Video: Riding in Ainsa 2015

How long would it take you to recognize a world class trail? What would make it top category? its remoteness? the views? the post ride? It took just one minute after arriving at the Spanish village of Ainsa, to fall in love with its tiny stone paved streets and that feeling of having a trip on a time machine centuries back. It makes sense that Ainsa is listed amongst Spain’s 25 most beautiful towns. On top of Ainsa’s ancient wall there’s a 360º view of the the mountains. The highest peaks of The Pyrenees north, the vast territory of the valley where rivers Cinca and Ara join and the majestic Peña Montañesa, a limestone massif that will charm you with two wheeled dreams.

Looking around makes you wonder... why the Enduro World Series decided to bring a race here in 2015? Local riders and entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to boost tourism in the starting wave of Enduro and decided to make an association and start recovering ancient trails used to transport cattle, merchandise or smuggling when roads were not the main path for transportation. We spoke to many elder inhabitants who remembered trail heads, and how the project has tripled hotel occupancy in three years.




As we own a MTB tours company we couldn't resist the temptation of testing the area to be sure that it was as good as we heard. After falling in love with the village and the quiet mountain ambience, we hit the trails, and as soon as you leave the tarmac you have that feeling of being in the wild, really! The area is underpopulated, that means signs of civilization disappear quickly, as you climb a couple of kilometres you hear no rumble of cars driving fast over roads, you see no houses around and only hear the sounds of your wheels cracking the dirt, your breath and the air in the threes. From time to time you pass by a farm fence, a low stone made wall, a cottage and yes… some electricity towers, but remember you are still in Europe.



As those trails are mainly used by mountain bikes you will always have the feeling of solitude of a remote place, even passing through small towns with stone houses that might look abandoned if it weren't for the sweet smell of wood-burning stoves inside. It would be difficult to define the trails, some are rocky, some loose, flow… but what defines all of them is natural singletrack, man’s hand has only cleaned them but not created them like mountain highways. You have to battle terrain in its natural shape and ground. But what really makes this area special is the pass over kilometres of what locals call 'Margas', fast flow loam soil of sedimentary clay with good grip and natural berms that will rave you and go back in town thinking you want to move here.



We are not moving… at least not yet. But we’ll be organizing groups to come here as much as possible during the riding season. Did we mention that although Ainsa is in The Pyrenees it’s only 500mts over the sea level? that means that the riding season is longer than in central Europe. Check TrackMTB to join one of our trips.

---

MENTIONS: @trackmtb

---

Posted In:
Videos Enduro World Series