{"id":11929,"date":"2015-12-31T10:14:43","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T10:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/?p=11929"},"modified":"2020-12-17T11:50:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T11:50:33","slug":"2015-mountain-bike-holidays-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/2015-mountain-bike-holidays-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Vacaciones 2015 en fotos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2015 Mountain Bike Holidays | In Photos<\/h2>\n

Our 2015 vacaciones en bicicleta de monta\u00f1a<\/a> season is coming to an end and it\u00b4s been an amazing year for all of us at basqueMTB. It\u00b4s been our most successful year ever. It\u00b4s worth writing down what we mean by that because you can measure success lots of different ways. The answer is that we reached our highest ever number of repeat visitors with 25% of 2015\u00b4s guests having had a mountain bike holiday with us before. That is the best compliment that we could hope for and it is the main measure we use to judge our success. We have had some amazing reviews, in magazines, on trip advisor and in person but it\u00b4s when people return that you know you are doing it right. Although basqueMTB has only been running our Basque Coast mountain bike holidays<\/a> for 7 years we have some people, (you know who you are and THANK YOU!) who are visiting us for the 7th, 8th and even 9th time. Feedback from guests continues to be amazing and all of us at basqueMTB are enjoying it more than ever. That\u00b4s what we mean by a successful year!<\/p>\n

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2015 started, as most years, with a healthy dose of trail building. “Celtic Flow v2.0” was born.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Lots of new trails and in 2015 we released V2.0 of our Backcountry Pyrenees holiday.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We kept the same formula: epic, wild trails with great food at the end.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This was a secret trail for the EWS but we got the heads up have been enjoying it all season.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Backcountry Pyrenees mountain biking is long and tough with the normal descent between 700m and 1500m.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This spring we had some abnormally hot weather, some guests took cooling down to the extreme!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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There are so many new trails being cleared just now. Almost every week we get a call from a local telling us to check something out.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Backcountry Pyrenees Mountain Bike Holidays | New Trails<\/h3>\n

With so many repeat visitors, new trails are a constant requirement. This year we listened to feedback from guests, looked at new possibilities and changed the Vacaciones en bicicleta de monta\u00f1a por los Pirineos<\/a> quite a lot. This spring we ran V1.3 of the holiday but for the Autumn trips we went to the full V2.0 trip. Spring 2016 we will run V2.0 of the Spring Backcountry Pyrenees mountain bike holidays too.
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“probably the best mountain bike holiday in the world.” – Rod H via Tripadvisor<\/p>\n

 
Feedback was really good on the new Backcountry Pyrenees holidays, with guests who have done both trips telling us that it was a big improvement on an already great trip. That confirms what we felt, that the trips ran a lot smoother this year with more riding time and less time in the van without compromising at all on the trails.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, the trails are just as epic on the Basque Coast.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Pyrenees trips are always fun but it\u00b4s always nice to return to the Basque Coast.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Late nights on the Basque Coast, riding out from our “Luxury” accommodation in Hondarribia.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The green, green Basque Coast treated us really well this year, with lots of sunshine and dusty trails. Not this one though!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Basque Coast isn\u00b4t all seaside, the forests are fantastic for riding in as well.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Basque Coast Mountain Bike Holidays | Fun by the Sea<\/h3>\n

We finished the Spring Pyrenees mountain bike holidays<\/a> in the middle of May and started running our vacaciones en bicicleta de monta\u00f1a en la Costa Vasca<\/a> again. The Basque coast trips started with a special guest, Anna who came all the way from Whistler to do the last of our Backcountry trips and the first of our Basque Coast trips. Anna\u00b4s partner is the main instructor at Whistler bike park so you can imagine how well she rode!
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“suffice to say, this was the best biking holiday I’ve been on and you will not be disappointed! I think the number of return visitors each year speaks volumes.” – Ant via TripAdvisor<\/p>\n

