Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

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pistonbroke
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Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by pistonbroke »

Some may have heard of my friend Ernesto, I've ridden with him several times including on the Turin Nice. During that trip he told me about a route he'd put together around his home town of Teruel. A group of us from here rode the full 700km route over a week 2 years ago. The interview is subtitled in English and he has some interesting thoughts about the impact that the influx of riders has had on the villages along the route. These places are suffering problems with depopulation and are slowly dying. It's a fairly long watch but worth sticking with. https://youtu.be/7s4nJC4VkAA
jameso
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by jameso »

Thanks for posting the link. Some of the best days riding I've done was with Scott Scattamah and Ernesto from Nice up to Turin that year, Duncan. Hadn't met either of them before yet it was like riding with friends from years back.
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faustus
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by faustus »

I'll make a point of watching this. I've seen his routes/articles on bikepacking.com, and I really like his style. The Montanas Vacias route and area looks fabulous, and is pretty much top of my list of foreign bike trips I must do. I really appreciate the way his bike adventures are tied in with the social realities of place, as well as its natural beauty.
pistonbroke
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by pistonbroke »

It certainly is a beautiful area, not chocolate box pretty like the Lakes or Alps but it has a grandeur and remoteness that's rare outside the US or Asia.
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We spend 2 days riding through the area on the Spanish Divide as the source of the river Tajo(Tagus) with its surreal statues are on the route.
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Obtaining food is certainly a challenge, especially for non Spanish speakers. On one morning on our trip we rode for 60km before finding anything for breakfast. When we finally came across a cafe, we were presented with the worlds biggest all day breakfast. :-bd
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Ernesto's values regarding the inclusivity and sustainability of developing such routes certainly chimes with me. Of course having good social networking skills and getting publicity on Bikepacking.com has helped the cause but he has also rejected the advances of the Badlands organisers to hold a race around the route. They basically wanted to parachute their Instagram Circus into the area and charge €200 for riders to race their way through villages totally unsuited to dealing with large numbers of hungry competitors.
For that alone, I applaud him.
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faustus
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by faustus »

Great photos, and that breakfast! :o

Can certainly see the appeal of remoteness - i'm certainly drawn to that too. Partly why I love the Cambrian mountains so much, because it's not traditional chocolate box beautiful, and is fairly remote and depopulated (for the UK)...though recent summers might have changed that a bit? The sparse areas of Scandinavia appeal for the same reason, including Lapland.
HUX
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by HUX »

Thanks for that Duncan. Ernesto is a thoroughly nice bloke.Good to see the route is having a positive impact on the area. It's a fantastic part of spain and anyone thinking of riding the MV will not be disappointed . And that breakfast at Bar Papi :-bd
pistonbroke
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by pistonbroke »

Ha,ha, if you recall I'd ridden off down a bloody great hill in search of a cafe. When I asked and they were serving food I nearly kissed the lady behind the bar. We ordered patatas bravas as a starter which turned out to be ott when the all day breakfast for 5 appeared, we were just finishing when the waitress turned up with a plate full of mushrooms which they had forgotten to add to the breakfast. From the photo it looks like you'd unzipped your jersey in preparation for the impending onslaught :o
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HUX
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by HUX »

I remember being absolutely stuffed. Oh ye the kitten :grin:
Email received I'll be in touch when I'm back at work.
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Richpips
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by Richpips »

I enjoyed that Duncan. He seems like a great bloke.
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ledburner
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Re: Nice Interview With The Creator of Montañasvacias

Post by ledburner »

... And for those who want to read an article instead of sub-titles https://cyclointuitio.com/montanasvacia ... kepacking/
I hope you think you know, what I might of exactly meant.
Warning - may contain value odded typos & ither mythspellings..
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