caitelliott.co.uk » spain http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:34:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Spanish Training Camp http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2014/03/16/spanish-training-camp/ http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2014/03/16/spanish-training-camp/#comments Sun, 16 Mar 2014 19:25:51 +0000 Cait http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/?p=3990 Continue reading →]]> Despite the mild winter in Swissland this year there is only so much mud, bike cleaning and kit washing I can take. A week in the Alpujarras in southern Spain was the perfect solution. Epic climbs and even better technical rocky descents, warm sun, good food and of course rocket fuel coffee. The Enduro 29er passed the Spanish switchback test and scared me a few times with the speed it wanted to be ridden. P1010371 P1010377 P1010393 P1010404 P1010412 P1010421 P1010422 P1010423 P1010426 P1010431 P1010436 P1010449 P1010451 P1010467 P1010468 P1010469 P1010471 P1010473 P1010483 P1010485 P1010489 P1010496 P1010505 122

Suffering major withdrawal symptoms but spring has arrived in CH and the racing season is on the way…!

]]> http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2014/03/16/spanish-training-camp/feed/ 0 Mallorca – mountain biking http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2012/12/11/mallorca-mountain-biking/ http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/2012/12/11/mallorca-mountain-biking/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:00:46 +0000 Cait http://www.caitelliott.co.uk/blog/?p=3330 Continue reading →]]> After 4 days of road biking Mallorca nearly turned me into a fully blown roadie, until I hired a mountain bike. Multiply the road riding by ten and you get an idea of how good the mountain biking is there. The trails are all completely natural hiking paths through the mountains and olive terraces with fantastic views across the valley and out to sea. There is no specific routing or signposts and very few bikers but there is a leaflet available with information on where to ride. I hired a rock eating full-sus and headed for the black routes in the Soller Valley.

Incredibly rocky paths switchback through the olive groves eventually leading down to the sea and beautiful cove at Deia. The rock gardens are serious ones that would be at home on a downhill course, often steep and lasting several hundred meters, they are littered with huge unavoidable boulders and half meter high drop offs. The old men standing around picking olives and gossiping barely batted an eyelid as I went clattering past in a cloud of dust.

It was absolutely amazing riding but I was certainly glad of the full-suspension bike, you can ride so much more aggressively. Throwing the bike into the corners, launching off the drops and straight lining over the rock gardens. Awesome.

Roadies you are missing out!

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