EDC Trail Ride Zaragoza, Spain.
Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 10:30 am
EDC = équipe de chèvres = Team of Goats.....yip...we're that stupid.
DAY 1
It has been a while since we rode trails together so it was decided to change that....... and of course along with that it's always laugh to see who would be first to do anything stupid.
I'd visited Christophe a few days earlier to see what his new tyres looked like, only to be informed that he'd lost one of his tyre levers and if I could bring mine along.
That was the start of it.
Three of us would meet up, with Julien coming over from Marseilles....... and head to Zaragoza in Spain.
He arrived when it was damp
A cheap hostel was booked within 10mins walk of the centre and with secure parking for €4 per night.
We meet up in good weather......
No sooner than we had gotten ready....Christophe decided we should ride twenty minutes back to his house to bring his phone that he'd left on the front wing of his Land Rover. Bravo.
We returned via Nay and headed out along elevated twisties and via Col de Marie Blanque bound for the Col du Somport tunnel and to have coffee at Canfranc in Spain. (If need be one could ride some of Section 9 of the French TET en route.)
It's cold enough at altitude so we stop at the first place we find in the main street of Canfranc where the sun can heat us up as we stand outside.
From here on to Jaca then La Pena where we'd pic up the trail.
Idiots...it's only a coffee stop.
Oh look...let me see the screen to see what I look like.
From Canfranc on to Jaca then lunch and on to La Pena via four million twisties and where we'd pic up the trail.
We stop for lunch and upon our return Christophe has a flat tyre..........rear of course...that's handy in 30c heat.
Push the moto into shade and start the repair..........
oh look.......there's a tyre lever inside......that'll be the missing one then......before it could be removed Julien and I frantically scramble over each other for our cameras whilst buckled over......
Repairs effected and off we go bound for La Pena.
Pick up the trail at the last left hand turn at the end of the main street when traveling east to west.
Here
N 42 22 919
W 000 41 928
La Pena
Just where the A 1205 is labelled in the image below....
Mark the waypoint and off we go....
Ride on to where the gap in the hill side is to find a short gorge as a gate way to the upper level.
We stop for some snaps
The short bridge now has a fence
We ride on meeting four other XT660Z's en route.
At one point you can cut a hairpin out by going straight on. This is a 100m 40 degree rocky wash out so you have to concentrate...plan B is riding on along to the hairpin where you'll meet the exit trail. You just can't see the angle in the pic.
Finally arrive at a T junction and hang right to the viewpoint above Riglos and where you can view vultures more often that not, circling. This is a dead end trail which as a turning circle.
In the summer you'll see free climbers on the Riglos cliffs.
U turn and ride past this old chapel via trails.
We ride on along all sorts of trails.....fast open straight to narrow ones traversing farm land..........the fastest I got on the straights was 143kph at one point....close to 90mph.
The day is going well and we stop in a small village for a coke break. Julien's 13 yr old boots are falling apart and he has to zip-ty them to keep them half reasonable.
We'll ride the perimeter fence of the army camp in Zaragoza.....the trail has been graded since last time and doesn't have the 100m stretches of tennis ball size rocks anymore, which was always interesting.
We get into Zaragoza and park up for a beer as we've plenty of time to get to our lodgings. It's a three hour normal ride but why not take a whole day to get there by trails and to arrive late afternoon?
Cross the bridge and you're at the town centre where they sell beer...... 3x 500mls of ice cold for €4,50
Park up on the street.....
Christophe complains of having had a niggling jag in his foot all day so decides to check it only now.....at the end of the day.....as you do.
He'd been using a drill and round wire brush disc to clean metal a few days previously and ? Yip...a strand had obviously dinged off and found it's way into his boot, up on a shelf and five metres away. I of course told him to get a lottery ticket forthwith, with that kind of luck.
1,5 cm strand......too busy laughing to take a good picture.
The usual applies.....off out on a thirsty bender that night.....
