Sierra Madrid Mountain Biking

Airfare is not included in this tour, so you are responsible for arranging your own transportation to and from Spain. The first day is unscheduled, allowing you to arrive in Madrid at your convenience. Please note: due to varying international arrival times, one group transfer to the hotel will be scheduled to accommodate the majority of participants. If your flight does not align with this transfer, you will be responsible for arranging your own transportation to the hotel in Cercedilla, approximately 1 hour. After checking into our cozy hotel we will all meet together with our mountain biking guides on the first night for a welcome dinner and our first trip meeting to go over the details of the upcoming week. For those who have brought their own bicycle there will be time on this day to assemble your bikes.

Our first day on the bikes is dedicated to the "Holy Trinity" of MTB skills: Body Position, Braking, and Cornering. We combine theory with focused on-bike drills to fix bad habits and install advanced techniques, aiming for safer, faster, and more efficient riding with less fatigue. We will focus on dynamic positioning to improve climbing and descending stability, and strategic braking to learn exactly where and how to use your brakes for maximum traction without losing momentum. We also master cornering confidence by breaking down line selection and weight distribution, and introduce the art of pumping to help you unweight over obstacles and gain free momentum from transitions.

Today we take the foundations of what we have learned the previous day and apply them to the "real world" with an on-trail coaching session covering a 20km loop. We begin with a shuttle to the top of the pass to maximize gravity time, pausing at key technical features—like rock gardens, root webs, and steps—to session them until you find the smooth line. The goal today is to transition from merely surviving the trail to actively interpreting it. You will master obstacle management by learning to unweight the bike and glide over rough terrain, explore advanced braking through "controlled slides" or drifting in tight switchbacks, and practice active weight shifts to maintain traction across complex and uneven landscapes.

Now that we are starting to get into the flow and familiar with the style of riding in the region we will return to Hoyo de Manzanares where we started on our first day for a masterclass in "vertical riding" where the focus shifts from momentum to conquering vertical obstacles. On this 20km loop, we target rock slabs, steep rolls, and technical steps to bridge the gap between basic riding and advanced bike handling. You will expand our toolkit to handle terrain that usually forces riders to walk by mastering steeps & drops, focusing on body isolation and weight shifting to navigate steep drops safely. Additionally, we demystify technical climbing by transforming the wheelie into a precision skill for clearing ledges uphill, and provide an introduction to flight by teaching the physics of the manual and bunny hop to clear obstacles at speed without impact.

After breakfast we will start our day straight from the hotel to the trails. After three days of intense technical focus, today is designed as a "low-instruction, high-mileage" session to let your new skills settle into muscle memory. We move away from stopping to analyze features and focus on continuous riding, allowing you to correct your technique in real-time. We will develop instinctive positioning, learning to feel rather than think about our body position to maintain a strong attack stance even when fatigue sets in. We also focus on mastering momentum, aka (Flow), by practicing "letting the bike run" and trusting our line choice to carry speed through rough sections without over-braking. We finish the day where we started with a well deserved dinner after our epic door-to-door adventure.

The final day begins at 9:00 AM at the hotel main door to load bikes for a 1:20-hour shuttle to Mount Abantos, serving as the ultimate validation of your progress. This "Grand Finale" ride integrates every skill covered during the camp into a continuous descent through changing ecosystems, from high-alpine rock to loamy forest trails. Today we will focus on endurance descending, learning to manage fatigue to keep our form sharp, and terrain adaptation, quickly adjusting our body position as the trail shifts from loose rock to pine forest flow. This Celebration Run finishes dramatically at the gates of the historic San Lorenzo de El Escorial Monastery, where improved technique and newfound confidence finally click into a perfect trail flow.

As our adventure comes to an end, it's time to say goodbye to the rest of the group before heading our separate ways. Now, it's time to choose: return home with memories to cherish or extend the adventure further into the unknown! Note that a group shuttle will be provided to Madrid today so that participants are able to catch their onward flights or arrange further travels.