Spain advice

[redir]

I wish I had a bike when I took a northern route trip through Spain a few years ago. Beautiful mountains down to the coast up there. Big mountains around Bilbao, beautiful place.

[aharbutt]

I've ridden quite a bit in Andalusia, and thought it was great. No need to travel across country to ride.

Malaga is full of English and German tourists, but drive to Granada two hours east and it's beautiful. I've looked up routes from the Vuelta in the past and been happy. Stage 9 of the 2013 Vuelta was one of the most beautiful rides I've ever done, and there's virtually zero traffic off the main roads.

Slightly further east there's the Sierra Nevada's if you want to climb real mountains.

But it's lovely there, all of the old white villages are spaced out very 20+kms, so you can right from village to village.

[Look585]

I just returned from a week in Andalusia; we stayed in Ronda, about an hour north of Malaga and 2 hours west of Granada. It is *very* hilly. No massive climbs, but continuously up and down. You can easily ride from the front door, but having a car was nice to avoid a few miles of garbage to get out of town.

Pop into CycleRonda and buy some maps from Ferry (super nice Dutchman who knows all the local roads). He also rents nice bikes (105-ish aluminum, well maintained) if you don't want to bring your own.

If you are into gravel, there is a ~35km section of old railroad bed to the NW of Ronda that's worth checking out. "Via Verde de la Sierra" from Olvera to Puerto Serrano. You can do an out and back or make a rather nice loop on tarmac from Olvera > Puerto Serrano and take the gravel back. The path is well maintained and rideable even on road tires.

The town of Ronda is pretty touristy, loads of restaurants and some interesting sights. I wouldn't stay a week there unless you planned some excursions like Grananda/Alhambra to keep it interesting.

[11.4]

One poster mentioned of Mallorca. This island is used for pro training camps each year and has some of the best cycling roads in the hemisphere. Plus a great track. It isn't continental Spain, and is a home to many British expats so you find English spoken everywhere, but a great place with far less auto traffic. Best of all worlds.

I definitely wouldn't stay near Ronda or any of the bigger coastal or urban centers in Andalusia. They are simply crazy. Go inland a bit. There are some gorgeous towns among the smaller white villages. One completely different possibility, still somewhat along this part of the Spanish coast, is Cadiz. An amazing town that dates back to Phoenician times, great food, and you can even take the ferry across to Morocco for rides in North Africa (which is a treat not to be missed, though it doesn't sound like you'll be in the country long enough to do so).

Perhaps you need to focus on what you want most. You have recommendations from Basque to Catalan to Asturian to Andalusian. Different riding opportunities and different off-the-bike opportunities. What do you want to do and then there are plenty of people here to focus on the right places.

[tv_vt]

Check out the Pyractif website and look for their winter Spain ride offerings. They're based in the French Pyrenees most of the year, but have a base in Spain south of Barcelona in the winter.
http://pyractif.com/cycling-packages...-training.html

[kevinvc]

What a coincidence. I leave to Spain on Thursday for a couple of weeks. I'm going to be in Madrid for about a week and then travelling up to Bilbao and driving along the northern coast west to Santiago de Compostela.

I'm hoping to spend a day or two in Oviedo and will try to do a ride from there if possible. I know this region is likely to be cool and rainy, but the trip is a family vacation to bring back the kids from an exchange program, so the route is non-negotiable. I'm not taking a bike since it would get minimal, if any, use, so I'll be dependent on finding a rental if I hope to get out at all.

[krhea]

Madrocketsci- check your PMs

KRhea

[MadRocketSci]

this is becoming a great resource for spain. I think we've got most of the major areas covered except the middle and the spanish side of the pyrenees. As i said i like HC type climbs but i'll take nice towns, good food, smooth roads and good scenery.

Girona seems to be the best no fuss build your own two day self-guided tour and easy to get to option right now. I may be back to Madrid a couple times so all the different information is definitely appreciated. Mallorca sounds amazing, met some people in Riccione last year who have trained out there, but from madrid it'd either be a flight or a long train + ferry ride. Plus, it's near Ibiza and that scares me. My ears are still ringing after spending a few sleepless days/nights on that crazy-a$$ island

Oct. in basque country may be risky weather wise, would love to ride there in the summer.

[11.4]

Originally Posted by MadRocketSci

this is becoming a great resource for spain. I think we've got most of the major areas covered except the middle and the spanish side of the pyrenees. As i said i like HC type climbs but i'll take nice towns, good food, smooth roads and good scenery.

Girona seems to be the best no fuss build your own two day self-guided tour and easy to get to option right now. I may be back to Madrid a couple times so all the different information is definitely appreciated. Mallorca sounds amazing, met some people in Riccione last year who have trained out there, but from madrid it'd either be a flight or a long train + ferry ride. Plus, it's near Ibiza and that scares me. My ears are still ringing after spending a few sleepless days/nights on that crazy-a$$ island

Oct. in basque country may be risky weather wise, would love to ride there in the summer.

Mallorca is home to thousands of expat retiree Brits, so you have very good beer and other liquor and very little noise. It's almost bucolic. Certainly nothing to worry about. If your trip was about doing a personal training camp, I'd say to go to Mallorca. It's not that hard and the environment and amenities are absolutely first rate. Beautiful little lanes and both flat areas for motor pacing or fast pacelines and some really gory hills. Paved roads that are barely wide for a single car, except no cars, that kind of thing.

For the rest, you can't go wrong with any of the suggestions. And Girona is beautiful and very civilized for a cyclist -- good shops, lots of bike awareness, and so on. It's a beautiful town, it's just become rather expensive. And if you want to get to museums and things, you might be better off riding from the outskirts of one of the bigger towns.

[WWKayaker]

I was in Girona last year, but can't help you with the October weather. I really enjoyed my time in Girona; I rode 5 days while there. All the rides were low traffic, great pavement and visually stunning. There is a very good bike shop in Girona called Bike Breaks. https://www.gironacyclecentre.com

They've some very committed road and MTB riders working there. It is a fine shop and they also sell detailed ride guides. These are not cheap, but well worth the price. They're sold as one per ride and include lots of details, elevation profiles etc.

They do rent bikes, but I brought mine, so can't comment on the quality. They do a weekly shop ride that is well worth doing. A nice mix of locals/ long term visitors and short term visitors.

I found the shop to be most helpful and am sure the bikes are well maintained. I didn't check them out, but the pride that the owners/employees take in their shop is evident. Good luck!

[BrakeL8]

I spent some time in Girona about a year and a half ago. I spent most of my time pointing my bike in one direction and just going while relying on the Google Maps app on my phone to help me figure things out when I wasn't sure about getting back. The traffic on the roads is very low and the roads quite well maintained. Girona is a nice little town with some excellent little spots you can find with a little research or footwork. The photo below is from one my rides and a good idea of what to expect out there.

[MadRocketSci]

Originally Posted by BrakeL8

I spent some time in Girona about a year and a half ago. I spent most of my time pointing my bike in one direction and just going while relying on the Google Maps app on my phone to help me figure things out when I wasn't sure about getting back.

Go west for the climbs? Northwest?

Grathiath....

[BrakeL8]

Much of the riding I was doing was taking the small roads east of the city center and just heading out without a plan.

[Likes2ridefar]

This is the ride I did in girona a few years ago. I was fortunate to be led by Evelyn Stevens when she lived there. It was nice in February. I had to put on a vest descending the climb but was otherwise in shorts and jersey.

https://www.strava.com/activities/322362