Epic Mountain Bike Holidays | Spain | Basque Country | Pyrenees
Photo and Video > Latest Mountain Bike Video: “Rocky Hell Road”
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This weekend Carlos and I took our Cove G-Spots over a local mountain which sits in the Basque Country on the border between Spain and France. This isn’t a route I guide on often during our mountain bike holidays, it’s very rocky and tough. The climb is short but very sharp, most people will have to push their bike at some point. The descent is an old path up the mountain which switchbacks all the way down into France. The first time we did it Carlos commented that it was like a “rocky road to hell”, the name “Rocky Hell Road” just stuck, it’s actually not a road; it’s not hellish; it’s just rocky fun mountain biking!
This trail is part of the Basque Coast mountain bike holiday.
Larun is the most westerly of the Pyrenees mountains, sitting almost a kilometer above Biarritz. It has always held a special place in Basque culture and mythology and you can see the evidence of that in the numerous dolmens, stone circles and neolithic monuments. Some people say the name comes from runes found carved on the stones there, other people say it means “good pasture”. It has been used as a defensive position throughout history and also as a haven for witches. In 1912 a rack and pinion train was constructed which runs the 905m, (3000ft) to the summit in a very direct 4.2km and carries tourists to the bar there. Unfortunately we are currently not allowed bikes on the train, although we continue to work on changing that!
The Cove G-Spots really come into their own on this type of trails. It’s a bike which can easily be cycled to the summit but really lets you enjoy the descent. I’ve done this trail on a few different bikes now but the G-Spot just carries so much speed over the rocks it really makes it fun. This was my first real test of my Marzocchi 55’s as well and my initial impressions of well controlled damping and plushness were very much reinforced. They seem to be plush on all types of hits, from near bottoming out square edge clumsiness all the way through to the high-speed chatter in the faster sections.
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