This week I was lucky enough to have the Navurros, a group of hardy Spanish bikers from around Pamplona, show me some seminal mountain biking on one of their secret trails. They reckon this is one of the best trails in their part of Spain and I knew that I would never have found it without a local guide, so I was really excited to give it a try. I had done the second part of the route before, using a car for uplift, so I had some inkling what to expect, however this time we were starting at around 300m and biking the whole loop, peaking at around 1450m, so it was a bit of a different proposition! Epic “mountain-bike-eering” in it’s truest form was the order of the day! Read the post »

A route profile will be available soon, we’re just sorting out some glitches with the GPS software!

Note:  I’ve got a new GPS and can do the route profiles now. They’ll be coming as soon as I do this route again to record it.

A fifteen minute drive away Larrun is the tallest peak in the immediate vicinity of our base and regarded as the last mountain in the Pyrenees range. It’s a pyramid shaped peak on the French border with loads of great tracks, some of which are a real challenge.

Starting at around 400m’s in the Col de Ibardin we warm up on a combination of fireroad and tricky singletrack, slowly climbing to the first big descent of the day. “Cheeky Larrun” plummets from around 700m’s to just above sea level and is a real challenge with tight switchbacks and steep rocky chutes.  Once you realise just how grippy the rock is  you can start to come off the brakes a bit and float over the rocks before having to haul on the anchors for yet another switchback. The second half of the descent is very fast and furious but line choice is critical to get you safely through the rock gardens.  Using a combination of singletrack and the“Old Roman Road” to climb we wind our way gently through a beautiful green valley to a Venta. or mountain restaurant, for a lunch of either a “menu del dia” or “bocadillo” sandwich washed down with local “sidre”! The next descent, “Dutch Courage” is a short but intense experience which so far nobody has managed to get down without a dab, although a dose of sidre definitely makes it less intimidating. A mellow climb should clear your heads before we start our descent of “Cibourne Weaver”.This descent starts off very steeply with switchbacks over a combination of sharp bedrock and loose slate and will test even the very best riders. The trail then opens out again and is fast and rocky before diving into another series of switchbacks and tight chutes towards the end. We end up at another Venta for anyone who feels they need another drink. After a challenging singletrack climb we arrive at the top of “Spank the Lightning”, our final descent for the day. This starts on fast and flowing singletrack before diving down a very steep hillside with sharp corners and big steps. The last section is through a natural valley with jumps and natural berms before spitting us out into a fantastic freeride park that might interest the brave!

The whole day takes in 4 seperate descents covering almost 2000m’s of downwards fun.