Devon TRF Group Forum

Tour company - Adventure Rider Centre

28th to 31st October - 2 days riding and 3 overnights at the Mijas Hotel with breakfast included

Location here - the area offers over 300 sunny days of riding a year and is surrounded by the beautiful Sierra de Mijas mountain range 

Riders: Brian Sussex (me!), Trev Sussex (my bro') and Matt Sussex (my son)

I have just spent a couple of days trail riding in Southern Spain. My first time with a new tour company run by Kaz (Karen) and Baz (Barry) who used to be at Torotrail just up the road at Alhaurin el Grande. So some of the territory and trails were familiar. 

We were lucky to be the only riders booked in for the tour so had Baz and Kaz's full attention. They had looked after us very well at Torotrail and we weren't to be disappointed this time around 

First off, if you like your trail riding holidays to be stress free then I can thoroughly recommend this outfit. Basically all you have to do is sort out dates with Kaz, book your flights and that's about it. Your transfers to & from the airport are included, all the riding equipment and bikes are provided in the cost plus breakfast and lunch. The communication is excellent. You only have to pay for drinks and evening meals but, sadly, not a pasty or Tribute beer in sight 

Despite a worry about me using the name Matt instead of Matthew on the flight booking (I am glad I didn't pay the £140 fee to make the correction!) the flights between Bristol and Malaga went smoothly and on time. Just over 2 hours flight time and it was T shirts and shorts time.

Baz took us into Mijas "old" town on the first night for drinks and tapas (nearly as good as a pasty!) and collected us after breakfast the next day to take us to their base.

Firstly, the bikes on offer were all 2013 Husabergs. We had a choice and decided to leave the 2-smoke in the stables and take out the proper 4-stroke bikes a TE250, 2 x TE350 and a TE450. The TE501 was on its way over from Husaberg but it wasn't missed. A quick sum up - the 250 was fine, the 450 was a brilliant "hooligan" machine but the 350 was just right. Trev and I loved them and it was hard to prise us away from them to come home 

We are both over 17 stone and the 350 had more than enough poke to pull us out of trouble even on the longest steepest climbs.

The 450 was apt to light up the rear wheel without much throttle provocation which wasn't always helpful. We left Matt to play Knighter on the 450 which he did very well bearing in mind he hadn't been off road or even ridden a motorbike in three years 

Even so, unless doing enduros, the 350s were OTT for "just" laning in Devon - much better suited to open going.

Minor niggles - the cut-out switch was fiddly and the exhaust header needs a guard as it is all too easy to burn the expensive Klim race trouser provided. The bikes are quite tall and, as a 6 footer, I found it hard to dismount gracefully. 

Positives - comfortable riding position with excellent suspension that gave great confidence - the bigger the obstacle the harder you drove at it - worked every time! The torque and traction was amazing. Comp IVs on the front made me feel at home and, as a whole, the front end was really "planted" and inspired confidence even on the sweeping bends on the loose gravelled roads. I can't recall what was on the rear but it did the business on all types of surfaces we encountered. The hydraulic clutch was a dream - no cramp after a full days riding.

Next up the riding gear. Kaz and Baz have put a lot of thought and effort in providing superb kit which includes Klim (pronounced Klime apparently!) shirt, pants, helmet and gloves. Kaz got in a couple of XXXL helmets in especially for Trev and I and they were a perfect fit. The Forcefield body armour and knee tubes fitted well and the Alpinestar Tech 3 boots were comfortable. Matt needed the 13s  Wet weather gear is also available and we needed it on the 2nd day!

The riding. The first day was perfect trail riding weather with the trails not being too dusty (I rode TEC) and the sky a bit overcast. We were still nice and warm just in our race shirts. Baz took us through a few of his "playgrounds" where he tested us out on various hills etc so that he knew what we were capable of. We soon warmed up and were in relaxed trail riding mode. We experienced a wide variety of going but only spent a short time on concrete or tarmac. Once off the main roads you are on gravel or, as you get more rural , dirt tracks. It is very odd seeing sign posts for towns on dirt tracks! 

The lunch stop was interesting as Matt was getting quite confident using Google translate on his phone so decided to order for us. Whether by accident or design we ended up having one of each of nearly every variety of tapas on the menu  This was to have repercussions later for those in the party with less resilient digestive systems. You can understand my expression of shock-horror in the pic below when the umpteenth plate of tapas appeared.

I particularly like the single track trails. The video below shows the sort of thing and you will notice mention of our lunchtime over indulgence in all things chorizo!

We were also in hill climbing heaven and I absolutely love hill climbs but am not so keen on the downhills as will be demonstrated later 

The following video is a typical example of a hill climb which also show how tractable the 350s were. It certainly got Trev out of trouble 

Baz know a huge number of "playgrounds" and we had great fun playing on them over the two days. 

The Spanish are very relaxed and not a frown or glare experienced! In fact you are encouraged to blip the throttle and/or pull wheelies 

The second day started and finished in rain/drizzle but it was "warm" rain if you know what I mean. It didn't spoil the fun but did test your nerve on the wet Spanish concrete and tarmac! Surprising how quickly the river levels rose. We had plenty of opportunity to play in water on both days. The Husabergs didn't miss a beat despite getting some thorough soakings! A millisecond after the pic below was taken, the bike was up to the tank in a short deep section.

Matt had been messing around in the river and I thought "What the heck - he is soaked already" and decided to give him a good shower - not as successfully as I had hoped. I am not used to being a hooligan 

We had a very welcome mid-morning break for churro (Spain's answer to the doughnut) and hot chocolate.

It is interesting how bike friendly the Spanish are. We virtually parked our bikes within yards of our tables at the daytime food stops and were made most welcome. Even had a few ex-pats come up and chat.

The three pasty munchers - thoroughly soaked at this point. From R to L, Matt, me and Trev:

Baz even found us some mud to make us feel at home:

Some of the mud had that gloopy clay consistency that you get around the Tiverton (and Whimple!) areas:

Sadly I bust my camera on Day 1 and Matt didn't want to expose his expensive camera to the elements so we haven't got many pics of Day 2. Those that Baz took seem to all have a raindrop on the screen but here is an action shot just to show that the rain didn't spoil the fun.

When we got back to base, we just piled all the wet gear in a big steaming heap and, after a brew, went back to the hotel for a shower and a few beers (tres grande San Miguel por favor!) before joining Baz, Kaz and their daughter Jaz (Jasmine) for a delicious meal back in town. Sizzling gambas pil pil followed by a huge joint of griddle-cooked chicken accompanied by a few more pints of San Miguel's best. It would have been rude not to! 

We awoke the following morning to sunny skies and had a leisurely breakfast overlooking the Med.

It was all over much too quickly and were back in Blighty in time for lunch - although the Subway offering wasn't quite what we had got used to 

Great holiday - thoroughly recommended 

Many thanks to Baz and Kaz for a great holiday and, of course, Trev and Matt for their company!