 
The Basque Coast was amazing this year, we had lots of great weather and the trails were running really well. We didn\u00b4t include many new trails this year, more will come in 2016, but lots of the older trails were updated or had new sections built so they felt really different. Every week is special but one of the highlights for the year was when we guided a young family from South Africa around and were blown away by the ability of the two young children and their positive attitude to everything. The two kids would put almost every adult we have ever guided to shame in terms of mental toughness and positive attitude.
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“Thank you again for the wonderful time we had in Spain. It was an amazing experience and definitely rate as one of our best holidays ever. To the whole team a huge thanks for your attention to detail, professionalism and care during our trip. From your first warm welcome to the last goodbyes we felt special and pampered (although often rather out of breath).” – Alida via email<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There were lots of corners, all types of corners from berms to high mountain, exposed switchbacks. Here Great Rock leads the charge during our skills weeks together.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Different trails, different exposed sections. There are some sections of exposure on the Backcountry Pyrenees but they are avoidable or you can walk.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The trails have punished bikes and bodies, with lots of vertical and rocks but we have all made it through to the end of the year.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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All the days have been great but some days have been especially epic. Here we descended through the clouds to the river below.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We organised a special trip for the EWS, with entries courtesy of Zona Zero and support. The racing was amazing and it was special to share our trails with the top riders in the world.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We rode deep into Autumn and were rewarded with snow on the high mountains and amazing colours in the forests. Our last trip finished on the 7th of November, in short sleeves.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Pyrenees Mountain Bike Holidays and the Enduro World Series<\/h3>\n

The Basque Coast trips finished a little bit early this year because on the 19th of September we headed to Ainsa for the Enduro World Series round they were hosting there. We have worked with Zona Zero since it opened and the organisation gifted us with 8 entries to the race as a thanks. With that in mind we organised a holiday, offering those Enduro entries as part of the trip. The 8 places sold out in 2 hours and for the next week we had people phoning up offering to pay above the odds for a place! To be totally honest I was quite nervous about the trip. Our normal mountain bike holidays are planned well in advance and we have plan A, plan B, plan C etc etc so that I know we can cope with pretty much any situation. For the EWS trip it wasn\u00b4t like that, there was so much information we didn\u00b4t have and it really limited how much we could plan. Thankfully the local businesses were really flexible and helped us make the last minute changes we needed to as race routes and practices schedules were released and differed from what we were expecting! Again the feedback on this trip was amazing, so much so that I think we might look at options for 2017 to run a series of “Enduro” trips centered on races in the Pyrenees.
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“I’ve done a lot of MTB trips and holidays (Trans Provence Race & Tour, Whistler, Queenstown, French Alps, Rotorua etc), so can safely say what Doug and his team deliver is absolutely World Class. I really couldn’t have asked for more. If you want an awesome week of riding on amazing trails with great people, then Doug is the man to see!” – The Dirty Nomad (if you haven’t read his blog it\u00b4s well worth it!)<\/a><\/p>\n

 
My EWS race wasn\u00b4t the best ever. I found it really hard to get the pace right, having never raced before, and was slow despite feeling like I was really going fast. I crashed hard on stage 2, managed to finish the day but the next morning it was totally impossible to get on a bike! Next time. Apparently I totally won special stage 9 though \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

After the highs and lows of the EWS, and once the hangovers cleared, we started our Backcountry Pyrenees trips again. As I said above V2.0 was a massive success and we rode some seriously amazing trails with fantastic groups from all over the world. Thanks again to everyone for letting us do this and pretend it\u00b4s work. It\u00b4s a massive privilege for us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Back on the Basque Coast, after this ride I sat in a beach bar and ate barbecued fish late into the night.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The trails right on the coast were “improved” by the government and it\u00b4s taken a few years for them to settle back in an start riding well again. Now they are definitely back though.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We rode some new trails on the coast too and drank beer on different beaches at the end of rides.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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And we rode old familiar trails plenty as well.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Chasing friends down trails, week in and week out… It\u00b4s been an amazing year.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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End of Year Summary | Looking Forward to 2016<\/h3>\n

The 2015 season finished on the 7th of November and all of the guides have been enjoying some time off. Our bodies have all suffered a bit this season and we all needed some time to recuperate. We are already preparing for our next season of vacaciones en bicicleta de monta\u00f1a<\/a> and, for example, yesterday I was digging in a new trail which will offer 600m of descent and I think will be a favourite for next year. I have also just returned from a trip to the Pyrenees to meet with local riders and be shown some of their secret trails which we will offer on our mountain bike holidays next year. We are also searching out some new trails for next year and have a couple of absolute crackers in the bag already.<\/p>\n

