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All You Need to Know: La Pinilla Bike Park, Small but Fun

Aug 25, 2017
by Yaroslav Alpizar  


The past weekend, I finally had the opportunity to visit and ride in the known La Pinilla bike park with the company of some riders from the SpainDH team from Malaga. La Pinilla is a sky station, as many bike parks, not far from Madrid, in the Segovia province. Getting here is easy as there is the main highway just 10km away; the A1 that goes all the way from Madrid to Burgos in the North. Following the same path as many other ski stations, La Pinilla opened for the first time in the summer of 2011 for mountain bikers and since then, it has been a known destination for riders of all ages from all over Spain, especially for Madrid riders, due to the short 100km drive to get here.

Twilight zone
Into the shadows.

Once you get to La Pinilla, you may think; this is small, very small, just one chairlift? But you will be surprised by how well they have managed to take advantage of that one chairlift and all the surroundings. With 18 tracks to choose from the 4-minute chair, you will certainly do at least each track twice, depending on your fitness level and skills.

La Pinilla Bikepark mountain biking trails

Uplift party
Uplift party!

We have three green level tracks: Iniciacion (Initiation), Hadas (Fairies) and SX. These tracks are flowy and really fun, for anyone starting the bike park, these are perfect.

Less than 10 years old and is hard to follow him down the trails
Less than ten years old and already hard to keep up with down the trails.

La Pinilla has five blue level tracks: The River, Exit, Holybike, Flow, and Retorno. As blue runs, you will encounter a few more features, natural obstacles, plenty of roots and some rocks. From all them, I recommend The River, the start is awesome with beautiful views over the valley, not that you will be looking into it. Holybike is well known, you could say it's the local equivalent to the mythical and known A-Line in Whistler, but of course, not so long and with fewer jumps and perfectly made berms, but is really fun.

All You Need to Know La Pinilla Bike Park Small but Fun
The River, with awesome views over the valley.

Opposite to the known standards in Whistler, here, the red ones are not the most technical tracks, black ones are those. You'll find five red lines: Mirador (Viewpoint), Campeonato de España (Spanish Championship), Secret, DH1, Ardillas (Squirrels) and La Cresta (The Crest). All of them with plenty of steps, roots and fast rocky sections, a mistake here can be dangerous.

All You Need to Know La Pinilla Bike Park Small but Fun
DH 1, a fast trail with plenty of roots.

Finally, the two black descents, Vertical and Bike Patrol. Vertical pays tribute to its name, oh man, it's certainly vertical, so hold on tight, squeeze those handlebars and enjoy the ride down. Bike Patrol is something like Dirt Merchant in Whistler, a line full of jumps - big jumps, doubles and some scary features, so be sure that you got the speed and skills to clear all them, if not, a crash here can be messy.

There is a short north shore section called "Wood Park" that links Secret (red level) and SX (green line).

Sending it
Lights and shadows
Light and shadows on the Wood Park.

The bike park is open all year long, as long as there is no snow, you can go and ride your bike. The past year, it was open until the 31st of December, imagine that. It opens just on weekends. Pricing starts at 17/20€ per day on low/high seasons and full season passes for 350€. There are bike and protection gear rentals, you can rent Specialized bikes and all the extra apparel to enjoy a full day of riding. Full face helmets are mandatory to ride in the bike park.

All You Need to Know La Pinilla Bike Park Small but Fun

All You Need to Know La Pinilla Bike Park Small but Fun
That look...scary

Horns everywhere
All You Need to Know La Pinilla Bike Park Small but Fun

All You Need to Know La Pinilla Bike Park Small but Fun

There are two options for sleeping right next to the chairlift; two hostels, one with single and double rooms and one with bunk beds where up to 14 people can sleep in the same room. Depending on your budget, you can choose between them. Breakfast is usually included and you can leave your bike in a secure place. Not far from the bike park, there are a couple of small villages, Riaza and Cerezo Arriba with some more lodging options, but you will need a car to get to the park.

Lunch time Bikepark closes for 1h midday perfect moment to refill energies and have a beer or two
Lunch time! The bike park closes for one-hour mid-day, a perfect moment to refill your energy and have a beer or two.

You can also just enjoy the beauty of the van life if you have one or a friend that has one. I myself, sleep in my own V4 van. There is a big parking lot just 200m from the chairlift where it's allowed to sleep in a van or motor/mobile home without questions asked. Just keep the noise to the minimum and don't leave your trash behind.

All pimped and ready for a nice hot day
All pimped and ready for a nice hot day.

Time to refresh even at 1740m high is hot
Time to refresh, even at 1740m high, it's hot.

After a long day on the saddle, we chose to go to the nearby village of Riaza to have a good dinner. We were recommended to try "Blue" and we nailed it. The meat was tasty, not very pricey and beers were decent. Sunday was ahead of us, so we needed to refill for another long day in the bike park and go back to Malaga.

Dinner time We found a great place in Riaza town just 5min drive from the bikepark
Dinner time! We found a great place in Riaza just a five-minute drive from the bike park.


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