Curious to see what other people opinions are of the biking over here compared to the UK. Which do you prefer (UK or Spain) and why? What type of riding do you do and do you find there is more people in the sport over here? In my opinion, Spain is better due to better weather and more natural trails instead of trail centre's, I try to stick to natural trails and find my own as you get a real buzz when you discover a new line. As for more people in the sport I would probably say yes but mostly so in Road biking. Cheers J
That's a difficult question. Not many places can beat the Lake district on a sunny day. But we have more sunny days over here. Generally, I prefer natural trails but sometimes a trail centre can be fun if all you want to do is get a good ride in without any navigattion problems. Finding your own trails in Spain can be a frustrating experience as the maps available are pretty rubbish. I've had so many trails turn into dead ends. (God bless OS maps). Unfortunately most Spanish mtbers dont seem to be into singletrack and general larking around, it's all about numbers of km ridden and how many metres they've climbed. (at least up here in Pais Vasco). There s a huge variety of riding here though, from the desrt-like stuff of Navarra and Andalucia, to the forests up here and all sorts in between. The biking is the reason I ended up here, so I guess Spain wins overall.
I dont often go to trail centre's but if I have some spare time and fancy a quick blast I tend to go to Kielder, Hamsterley, Dalby etc. I lived in Spain 2011-2012 and did not manage to get much biking in due to work but I am hoping to move back out in July so i can take my bikes over and get some proper biking in.
I'm interested to hear that the Spanish tend not to be so into the singletrack. I'm about to move to Pamplona and have been imagining plenty of small tracks to find in the surrounding hills, rather than mile munching the fire roads. In the past, my experiences in the Montanas de Palencia have been frustrated with the lack of tracks, but I just thought that it was due to the lack of population in those areas. Least though, I move from the Netherlands where mountain biking is dire and the comparison to UK and Spain is not worth deliberation; though for my part I reckon Spain should be tipped over the UK due to better climate, volume and variety of terrain and lack of competition over the outdoor spaces.
I am generalising about the Spanish style of mtbing, certainly the area round pamplona has some superb mountain biking, but the climate is more like England. Have a look at my friends business, he does mtb holidays round here/there. www.basquemtb.com Not too much of a drive from Pamplona is "Zona Zero" - natiural trails but marked out, they really are superb. http://www.bttpirineo.com/
I will probably make a trip to La Fenasosa Bike Park next time I am out, Think it is about an hour away so not too bad. I am also going to jump on the XC bike and rack some miles up to see if I can find any new trails.
Well i have lived in Málaga for the best part of my life and have only ridden here, so I can't really compare to English riding. I can say though that road biking may be more popular up north, here in the Sierra de las nieves area and most of andalucia there is a booming MTB culture. But mainly XC, i understand that back in the uk and even in the usa DH or enduro are more popular, correct?
Ive been living in the UK for 6 months, brought with me my XC 29er and i didnt really use as i can use it here, no elevation, so i understand why all the guys in Cornwall, where i lived, use hard tails with long travel forks, there are some bike parks, like Poldice and something in Falmouth, but not really much, honestly, the terrain, the elevation and the climate is by far better to ride here. But i have to say i had a lot of fun riding around the southern coastal path. And probably soon ill go back to the UK, as the situation here economically speaking is shit. But ill need a different concept of bike, more focused to have fun and less performance.
I don´t know UK, but one thing is sure. Very few countries have the diversity of Spain. Is completly different the south to the north, Levante to Castilla, Asturias o Cantabria to La Mancha. In 200 kms you can pass from the beach to skiing, so is sure that in some place you could find the mtb you like.
Having lived in serveral countries I would say Barcelona is my favourite for mountain biking. In just a few minutes from the city (and the beach) you have access to an amazing variation of trails. Great weather makes it even better!
I agree with everything, the only thing that I miss from the UK is the more singletrack type of course available in the UK.
I am the opposite situation! I am from Barcelona but living in London now. I have my old mountain bike in Spain and the road bike here in London, for a person who likes climbing UK is a nightmare, the closest I can get is a 2km long climb some of them are very steep but you can't consider them a proper climbing. Never tried MTB in the UK though, I wouldn't even know where to go... I knew a guy doing MTB in London and he was going to Richmond Park and Wimbledon area, but you could do this in a gravel bike!
I have been riding just in the south of Spain and I miss some bike parks, but you can find a lot of trails even some with ends are amazing. But due to I am thinking to move to UK for working I would like to hear experiences over there. At the end sorry for my English level.