The Community of Valencia is the second most mountainous region in Spain (after Asturias) and is a year-round mecca for cyclists.
The gravel riding starts at km zero in Ontinyent with a multitude of options in every direction. From Casa Sanz, there are trails less than 1km away. To the north, running west to east, lies the Serra Gross mountain range, with the Serra Enguera to the north of that, with Tuscan style valleys and ancient towns in-between. To the south and west lies the Serra Ontinyent and Serra Agullent, which then rises to the Serra Mariola National Park. To the east lies Ombria de Benicadell, the Rotogola valley and the Costera plains. To the west lies the Serra de Biar, La Solana and the Fontanars plateau. In every direction, there are amazing gravel options. spectacular climbs, miradors and an unmatched variety of gravel riding.
In this post, we'll cover what kind of bike is best for the local gravel, why the area is a gravel and mountain bike nirvana and we'll highlight some of our favourite routes. We have lots of routes that all start and finish at our base, Casa Sanz, in Ontinyent.
What kind of gravel bike, wheel size and tire size is best?
We use several bikes that fall under different ends of the gravel spectrum.
Most gravel and gentle trails - Whyte Saxon Cross or 47c gravel bike
Originally launched as a cyclo-cross bike with mountain-bike geometry, it comes with a slack fork angle, relatively low bottom bracket, longer top tube and short stem which make for a bike that broke the 3-Peaks Challenge downhill record. There's room for 40-42c tyres and 47c or more with 650b wheels. Something like this will cover a good deal of terrain in the region and copes well on tarmac too.
Best for broken back roads. Kona Roadhouse or small tyre gravel or cyclocross bike
A super comfortable 853 steel framed bike, that came equipped with 32c gravel tyres and sports a relaxed geometry for a road bike. If the route was long and flat and on mixed terrain and very gentle gravel, we might consider using this bike; but for most of the gravel rides we do, it would be out of its depth and it doesn't lend itself to exploring unknown trails in the mountains.
Our favourite option - lightweight carbon hardtail 29er
Currently our weapon of choice. Some gravel bikes can quickly get of shape on the downhill sections and we're much happier running a lightweight XC mountain bike with fast-rolling tyres. If we're going long or were planning a bike packing trip, we'd fit inner bar-ends to replicate riding on the hoods to get more aero and give us more hand positions. As for front suspension, anything more than 100mm isn't necessary.
Other Options We regularly ride with others using e-bikes of the hardtail front suspension variety, full-suspension short travel e-bikes, 27.5 hardtails with 130mm of front suspension, e-gravel bikes like the Orbea Terra. Ride what you bring! Our recommendation for gravel bikes in the Valencia region A gravel bike with at least 47c tyres or hard a tail 29er with 100mm of front suspension or rigid forks. The gravel bike will be a little quicker on the road and flatter sections, the hardtail quicker downhill and able to ride more technical terrain. The bigger the tyre, the better, as it will mean more grip and comfort. The flat terrain speed difference of drop bars is mostly negated when there's mountains involved.
What makes a great gravel riding location? Why Ontinyent is brilliant Many visitors to the region know Denia and Calpe as it's popular for road riding, but for the best gravel and mountain biking, you need to head inland as there's nowhere near the number of routes and variety near the coast and you'll end up racking up many miles on the tarmac just to get to the good stuff. There are some routes around the Jalon area, but again, it is much more limited in variety and there's a fair amount of rocky and steep stuff to contend with.
Ontinyent lies in the heart of the Vall d'Alibaida, the comarca (like a borough) that sits on the Valencia and Alicante border, one hour from Alicante and Valencia airports. It's a small town with a population of 35,000, but considerably larger than most of the towns and villages inland of the coast. There have been people living in this green and fertile area, which is also known as the Tuscany of Valencia, for thousands of years dating back to the Neolithic period (10,000 to 3000 BC). There are ancient cave dwellings and excavation settlements dating back to 1900 BC on the Barranc de Tarongers between Ontinyent and Bocairent.
Why the brief history lesson? Our local ancestors and subsequent generations gifted us goat trails, walking trails, horse and cart trails by the hundreds. There are literally thousands of miles of gravel trails in the area, passing through mountains and valleys in every direction.
Today, many of the larger gravel trails are maintained as fire roads and fire breaks, to prevent forest fires. That means we get groomed gravel trails in addition to the natural terrain and the more rugged routes
Ontinyent and Fontanars are also known as the Tuscany of Valencia. We are surrounded by rolling green hills, vineyards, almond, persimmon, olive and agrarian farming with dirt tracks linking everything together.
Great Gravel Rides In the hills around Ontinyent There are flat and rolling routes, multiple easier climbs and several really challenging climbs to suit all abilities. All starting in Ontinyent, heading in every direction on the map. We're still finding new ones all of the time. Where else has a local climb called the Turmalet?!
Serra Biar and Reconco An awesome area that takes in the west of the Serra Mariola park and the Reconcon nature reserve. Miles of gravel routes, mountain summits over 1100m and ancient towns like Biar for coffee or lunch.
Montcabrer Gravel between Ontinyent and Agres into the Serra Mariola
How does a 20km, 1000m elevation gain gravel climb sound? There's an ice cave at 1200m so bring a camera!
Between Ontinyent and Bocairent
Even on a misty day, the 10km Cami a Ponce route between Ontinyent and Bocairent is fantastic. There are lots of other ways between the two towns too, to make.
Font de la Figuera West 25kn to the west of Casa, the climb of Vallmelos is as spectacular as anything you'll ride in the region. The helicopter landing pad at 920m on Pic Capurutxo affords incredible 360-degree views. This strava route has the GPX data.
Between Fontanars and Ontinyent
There are two roads that link Fontanars and Ontinyent, the CV655 and CV660. Between the two roads is a vast network of valley trails that link the two. North of the CV660, is a network of mountain gravel trails in the Serra that link the two. South of the CV655 in the Serra Ontinyent is a network of mountain gravel trails that link the two. Once at Fontanars, there's an even bigger network of trails on the plateau. We live here, ride these routes all of the time and still haven't come close to riding everything. There are also tonnes of climbing options too, with summits and vista between 800-1100m.
Font Freda
To the west of Ontinyent. lies the fantastic gravel road that visits the Font Freda mirador. On a clear day you can see Ibiza and Valencia. On other days. the views of Benicadell are quite something too. There's a vast network of gravel roads in the Carricola valley and Serra Onitnyent to get there too.
Other gravel options
Serra Enguerra - a vast natural park with only one small village in the middle of it and miles of amazing gravel routes crisscrossing the whole area. We'll cover this in another blog, as it's one of our favourite areas.
Via Verde Serpis - a great gravel route on a disused / never finished railway line. It's a bit rocky in parks, has several long tunnels. but nevertheless is a good ride.
Via Verde de Xixarra - from Villena to Muro - it can extend to join the Serpis. It's a good route and quite flat at the western end. but doesn't offer quite the scenery and thrills of some of the routes and areas we've highlighted. It is suited to hybrid style touring bikes too.