having spent holidays here before but not mountain biking so it was great to show them the mountains here. | ||
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| The Great Rock Skills Adventure. A great week with skills tuition from Ed. The feedback from Danny, Tim, Dom, Tomas, Frank and Tore confirmed that everyone had a great holiday. | ||
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| Kirsten and Jasper were my second group of Belgians. We did some skills work through the week and the change in the guys biking was brilliant to see. Riding down the steps into San Sebastian at the end of the holiday with Kirsten was one of the highlights of my year. | ||
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| Kevin and his wife Jenny joined us as part of their honeymoon. A nice gentle ride ended with us watching the end of the Tour de France in a bar. | Katrin and Johan joined us withtheirchildren Lisa and Martin. Martin was only 12 but rode every day and always refused help with his bike. What a star, and another lovely family to spend a week with. | Paul and Gadi joined me for a days biking around the coast. Gadi turned up in flip flops which made the day harder for him! |
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| What can I say about the Goldsmiths? They visited us last year for a week and called from the ferry home to book two weeks this time. They are a big family of six and there’s never a dull moment. Also they’re always late in the morning so I get to have a cup of coffee at their accommodation! I liked them so much I have asked Tom to guide for me next year and he will be a big asset to BasqueMTB. | ||
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| David and Julia visited us from Canada at the start of August. They had a weeks holiday visitng other parts of Spain before they arrived in the Basque Country. We did a few of our ‘classic’ rides, like Etch-a-Sketch, and some routes that I don’t take many people on deep in the old woods. David and Julia were slightly older but were very fit and had good mountain bike skills to match which meant we got to do a lot of biking together. | ||
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| We had a few day trips around the second week in August. The first was Cliff a fellow Cove G-Spot owner for some uplifted runs. Then We had Stephen and Jenny, on holiday from Ireland. We recommended a restaurant for them and that evening Stephen proposed! Our first marriage. Finally we had Keith and Alistair join us for the third year running. Keith and Alistair’s riding has improved incredibly since their first holiday here and it was good to get to show them some of our more difficult trails. Alistair also did some filming with a remote control plane he built himself. | ||
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| Ben and Iris, from London visited us for 10 days. We did a few days together and also some more extreme days just with Ben and I. There were two highlights for me. The first was a very mellow ride around some of the traditional Basque villages, linked using paths and singletrack. The other was taking Ben up Larun, a huge climb on the border withSpain and France with a very technical descent which we both got a real buzz from. | ||
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| Jason, Andria, Paul, Sam and Dave were “The ColoRADans”. A hardcore group of bikers visiting Spain from Boulder, Colorado. Sadly Jason broke his knee mountain biking, just before coming (wear pads kids) so was confined to quarters. Ian, a race car driver, boat crash investigator, top guy and a damn good biker joined us as well. This week was fantastic! I hardly said a word all week, just listened to the banter and laughed! | ||
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| Peter, Kika, Jenn and Danny joined us for the last days of The Coloradan’s holidays and for Ian’s second week. Peter and Kika had some of the nicest mountain bikes all year with an Intense Uzzi, Tracer and a Banshee hardtail. Jenn and Danny were on more XC rigs but they kept up no problems and again I saw a big improvement in their riding over the week. We rode some mellow trails and also some harder ones, trying to mix it up for everyone. | ||
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| Al, Kirsten and Jamie joined us at the end of September for their second holiday to BasqueMTB(the first for Jamie) this year. We rodesome of the trails we’d done earlier in the year but we also rode a few new trails to keep things fresh. The highlight was riding our Mendaur Epic and climbing up into the cloud. It was stunning. | ||
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| Tony organised the 4th mountain biking Stag Party we have had this year. The guys were pretty rough in the morning but a cycle and lunch sorted them out, ready for the next night’s drinking! | Erik and his Dad joined us for a single days riding. We ended up doing a big loop on the coast, starting early in the morning. The temperature quickly climbed to around 30degC, very hot for October, and rehydration was the order of the day! | |
Tags: guiding
September 30th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Really enjoyed my time in San Sebastian, especially the biking. Everything was very well organized by Doug, transport, equipment and his local knowledge was excellent. Doug is an absolute gentleman, great craic, very understanding & helpful. He brought us to places that we never would have found by ourselves. It was a pleasure to meet him, however my arse was in bits after the trip (very much a biking related injury!). Thanks again Doug, good health and long life, you are an inspiration, Bás in Albain & bod fliuch!
