Video: Epic Trail Riding in Spain

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The area around Benidorm in Spain is mostly known for charter tourism and old people hanging out during wintertime, but middle-aged Norwegian trail riders can also have a lot of fun in the woods and mountains surrounding Altea, Albir, Alfaz del Pi and Benidorm.

Fatbikes, XC, alpine skis or even spinning are all mediocre substitutes for trail craving cyclists during the cold and dark arctic winter. Some of us are given the opportunity to feed the hunger with the NBNL (Lower Buskerud Hillblazers – name lost in translation) going to Spain for a week long trail riding bonanza.

Six of the team members procured new steeds for the season and 5 Devinci Troy’s and 1 Trek Slash were assembled with great anticipation to hind out how they would ride on dusty Spanish trails.


Who said dust? The locals in Alfaz del Pi, Valencia, Spain are always looking forward to our arrival because we bring perfect weather with us. Like previous years trips we had sunny days, 20+ Celsius, which is several degrees higher than normal temperatures for the period. We would blast through flowy trails, steep climbs, rock-gardens, jumps and trails that were built by hand, only to be interrupted with messages from our families claiming our homes were buried in snow.

The team was one man down from the beginning, as Torstein was unable to break free from his job. In addition Are went down when he strained his ankle during a late decent the first day. As substitute we called Øyvind Aas, chief editor of the Norwegian magazine “Terrengsykkel”, currently residing in Barcelona. He was able to combine a couple of days riding and reporting from the area.

We spent most of the time riding the trails we got to know and love during our previous trip, but with help from locals we found more gold worth exploring. The trail network in the area near Benidorm is close to endless, and in riding distance there will always be more trails to discover. Every mountain/hilltop has trails, just like the forests, and you are guaranteed to find trails wherever you go.


We spent part of a day to climb Sierra Galada (a mountain near Albir) where parts of the ascent were close to 30%. The hammer struck a few of us, but the reward was worth the effort: The descent down to the beach in Albir was crazy fun (and steep), and the cheering during our lunch at the beach was a stag party worthy.


We also spent a day climbing Puig Campana (at least as high as possible carrying the bikes), where the fantastic view was easily beaten by a never-ending descent. The action could compare to the kind you find in Trans-Provence, full score on the bingo card!

Riding trail bikes in this part of Spain is in many ways similar to ride back home in Drammen – you earn your turns. Every effort uphill is fully rewarded when your nose points back down. The ground is rock solid, and durable tires like the Super Gravity series are recommended.


For the curious: NBNL is a bunch of friends riding together, and a typical day in Spain looks like this: Breakfast at 10am, bacon, eggs and beans on the menu. Then fiddling around with the bikes and tanning up for an hour or two until all are ready to hit the trails. Blasting trails with constant stops, being whipped by the photomaster up and down to get decent shots. Or just nailing a difficult section with GoPro’s in our faces. Slamming lunch in our faces in one of the numerous restaurants available, then grinding more new trails, high fives and brofists displaying the excitement.

Every night we enjoy good food and drinks at highly affordable prices, then end the days by watching our footage and reliving the days highlights. Our crew is all about new experiences and brotherhood, gaining motivation and fitness for the season to come with big smiles on our faces.



Regarding highlights; the jump session where 3 of the guys nailed a pretty huge gap is definitely a winner. On our DH-bikes it would be less hassle, but riding new trail rigs it became a blast. A definite bummer was the break-in into one of the cars on the day of departure, where Macbooks, iPads, cameras and passports were stolen. Lesson learned; never leave your gear unattended.


All bikes were better than we could dream of; we’re having great expectations for the ’14 season. If failing we cannot blame the gear! 650B is a killer setup for our top guns, Svenn and Jostein will definitely be the ones to watch. No pressure.

2015? We’ll be back in Spain, providing our families and the host allow us to go.


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All pictures: Svenn Fjeldheim