Under the disguise of a family holiday I escaped for a Christmas pilgrimage of mountain biking and coffee in the Spanish sun last week. We stayed in Lanjaron in the Sierra Nevadas, an area I know well but that gets better with every visit. With dusty trails and 20°C in December I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.
The trip was made all the more exciting by the arrival of my new long travel hardtail – a Ragley Mmmbop with 150mm travel forks, fat tyres and wide handlebars. Not wanting to do things by halves I went all out freeride and got a quick release seatpost and some baggy shorts and there’s no looking back. The bike is a bit of a beast to lug 1000′s of metres uphill when you’re used to dancing around on a lightweight carbon thing but it’s rock eating abilities on the descents makes up for it.
Tello descent
Eoin riding Brutus for Men
Google Mountain ride
urban mtb in Pampaneira
Eoin spent most of the week getting sideways at every possible opportunity until he broke his bike and disappeared to join the Spaniards in the bar!
Google mountain ride
Its not just the biking – the relaxed sociable lifestyle, the food and drink, the weather and the language make it an amazing place to be. I’ve spent the last 3 months attempting (fairly unsuccessfully!) to mould myself into an uber-efficient German speaking Swiss working machine and I’m pretty sure the last week has just undone all my hard work. Thank god!
cortado sampling
Thanks to Freeridespain for the use of their back garden. More photos here.
A week is nowhere near long enough, it could be 4 months before I wear shorts again, already thinking about the next visit…