If you've stayed in Denia or especially Calpe, you'll know that the start and end of rides quickly becomes repetitive and you find yourself retracing the same routes day in and day out, quickly racking up "junk miles" just to get to the good stuff. Starting inland from near Jalon is much better, Alcoy better still, but for sheer variety of options Ontinyent is unmatched. Here are some of the ways we start our rides within the limits of the town. We've only included a couple of the main gravel options, but have not included the myriad of variations through the different urbanisations. centre of town or the mountain bike options. These options generally cover the first 5-10Km or so and we'll cover the main routes and climbs in each direction in another article. .
1) Pou Clar to Fontanars Takes the the stunning valley road along the CV-655 to Fontanars passing the Pou Clar gorge and lakes as you head out of Ontinyent. A twisting beautiful road on perfect tarmac, with no cars and amazing views.
2) Clariano river gorge to Fontanars
Follows the Clariano river bed in the centre of Ontinyent, taking you through the L'Ombria campo and vineyards for 6Km before joining the CV-655 to Fontanars.
A twisting beautiful road on perfect tarmac, with no cars and amazing views.
3) Sant Rafael to Fontanars Takes the northern CV-660 from the Sant Rafael Barrio of Ontinyent to Fontanars. The steadier climb and faster descent back option. A beautiful road on perfect tarmac, with no cars and amazing views.
4 & 5) Sant Esteve Climb
There are actually two main options starting in Ontinyent, that converge after about 1.5km to take the Sant Esteve left fork off the CV-655 to the summit of the climb.
6 & 7) Portixol Climb
The main climb of the CV-665 to the north taking you over the Serra Grossa mountain range, descends to Vallada, Mogente and Aielo. We use the two main options for the first couple of Km out of Ontinyent, although there are more through the urbanisations of Santa Ana, El Pilar and Sant Rafael.
8) Port Bocairent The stunning gorge road taking the CV-81 from Ontinyent to Bocairent. One of the best roads in the whole region.
9) Agullent Valley
One of the lesser known hidden gems, this a beautiful back country route on the Cami Vell Agullent, with options to take you via Albaida, Benissoda Azteneta and Agullent.
10) Avenida de Textil The wide Palm tree lined avenue that takes you 4km to East of Ontinyent, passing the Football ground and warehouse outlet shops of the local textile manufacturers. Fast, flat and fun!
10) Ermita Santa Ana climb An out and back climb of over 3km averaging nearly 4.5% passing the Santa Ana hermitage.
11) Cami Reial de Gandia A back country route on the CV-6640 taking you through local vineyards, olive and orange groves eastwards to Montverner and onwards to Lake Belus, Xativa and beyond.
12 & 13) Ontinyent to Aielo and Puerto Paller A route with two options that takes the CV-650 eastwards or the purpose built Cycle highway out of Ontinyent, before turning north after the Altet business of Park of Ontinyent, to join the Cv-651 and the climb of Puerto Paller.
14 & 15) Ontinyent to L'Olleria
A route with two options, taking the CV-650 or Cycle highway out of Ontinyent, before turning north to join the CV-40 service road to he tclimb of Port L'Olleria towards Xativa and Canals or to L'Olleria itself.
16 & 17) Ontinyent to Albaida
Taking the CV-641 to Albaida after either the Cv-650 or cycle highway (or even Cami Reial de Gandia)
18) Ontinyent to Bufali Again, from the east of Ontinyent, via the CV-651, Cycle highway or Cami Reial Gandi, we take the back country on the VV-2087..
17) The main road - CV-81 Ontinyent to Agullent & Albaida Like it says on the tin, the quickest way from to O to A and popular with local riders and racers. We tend to take one of the many scenic alternatives. Some locals choose to stay on the road all the way to the top of Puerto Albaida
19) Ontinyent to Agres CV-6220 quickly becomes a gravel road after the Ontinyent cemetery and it's a hard climb. It's mostly rideable on road-bike with larger tyres however, although we prefer not to descend back on this route. Once on the ridge, there are myriad of options to take you onto Agres but we tend to stick to main one.
20) Ontinyent to Agullent - Senda Cinc de Germans Another back country route to Agullent and not one we use too often as the more elevated Cami Vell Agullent affords better views and options than the already good ones on this route.
21) Ontinyent - Agullent - Albaida CV-666
There are multiple ways to get to the CV-666 which then takes you from the pretty village of Benissoda before heading onwards to Albaida and Carricola.
22) Cami a Ponce Climb After taking one of the two Fontanars routes to join the Cv-655, this gravel route takes you up and over the Serra Agullent towards Bocairent. Again, it's rideable on a gravel bike and sections of it have been paved. We're hoping it gets fully paved as the road is used buy the Guardia Forestal to spot any fires in the summer.
23) Alt del Les Figueroles
After taking the CV-660 route to Fontanars, this route takes you to the summit of Alt del Crue overlooking Ontinyent. It was paved in 2020 apart from a flat and smooth gravel section at the top.
By way of comparison ......
Calpe
Stay in Calpe and for the most part, you'll be riding out to the mountains via La Fustera, Fanadix and Benissa. That's 15Km or 45-60m riding through urbanisations, poor roads and coastal traffic. The other common alternative is via the extremely busy and unpleasant N332 road. There are options that head out behind the town, but these are also through urbanisations and up very steep and narrow roads, with traffic that''s also less forgiving of cyclists. Most riders avoid the latter and N332 where possible,.
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Denia
The roads out of Denia towards the mountains tend to be flatter than those found in Calpe and there are several different options that avoid the busier main roads to Ondara. although most are not what you would call scenic. Traffic again can be a problem at different times of the year. As with Calpe, things improve as you head inland, beyond the main motorway and by the time you've reached Pego, Pedreguer and Orba, fabulous routes can be found.
Some of the roads between Denia and Oliva are positively dangerous and must be taken with caution at certain times of the year.
When we've stayed in Denia, Calpe and Pego, we've generally avoided cycling around the Montgo area and Javea. There are some spectacular views, beautiful beach coves and short but steep climbs like the Cumbres de Sol urbanisation. However, given the choice, there's far batter riding and routes to be found inland.