September 30th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Hi Doug
Nice mashup of the season.
Believe me when I tell you it hurts to see the pictures again sitting here at my desk
Still great memories to our adventures in Pais Vasco!
Hope we can come back one day!
Tim
September 30th, 2011 at 11:41 am
An absolutely fantastic 2 weeks – thanks Doug for your hospitality, tireless good humour, terrific scenery, stunning trails and awesome guiding (and kind words)…
I will surely be back as soon as I possibly can! I am still raving about this holiday to anyone who’ll listen
September 30th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
We were absolutely hanging that morning but it was absolutely worthwhile and definitely cleared the previous night’s cobwebs.
Doug is a legend and took us round some beautiful parts of the coast. Next time we’ll drink less and go for longer ride.
Cheers mate
September 30th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
hey doug, we salute you for an epic week! There always seemed to be various wee surprises/bonuses on every ride-whether it was a great place to eat or some supa stunning terrain! Hasta la vista baby!
September 30th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Our trip to the green and pleasant Basque land was a blast. Everything went well despite the bunch of giant vultures eyeing us up one day above San Sebastian. Thanks for showing us some top trails!
September 30th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Cracking time on the skills week, highly recommended to anyone looking to sharpen up whilst blitzing the immense Basque trails. All these pics are definitely making me despair about this super flat forest I live in! Will be back
September 30th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Our trip to the green and pleasant Basque land was a blast. Everything went well despite the bunch of giant vultures eyeing us up one day above San Sebastian. Thanks for showing us some top trails!
September 30th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Our trip to the green and pleasant Basque land was a blast. Everything went well despite the bunch of giant vultures eyeing us up one day above San Sebastian. Thanks for showing us some top trails!
September 30th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Had a really great time on our few days with Doug. Great sights and trails and talk about customer service – leaving us at a bar at the bottom of the mountain and going back up himself to get the van ! We’ll be back definitely. I couldn’t recommend this enough.
October 1st, 2011 at 11:10 am
We had a
wonderful time with BasqueMTB. I learned a lot from all Doug’s tips to improve
my riding skills. He made me feel confident, with all the little compliments
behind me all the time: ‘nice, well done!’. He’s not just teaching you
technical tricks, but also shares his passion. And then there was of course
this adorable Basque landscape! Doug brings you to really desolated and
beautiful places. You should also go there just to have dinner in la fabrica J. When Jasper and I were driving
back home, it felt like we were riding in the wrong direction. Normally we never
do the same holiday two times, but this
time for sure, we will come back!
October 1st, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Hi Doug,
Me and my new Fiancee loved our one day guided trip around the hills in Hondarribia. Jenny felt so at ease with your excellent advice and kind manner on her first go at proper mountain biking and i was kept happy with an alternate route or two….just gave me a taster of more to come if i get the lads back over to you. Loved the setting and scenery.
Thanks so much for your all your help and advice in booking a lovely restaurant and adding to my proposal of marriage later in the evening,we’ll never forget that day and were so grateful. Hope you’d a successful season and you have many more to come….see you for the stag haha!!
October 1st, 2011 at 1:22 pm
And here’s some of our photos for proof,thanks for everything Doug!! Great trip all round!
October 2nd, 2011 at 11:39 am
Doug and the hills surrounding Hondarribia provided us with an excellent, varied mountain biking holiday! As well as plenty of ‘singletrack’, steep rocky descents and mountain views, we enjoyed a tour of nearby small ports and fishing village, San Sebastian and above all, a GPS aided, self guided excursion into the mountains of Navarre that, via the Camino de Santiago, led us to an overnight in Pamplona! With wonderful food to enjoy when not biking, not surprisingly, Basque MtB are at the top of our shortlist for next year!!
October 3rd, 2011 at 9:13 am
Hi Doug,
Thanks for showing us some of the best trials we’ve ever ridden so far.
Tim and myself had a great week. Nice accomodation and superb food and drinks after some great biking each day, I could get used to that!! Really liked the techy stuff and the personal touch in your guiding.
