[Riding suggestions] Madrid

Since it turns out there’s quite a bunch of people in this forum who reside in the city of the second-largest city of Europe, let’s talk riding advice :slight_smile:

Where do you ride regularly? What are your “treat” places? Little hidden gems?

I’ll start with my own ones, I guess.
For context, been in Madrid a couple years at this stage, mostly riding alone (thanks, pandemic). I tend to do road (a tiny bit of gravel) and I like climbs (despite not really being any good at them).

Short-distance: can’t beat Casa de Campo. There’s short and punchy climbs (Cerro Garabitas, the climb to El Teleferico from both sides…), there’s. decent amount of flat if you need to do intervals, it’s mostly closed to cars and decently populated yet not crowded. Madrid Rio is gorgeous, but often way too crowded to do anything on the bike, at least in the city sections; down south and up north, the bike path goes pretty far and is a great avenue to leave the city. To be mentioned though, Dehesa de la Villa (perfect for short & sharp VO2max repeats) and El Pardo (there’s quite a few different climbs there, my preferred one would probably be the one towards Fuencarral) if only it was a bit easier to get in and out of it (there’s a highway bang in the middle and you have to navigate your way around it).

Medium-distance: the bike paths towards Colmenar Viejo (north) and San Martin de la Vega (south-east) are pretty convenient; maybe not “nice” (as in, panoramically) but decently maintained, separated from cars and just-right busy, even on the weekends. I recently discovered the climb to Paracuellos de Jarama, which I really enjoyed (maybe just because I was on a good day :joy:).

Long(er) distance: here’s the fun stuff. I regularly head to El Escorial, and love the climb to Puerto de la Cruz Verde, both through Zarzalejo and from San Lorenzo itself. From there, you can easily get in toward Castilla y Leon, and there’s quite a few nice spots there. La Navacerrada and La Morcuera are lovely areas too, and I really liked recently the climb to Patones de Arriba. Little “hidden gem”, there’s a stunning climb with switchbacks just out of Colmenar Viejo towards Hoyo de Manzanares.

You got almost everything covered, nothing much to add from my side.

I’m sure that you know it, but Canencia and Navafría are also great climbs. Also worth mentioning a beautiful 20min climb from Colmenar to Hoyo de Manzanares.

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Is that the same one that starts with the switchbacks? Might be the one I was mentioning above (does it actually has a name? :D)

I haven’t done La Canencia and Navafria yet, they are on my list. I kind of liked La Trampa too, in the area…