1. Gallinero Trail, Benasque
Length: 9.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 558 feet
Elevation Loss: 4,296 feet
The Gallinero Trail was hands-down my favorite ride during our intensive five days of riding in the Spanish Pyrenees. We began our route from a drop-off point well above tree line, and after a little bit of pedaling, dove into an absolutely superb high-alpine traverse with million-dollar views of the gorgeous Benasque Valley below us. Some portions of the high alpine section were reminiscent of my hometown favorite—and also, one of the highest-rated trails the USA—the Monarch Crest trail. But if you can imagine riding the Monarch Crest set in a mountain range that makes the Rockies look like gentle little hills out of a children’s book, you’re getting close to grasping how grandiose the setting for the Gallinero trail is.
After enjoying the superb high alpine trail, we turned sharply downhill, and MAN did we descend! Rocky, switchbacked singletrack high above tree line, filled with boulders, eventually dropped into a steep section of red, rippled slickrock slabs, hiding optional cliff drop lines and a true playground of obstacles.
Eventually we rejoined the trees, but the technical features didn’t stop, with a root-infested switchback overlaid on top of a series of boulders that Jordi said only one of his clients had ever ridden before. Well, after scoping it out, Oyvind Aas, an editor for the Norwegian mountain bike magazine Terrengsykkel, and I decided to make numbers two and three.
As we descended further down the steep mountainside, we had a welcome respite in the form of a fast, smooth section of singletrack, with a couple of slightly-built-up (ever so slightly) berms that allowed us to grip it and rip it—but admittedly, I ripped it a bit too fast in a few spots. After getting confident on a couple of berms toward the beginning, I went screaming off a sharp un-bermed switchback, catching air and launching about 10 feet down the steep hillside, eventually bringing my momentum to a halt about 30 feet down.
But things wouldn’t stay so easy on us: despite one flat tire up high, the trail turned even more brutal down low as we dropped into a stream drainage full of muddy boulders, water crossings, and mud bogs, which eventually rattled one of my derailleur jockey wheels free, lost somewhere in the thick mud. Thankfully our route was almost complete, and a quick pavement pedal brought us back to the waiting van.
The Gallinero trail offers an absolutely incredible array of differing trail types, scenery, and environments, with each one being truly incredible! Simply put, I had a hard time thinking of a way to make this trail better, except for just making it longer.
Conclusion
Every single one of these routes delivers a mountain biking experience that’s worth flying around the world for, but combine them all together into one trip and you truly have a mountain bike adventure of epic proportions.
While I had heard of the mountain biking in the Pyrenees before, after experiencing the caliber of these trails and comparing it to the relative lack of stories dedicated to this region, I’ve decided that the Pyrenees are vastly undervalued as a mountain bike destination!
Stay tuned for my next installment tomorrow detailing 7 reasons why the Pyrenees are extremely underrated.
Thanks to MTB Dreams for making this trip possible.