We’ll definitely come back!
October 3rd, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Thanks Doug!
Great riding, great trip.
Trails for all levels of riders.
Enough rock gardens and rock chutes to keep me very happy.
Will be back for more.
Can’t recommend basque mtb highly enough.
October 6th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Doug doesn’t mix groups, Scottish, cost effective, thrown in some
good coaching, lovely part of spain, and the trails are incredible.
so 5 out 6 positive then…
October 11th, 2011 at 7:35 am
Hi Doug,
Thank you for a wonderful day riding.
Doug showed us some amazing trails and scenery. He was very knowledgeable about mountain biking and the local trails.
I would definitely recommend him to anyone who wants a great biking experience with a very professional service in a stunning landscape. The prices are very reasonable too.
6 out of 6 points for everything from coaching, trails and everything else.
Erik
October 16th, 2011 at 8:12 am
[...] We have just finished a very busy season of mountain biking. We have had customers almost every week since April, making 2011 a fantastic season. Everyone seemed to be having fun and you can see a selection of photos from the season and some comments people have left over on the News and Views section of our website. [...]
October 18th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Looking at the photos from our week brings back some awesome memories. I think I speak for all four of our group when I say it was an amazing week of riding. Fantastic scenery, hospitality, and accomodation. I was blown away by the trails (again). There is nothing like the descents and the climbs were epic, which is what we like. Doug, as always you go above and beyond the call of duty, we don’t doubt for one second that its not hard work putting up with our terrible banter all day every day.
After it all came together on the last day our riding has gone from strength to strength. We’ll definitely be back again next year, hopefully with some new skills and kit to show off.
October 20th, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Whooah!…..I’m not sure if I agree with all of these recommendations – keep doing that and we won’t be able to book a place for next year !
Me and Craig went in early June and although the weather was mixed (sometimes it was persisting down!) Doug found a great run for us each day. Also, one really bad morning he showed us all he knew about video editing, well worth asking for.
I think you landed on your feet when you met Amaia and she dragged you over to Hondarribia Doug. Anyone who comes to you will appreciate that your holiday offers more than just the biking, (which is excellent without a doubt), we found our accommodation with Katrin and Esteban great and the town/area itself is an experience.
October 21st, 2011 at 8:39 am
We had another cracking trip to the Basque Country this year, not least ’cause I broke my collar bone on the penultimate day. However, Doug was extremely professional and the only ill effects I suffered were to my pride and the relentless comments from the other lads about how I missed the best days riding on our final day! It really was a fantastic week with some truly expert coaching, lovely trails and superb accommodation. Thanks again Doug, see you next year.
October 21st, 2011 at 8:40 am
It must be good as we couldn’t wait to come back for our second year running. Doug did another fab job of handling the extremes of the Goldsmith family, from 13 years old to many more, not an easy task especially when managing dad’s persistant falls! Trails were stunning and varied as ever, although as was the weather for a change. Torrential rain for almost a week (not typical) and a heatwave for the following week.
The scenery is breathtaking particularly from Augustine’s stunning home where we stayed again, and what a lovely family caring for us, even washing our wet muddy cycling kit.
A special thank you to the beautiful Amaia, firstly for putting up with Doug’s smelly body armour and oily bikes left in the flat and secondly for extending her Basque hospitality to the Goldsmiths. Naomi and Claire had a very special afternoon with her at the San Sebastian spa – thoroughly recommended to repair your aching bones.
You have the patience of a saint Doug, going beyond the call of duty for a guide. He will share his technical skills with you, his hard earned trail finds, his secret local bars and his delighful Scottish charm. We’ll be back.
November 5th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Thanks again Doug for an amazing holiday!
We found your guilding and advice execellent and thoroughly enjoyed the varied and exciting trails you took us on each day! Even on our first monsoon style wet day you managed to make the best of it with some great singletrack in the forests. Your friendly and professional service really made the most of the holiday and wealth of knowledge and understanding of the area shows that you really care about what people take away from their trip! The stunning accomadation is just the icing on the cake. Couldn’t recommend your holidays enough and look forward to returning soon!
Thanks again.
Jamie