Next year we sadly won\u00b4t have Borja-II. It\u00b4s a pity because he was a great help this year but also because it\u00b4s unlikely we will find another guide called Borja so we will have to learn a new name. I have some plans in action for his replacement though, those of you who know basqueMTB a bit watch this space and you might be surprised!<\/p>\n

“I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life… I\u00b4d booked onto next year\u00b4s trip before getting back to the hotel on the final day” – Mark who got this published in the letters section of MBUK Magazine!<\/p>\n

We have two other new trips we are working on. First of all we have prepared the “Winter Enduro” mountain bike holiday. We are testing this trip in January 2016 and the limited spaces we offered filled up within two days of us launching the trip. We are only running two weeks this year, with small groups, to test the week out and fine tune it ready for 2017 when we will offer more trips for bigger groups. Yesterday someone laughed at the fact that we are planning for 2017 already, “don\u00b4t you know this is Spain, we don\u00b4t plan that far ahead”, he told me! As I told him, we are already 50% booked up for 2016, by the time I finish my season and have a week to relax we are already committed for the year ahead. Now is the time we have free days to plan and because 2016 is already committed we have to plan for 2017.<\/p>\n

The other new thing we are working on is a special trip, called the High Pyrenees. This trip is growing all the time and we aren\u00b4t ready to start running it for 2016. In reality the trip is probably going to be split into two new trips but more details will come out. We are looking at mule uplift, heli-biking, high mountain camps and of course epic trails. More details will come out about this trip soon!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There are some new areas we have started riding in. More details about these will come out but they have been very well received and especially in autumn the colours are amazing.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This year we also started offering more “extra-curicular” activities, like wine tours and cider house visits. Here the group races through the canyons of Zona Zero to make it back to a wine tasting in time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The groups were slightly larger this year, up to around 10 on average from around 8 on average last year. With two guides and drivers it works well though and we can divide up on the trails where needed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This year we also did some trail scouting, preparing a new trip for 2017. The HIGH PYRENEES awaits.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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We will leave you with this image, from one of the hardest but most rewarding rides I have ever done.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A Fantastic Year of Mountain Bike Holidays | THANK YOU!<\/h3>\n

Really all that is left to say is a big thank you to everyone who has come this year. It\u00b4s been fantastic and all of us at basqueMTB have really enjoyed sharing out trails, food and drink with you. Thanks to everyone who has joined us for a mountain bike holiday and special thanks to all the people who have come back for repeat visits. It\u00b4s a fantastic privilege to show you all around the mountains and be able to call it work, thanks!<\/p>\n

Also thanks to all the people who have helped us out with equipment, or given it to us to test. That\u00b4s you guys, Orbea<\/a>, Mavic<\/a>, Osprey Packs<\/a> y Rahox Brake Pads<\/a>. It\u00b4s been great testing your stuff and not worrying about the kit we use has helped make the year much more enjoyable. We will be putting up more review of the kit we use through the next few months.<\/p>\n

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All the photos in this article have been taken by basqueMTB and are our property. If you would like to use them for anything then please get in touch and we can help you out.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a1Reserve sus vacaciones en bicicleta de monta\u00f1a BasqueMTB!<\/h2>

M\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n<\/p><\/div><\/div>

M\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consulte nuestras \u00faltimas historias<\/h2>\n\n\n
\"Bera<\/a><\/div>

Building MTB Trails In The Basque Country and Building Community<\/a><\/h3>
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Essentials for MTB Holidays<\/a><\/h3>
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En marcha: \u00danete a una excursi\u00f3n en BTT por los Pirineos en primavera de 2025<\/a><\/h3>
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Bicicleta de monta\u00f1a en los Pirineos: Senderos y h\u00e9roes locales<\/a><\/h3>
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<\/div><\/div><\/article>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountain bike holidays in Spain | 2015 mountain bike holidays in photos. basqueMTB has had an amazing year guiding in the Pyrenees and Basque Coast.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[612],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mtb-holiday"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/BASQUEMTB-1410821-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/BASQUEMTB-1410821-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/author\/admin\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.basquemtb.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}