Cycling B&B in the foothills of the Pyrenees

[Bonus]

We've broken the Golden Rule of Farm Life and fallen in love with a little black lamb! He's one of three born about two months ago. The other two are white, which the majority of the babies are.

We've named him "Jack" as suggested by Wendy's daughter last night. After a week of getting used to us he now comes to us as soon as he sees us to get stroked behind the ears and under the chin

Rosa actually asked me if we wanted to adopt him when she saw me stroking him the other day. I offered to buy him and keep him on the farm (rather than our apartment, obviously) but she said no, it's a gift. So now we have a pet - presumably she understands that we don't eat our pets . . .?

 

[Bonus]

Trail Clearing today with Angel and his dogs above the village of Escalona, just north of Ainsa. The trail passes the abandoned hilltop village of Muro de Bellos.

A good days work - I will go back in the week and test the trail :-)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Great thread, @Bonus .
Every time I read one of your updates, and see the photos, I think of my upcoming trip to Italy and France, for more alpine cycling. On the 6th July, the 14th and last day of cycling I'll be doing over there, if all goes as I planned, I'll be riding up to Port de Boucharo, which is right on the France / Spain border, and just under 40km (straight line) from Ainsa.

 

[Bonus]

Great thread, @Bonus .
Every time I read one of your updates, and see the photos, I think of my upcoming trip to Italy and France, for more alpine cycling. On the 6th July, the 14th and last day of cycling I'll be doing over there, if all goes as I planned, I'll be riding up to Port de Boucharo, which is right on the France / Spain border, and just under 40km (straight line) from Ainsa.

Nice!

Port de Boucharo is quite a way from us by road - thanks to the mountains! By road it's north of Broto, which is on part of the road the Vuelta took on stage 15 last year - when, essentially, CF lost the race. . . .

 

[Bonus]

Trail building with Angel & David up in the hills above Morrillo de San Pedro yesterday.

Sometimes you have to do some "trail clearing" just to get to where you want to do some trail clearing!
Yesterday was mostly breaking and shifting rocks. Hard work, but it is a fantastic piece of single track - I look forward to trying it soon!

 

[Bonus]

There is something about that 'office' that I like, but I can't quite put my finger on it ...

I also can't remember if the subject of bike hire ever came up earlier in the thread? Do you plan to offer it, or is there a decent bike hire company in the area?

I spoke to the owner of the local bike hire shop yesterday - he says you can hire MTB's and Electric-MTB's but not road bikes.

 

[Bonus]

Zona Zero have added a new route to their collection. Route number ZZ-032.

This route runs north from Fiscal (which is west of Ainsa), alongside the river Ara and is categorised as difficulty "Red".

:-)

Full details here: http://bttpirineo.co...amino-chinebral

 

[Bonus]

Had my first road ride in a while on Thursday evening.

The sun isn't setting now until past 9:30pm and the evenings are warm and beautifully clear. Mrs Bonus prefers to ride mornings.

The local roads, which are all in very good condition, are quiet and the drivers are considerate and courteous. We rarely have a car pass us that isn't so far away that it's over on the other side of the central line. If there isn't space to pass us safely then the cars wait until it is. No close passing, no horns or verbal abuse.

What a pleasure . . . .

:-)

 

[ColinJ]

Had my first road ride in a while on Thursday evening.

The sun isn't setting now until past 9:30pm and the evenings are warm and beautifully clear. Mrs Bonus prefers to ride mornings.

The local roads, which are all in very good condition, are quiet and the drivers are considerate and courteous. We rarely have a car pass us that isn't so far away that it's over on the other side of the central line. If there isn't space to pass us safely then the cars wait until it is. No close passing, no horns or verbal abuse.

What a pleasure . . . .

:-)

Sounds great!

What is the local broadband like ...? (In my pre-Brexit fantasies I thought perhaps I would retire to somewhere like Ainsa, but I'd want a BB speed of at least 10 Mb/s.)

 

[Bonus]

Sounds great!

What is the local broadband like ...? (In my pre-Brexit fantasies I thought perhaps I would retire to somewhere like Ainsa, but I'd want a BB speed of at least 10 Mb/s.)

We have 12Mb/s using a router with a Sim card which costs us about 54 € a month. Limited to 50GB/Month though - which is not much if you're using the internet in earnest! An additional 50GB will cost you a further 20 €

 

[Bonus]

On Sunday I rode with some of the Zona Zero guys - Angel, Rafa, David and Kiko on the new route that we've been clearing and building recently. We fitted a few signs but apart from that it was just "ridin."

Most of the route was rideable on my Epic but on occasions I had to get off and step over rock obstructions. Angel, David & Rafa rode 99% of the route, Kiko and I were "brothers in slowness" on the descents but I held my own on the climbs :-)

Rafa supplied transport to take us and our bikes up into the hills and then we all rode along the ridge and back down into Ainsa - via several inhabited/uninhabited villages, fetching the transport vehicle and trailer a bit later on. (It's nice that you can leave a Merc Combi and Trailer in the middle of nowhere for 8 hrs and it's still there when you go back for it!)

Some rare shots of me NOT wearing a SKY shirt!

Beautiful scenery & views, hard but rewarding climbs, wicked singletrack and some demanding descents. A fantastic day with good mates. Perfect.

 

[Bonus]

A quick Picnic next to a natural spring, then Angel showed us that he actually can descend anything!

Cleared a fallen tree and finished the ride with a ride down a cool shallow stream. :-)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

The sun isn't setting now until past 9:30pm

It looks like the sunset times will be about that when I'm in the area in early July. That will make my rides all the more enjoyable.
After my 11 day supported tour ends, I'll be riding on the 4th to 6th, spending those 3 nights at a cyclists' B&B in Saint-Savin, just south of Argeles-Gazost. My riding plan involves about 80, 100 and 120km respectively on the 3 days, since there are so many nice climbs to do.

The waiting is killing me...

 

[Bonus]

The details of the new Enduro/XC Tech route (# ZE12) have been released on the Zona Zero website.

All in Spanish I'm afraid but copy & paste to "Google translate" works well!

It's the route built recently and tested last weekend. I really enjoyed it - although it was beyond my expertise level in places, everyone else seemed to manage ;-)

There are a couple of Variations available (shown on the map) and several others that I know about that are not on the map . . . . inside information for people that come and stay with us when we open :-)

http://bttpirineo.com/es/rutas-btt-pirineo/ze12-maxi-piojo-1

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Either Google Translate failed me, or piojo is Spanish for louse, and el piojo is "the lice"?
Is there another interpretation I missed?