Riding in Murcia, Spain,

tubaonwheels

Will be spending a few weeks in the Murcia region next April time, based mainly in Sierra Espuna and Sierra de Maria. Anyone got any tips for that area? Happy riding road or trails - not hardcore downhill stuff though :oops:
Will also be visiting Cabo de Gata and following coast up to Valencia way. Any ideas will be much appreciated.

PS will also be spending a while in Pyrenees (Col du Tourmalet) but have that covered in another thread (road).

Steve.

Safcstuie

I'll in San Javier area in the summer and am going to follow this thread closely!

tubaonwheels

Doesn't seem to take much following.......

grazza_e

Have ridden a little bit down there, but mainly further south. A lot of the terrain is pretty bone dry and flat. From San Javier, there is a reasonable route to go south, following the coast as best you can to catergena, then mazzaron. Some pretty segments but also some pretty ugly industrial farming bits!

Closer to Murcia, I've only done the sierra espuna itself, which is a good climb. There is some really good riding around cabo de gata. I rode from Mojacar, to carboneras, then cut inland to Nijar and through the hills up to Sorbas and back. If you google the classic Almeria race it also does a great (and hilly!) inland loop, I'm sure somebody has a gps of the route online.

These days I spend most of my time up in the calpe / denia region, so if you are passing through there can give you some ideas.

I have less of a clue re trails etc. as haven't done any MTB there.

tubaonwheels

Thanks for that Grazza. I will be spending a good few days at Calpe too (intend climbing the rock) so would appreciate any ride advice for that area, happy with roads or trail.
Steve.

tubaonwheels

Not a great deal of interest in this thread but hey ho.... we are setting off this weekend and will be down in the Murcia/Almeria region in 2 or 3 weeks so if anyone is down that way post up and we can have a beer or 2 if nowt else.

Steve.

gabriel959

A lot of pro's ride there in the winter, Valverde is from around there. If you check Strava you will be able to see lots of rides around the area. Enjoy the climbing. Mount Aitana is a HC climb near Calpe.

grazza_e

Hi, bit slow on the reply, work n stuff. On Calpe, as others have mentioned strava or garmin are your friend, but I will give you some broad ideas. I'm assuming you will actually stay there, but routes should be do-able from towns in the vicinity (Denia / Javea etc.).

For base miles, best option is to head north out of calpe, you go through moraira on a nice coast road, then out toward the 332 and head north. It's hilly approx the first 10 miles, then is pan flat once you head towards denia and further north towards gandia. 332 has plenty of space, but can be busy, so suggest going through denia and you will see there is a smaller coast road that is parallel to the coast.

For hills, head out of calpe and up the hill (332), near the summit there is a sign to Xalo / Jalon. There are quite a few good climbs out that way, including the col du rotes, and the roads are generally pretty quiet, so you can't go too far wrong after heading into that valley. I sometimes do a short circuit that goes up the bernia, left to xalo then first left, you can go all the way up and loop back round to xalo and then home.

Local bike shop in calpe sells a little map for 2 euro too that has a bunch of routes, think it is called solybike.

tubaonwheels

Thanks Grazza some good info there. We are down in Almeria at present, just getting my cycling legs moving again after a few months inactivity (laziness). Only short rides so far but hilly, should be good bit fittrer by the time we get to Calpe. Going into the sierras in a week or 2 (sierra de Maria and sierra espuna) so hope to get decent rides around there.
Paella time tonight

tubaonwheels

It's very warm out here!!
Got out early for a ride today, from Totana up into Sierra Espuna nice climb and a lovely super fast descent. Only out a couple of hours but worked up a good appetite for my full English