Anyway…Spain. Vigo kind of gave us a bit of an excuse to explore this great and beautiful country a little bit more. We decided to delve a little deeper, to leave the Costa del Sol, ‘all–day breakfasts’ and perma–tans, and search out the real Spain, the riders Spain. Watching the rain here makes me think back to when I was a kid, and that the Spanish holiday was always a bit of a yearly tradition, something I looked forward to. I remember when I was about 11 carrying a massive watermelon back all the way on the plane for my ungrateful sister (you couldn’t get watermelons in Shropshire back then!). That’s getting off the point a bit. I guess my strongest memories from Spain would be the Sierra Nevada World Championships in 2000. It was brutal. A very high, treeless, moonscape of a place. Just sharp rocks and exposure. Sometimes beating sun and then on race day ice cold snow. And of course I remember Myles Rockwell winning it. Either that or late spring 2005 and amazing endless dusty trails, high above picture postcard villages. But of course Spain is more than that. Spain is the Missers, Vasquez, MSC, the Maxxis Cup, the Lacondeguy brothers…it is blood, sweat and much, much more…

M Rose.

Hey I guess it does rain in Spain…Marc Beaumont just won (old news now I know).