13 March, 2022
The Cowboy of Guara
Guara is a gnarled land of twisted canyons punctuated by rocky mountains, a tough place where the winters are icy cold, and the summers are baking hot.
Long ago, hardy communities thrived in these lands, but at the start of the 19th century, these populations gradually drifted towards the cities seeking easier lives.
It was a similar story across much of rural Spain, tiny villages were left abandoned, and houses that once housed families quickly became bird-filled ruins.
Today´s Guara is an empty place, one of the least populated areas in Europe, with a population density roughly four times lower than the Sahara desert.
In this wild place, you tread carefully, and unwary visitors rarely go unpunished; as the locals are fond of saying, Guara will kill you if it wants to.
However, despite its rugged wildness, Guara is undeniably beautiful. It is full of contrasts and surprises with stunning rocky outcrops, crystal clear streams, impressive waterfalls, and stunning views out to the Pyrenees mountains to the north.
“This is my first time riding in Guara and it was cool to ride trails that have such a long history. I was amazed at the natural rock features and how much fun they were to ride. Today we climbed almost 2000m and I had just enough battery on the Rise”
– Damien Oton
Sometimes you find a person who is so perfectly matched to their surroundings that you assume they were always there, and that is the case when you meet Bertrand.
Beneath his dirty, wide-brimmed hat Bertrand´s animated, weatherworn face tells the story of a lifetime of adventures.
The twinkle in his eyes hints at deep humor, compassion, and love of life, but there is no mistaking that this is a tough man, someone you should treat with respect. You would be forgiven for thinking that Bertrand has been wandering these lands forever, but that is not the case.
The legend goes that Bertrand was wandering in the Sahara desert and happened to meet a fellow traveler who recognized a kindred spirit and passed the location of an abandoned village to him in a hastily drawn map.
Bertrand returned home, packed everything into his battered car, and followed the map, finally arriving at Nocito, in the center of Guara. Here he found only broken dirt tracks and partially ruined buildings, but in this wilderness, he immediately knew that he had discovered his place in this world and set about rediscovering the secrets locked there. That was over forty years ago, and he has never left.
First on foot and then with his beloved horses, Bertrand started to rediscover the old paths left behind by the generations before and set about reopening them. With the help of other like-minded pioneers, they set about rebuilding the ruined houses, stone by stone, and slowly started the long process of bringing the village back to life.
During those days, the only way to reach Nocito was via a challenging dirt track, the tiny road only arrived around 15 years ago, and it would be decades before there was electricity or a phone. Nevertheless, families formed, and children were born, including Bertrand and Maji´s daughter, Eva, who was one of the few children born in Guara in over a century. The birth of children brings life to a village, but Bertrand saw that the trails he had rediscovered could also help bring visitors, business and life to Nocito.
Those trails needed to be used, or else they would quickly disappear, and that is where we mountain bikers enter this story.
Early mountain bikers started seeking out the rugged trails which Bertrand had reopened, looking to push their limits on the most challenging natural paths they could find. And they found those paths aplenty in the Sierra de Guara. Bertrand showed the first bikers these trails on hand-drawn maps and sometimes accompanied the riders on his horse.
“When I heard that I would need to keep up with a horse on the climbs and Damien Oton on the descents there was only one bike that I wanted. The Rise!” – Doug Mcdonald
These first bikers, explored and gradually found the best trails and ways to knit them together into routes.These early explorations often pushed bikes and riders to breaking point, and more than a few local riders still bear scars or can tell of the bones they broke on these technical, unforgiving tracks. And so it was that trail by trail, and tale by tale, the legend of Guara spread through the local mountain bike community.
When Bertrand talks about his horses, he uses one word a lot, Respect.
It is central to how he forms his relationship with each horse, inviting them to come with him and promising fun rather than relying on force. There are a lot of parallels here with how we mountain bikers need to form our relationships with wild places such as Guara. We can use these lands for our pleasure, to have our fun, but RESPECT needs to be central; respect for Guara, its inhabitants, its history, its nature, and of course, for the trails. If we are respectful, we can continue to enjoy access and share these wild places, but without it, we need to understand that the relationship between mountain bikers and the wilderness will be short and full of conflict.
Ride free, have fun, explore and enjoy but do it with all the respect you can find in your heart. AUPA!
Get to know the bikes from Trail Tales
Rise M-Team
Doug and Damien ride our Rise M-Team with the 360Wh battery and Fox 36 forks. The lightweight Rise C has enough battery for fit riders to ride all day, giving just enough help to make the technical climbs in Guara fun. Both Damien and Doug choose the Maxxis Minion tyres through MyO. Doug runs the Raceface Getta Grip grips in the 33mm width which he says really help his hands on these rough trails.
TRAILHEADS
Damien Oton
Damien is one of the top enduro racers in the world and an all round nice guy as well. When not riding Damien can be found playing guitar and spending time with his family.
