Superb Spanish training town

[11.4]

Interested in a very inexpensive but superb town in Spain for training? Try Montefrio. It's about 40 minutes west of Granada, one of the last of the "white villages." Everything around is rolling roads through olive orchards, many old Moorish and early Christian ruins, and lots of food. Easy access to the coast and to Granada. The place some of us stayed was a series of 15th century stone homes restored by an expat Englishman. See www.donlorenzo.com. Prices on the web site are much higher right now for Christmas, but in the spring they go down. Several of us paid about $85 a night (current exchange rates) for a four night stay. Food is very inexpensive in the town below -- huge seafood paella for $10/person, for example, including wine and dessert. It's not a tourist town simply because no one has really tried to make it one -- you can spend a few days in an old traditional Spanish town where everyone dresses in black on Sundays (but they still watch Spanish road racing in the local bars). Highly recommend the place, especially for a group on a budget. You get real Spain, good weather, and great roads, away from tourists and heavy traffic.

[old_school]

In my dreams ... but absolutely beautiful!
thanks for the link

found this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24emisHDMbw)

[11.4]

There's this little cluster of Lorenzo's restored homes right under the walls of the castle on the hilltop and there's one small bed and breakfast on the edge of town (4 rooms, I believe). There are 4-5 restaurants, basically serving locals. No big hotels and the nearest highway is about 20 miles away. You have some significant hilly terrain (as this and some other YouTube videos show), and you're about 60-70 miles from being right up in the mountains. One can do a 100-mile training ride in any direction and at most cross over a highway, but never leave a two-lane farm road (or smaller). Flights to Spain are actually fairly cheap, rental cars are extremely cheap, and you get tremendous positive response from all the locals when they see you in team kit. I didn't have to pay for half of my meals and rarely paid for glasses of wine. Lorenzo will also set you up with Flamenco dancing and local meals in private homes, and will take you hiking up goat tracks onto hilltops where early Christian ruins are still untouched. This area changed hands so many times between Islamic Moors and Christian knights that road signs are bilingual in Arabic and Spanish, churches were once mosques (and vice versa), you can go walk into a local cathedral and hear a muezzin calling local Moslems to prayer a block away. I've traveled most of my life, and this place lets you get closer to the local community and makes you feel welcome in the process. We did a trip that cost less than $1000 per person for eight days, including travel from the US.

[paczki]

I'm sold.

[johnmdesigner]

I was in Cordova and Granada 3 years ago but saw only 1 bike shop in Cordova with racing equipment. Did you hear of any places where you might be able to rent a rig?
That is such a beautiful area. We drove through the mountains from Granada to Nerja and saw lots of cyclists hitting the mountain roads. Very little traffic and no guard rails. :p

[11.4]

I was in Cordova and Granada 3 years ago but saw only 1 bike shop in Cordova with racing equipment. Did you hear of any places where you might be able to rent a rig?
That is such a beautiful area. We drove through the mountains from Granada to Nerja and saw lots of cyclists hitting the mountain roads. Very little traffic and no guard rails. :p

Not much in Cordova. Granada has at least one decent shop, but if you drive the same distance down to the coast, it's like going to San Diego or Boulder -- comprehensive bike shops every other block. You can find stuff there that makes it worth the trip -- and since so many of the euro teams (pro tour and otherwise) come down to the Spanish coast to train in the early spring, they push the overall level of interest and quality of shops. And if you get there while the teams are there, if you spot one of the team members on the road they'll often be willing to give you the head mechanic's name and where he's located. They always have piles of extra equipment or equipment from the previous year (one had about 800 Conti Competition tubulars that had never been glued or mounted, but the colors changed on the bikes so the tires changed likewise -- he was selling them for 20 euros per tire). There are enough shops you hear about along the coast that you have to remember you're supposed to be there for the training.

[johnmdesigner]

And don't forget the Jamon! :D