The route including the off road stuff can be downloaded here if need be.......
https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/ ... 9-37732644
.
DAY 1
It has been a while since we rode trails together so it was decided to change that....... and of course along with that it's always laugh to see who would be first to do anything stupid.
I'd visited Christophe a few days earlier to see what his new tyres looked like, only to be informed that he'd lost one of his tyre levers and if I could bring mine along.
That was the start of it.
Three of us would meet up, with Julien coming over from Marseilles....... and head to Zaragoza in Spain.
He arrived when it was damp
A cheap hostel was booked within 10mins walk of the centre and with secure parking for €4 per night.
We meet up in good weather......
No sooner than we had gotten ready....Christophe decided we should ride twenty minutes back to his house to bring his phone that he'd left on the front wing of his Land Rover. Bravo.
We returned via Nay and headed out along elevated twisties and via Col de Marie Blanque bound for the Col du Somport tunnel and to have coffee at Canfranc in Spain. (If need be one could ride some of Section 9 of the French TET en route.)
It's cold enough at altitude so we stop at the first place we find in the main street of Canfranc where the sun can heat us up as we stand outside.
From here on to Jaca then La Pena where we'd pic up the trail.
Idiots...it's only a coffee stop.
Oh look...let me see the screen to see what I look like.
From Canfranc on to Jaca then lunch and on to La Pena via four million twisties and where we'd pic up the trail.
We stop for lunch and upon our return Christophe has a flat tyre..........rear of course...that's handy in 30c heat.
Push the moto into shade and start the repair..........
oh look.......there's a tyre lever inside......that'll be the missing one then......before it could be removed Julien and I frantically scramble over each other for our cameras whilst buckled over......
Repairs effected and off we go bound for La Pena.
Pick up the trail at the last left hand turn at the end of the main street when traveling east to west.
Here
N 42 22 919
W 000 41 928
La Pena
Just where the A 1205 is labelled in the image below....
Mark the waypoint and off we go....
Ride on to where the gap in the hill side is to find a short gorge as a gate way to the upper level.
We stop for some snaps
The short bridge now has a fence
We ride on meeting four other XT660Z's en route.
At one point you can cut a hairpin out by going straight on. This is a 100m 40 degree rocky wash out so you have to concentrate...plan B is riding on along to the hairpin where you'll meet the exit trail. You just can't see the angle in the pic.
Finally arrive at a T junction and hang right to the viewpoint above Riglos and where you can view vultures more often that not, circling. This is a dead end trail which as a turning circle.
In the summer you'll see free climbers on the Riglos cliffs.
U turn and ride past this old chapel via trails.
We ride on along all sorts of trails.....fast open straight to narrow ones traversing farm land..........the fastest I got on the straights was 143kph at one point....close to 90mph.
The day is going well and we stop in a small village for a coke break. Julien's 13 yr old boots are falling apart and he has to zip-ty them to keep them half reasonable.
We'll ride the perimeter fence of the army camp in Zaragoza.....the trail has been graded since last time and doesn't have the 100m stretches of tennis ball size rocks anymore, which was always interesting.
We get into Zaragoza and park up for a beer as we've plenty of time to get to our lodgings. It's a three hour normal ride but why not take a whole day to get there by trails and to arrive late afternoon?
Cross the bridge and you're at the town centre where they sell beer...... 3x 500mls of ice cold for €4,50
Park up on the street.....
Christophe complains of having had a niggling jag in his foot all day so decides to check it only now.....at the end of the day.....as you do.
He'd been using a drill and round wire brush disc to clean metal a few days previously and ? Yip...a strand had obviously dinged off and found it's way into his boot, up on a shelf and five metres away. I of course told him to get a lottery ticket forthwith, with that kind of luck.
1,5 cm strand......too busy laughing to take a good picture.
The usual applies.....off out on a thirsty bender that night.....
The route including the off road stuff can be downloaded here if need be.......
https://www.wikiloc.com/outdoor-trails/ ... 9-37732644
.