Sierra de Guadarrama MTB tour

We offer you 5 different one-day excursions. The routes have been chosen for experienced bikers who like a challenge for long up hills, off-road, dirt paths and longer distances with breathtaking descents. They are combined with superb landscapes, a wealth of historic sites and towns. Finally you will enjoy the intensive life of Madrid.

At the foot of the sierra de Guadarrama there is a small village with a very stingy name: Blackberry bush means Zarzalejo in Spanish language. It lays on the slopes of two small mountains, with the unique name of The He-Women (Las Machotas) at only three quarters of and hour from Madrid. The difficulty to pronounce its name, does not match with the beauty of its surroundings and with the peace and quiet one experiments there. The village is composed of: the upper and lower Zarzalejo, its upper part dates back to the XV century.

The legend tells us Phillip II came to this village when he was looking for a site where he could construct his monastery, deciding later for the other side of the mountain. Nevertheless, Zarzalejo and its quarries supplied amply the need of first quality granite stone for the monastery.

One can admire its small chapel, unpretentious and homely, built as most all the houses in granite stone; a small part of the well known Roman aqueduct of Segovia making us realize its magnitude; and in the lower part of the village, not to be missed is part of the Roman road that lead from Mérida to Segovia with its huge rounded stones still lined up sunk in the ground. Come biking with us and grasp a moment of these past times.

You will know some of the more spectacular landscapes, the best monuments and some of the more typical villages of Spain. We will visit San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Segovia, Pedraza, Rascafría and Madrid.