What exactly is "Zona Zero" and where is it . . . ?
Zona Zero is the name given to an area on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountains that is home to a collection of around 1000 kilometers of signed and maintained MTB trails and, more recently, a collection of Road Routes.
The name Zona Zero means "Ground Zero" in English. Zona Zero is considered to be the "Ground Zero of Mountain Biking" in this part of the world.
Years ago, when Mountain Biking first became popular here, local youngsters used to ride their mountain bikes along the fire-break tracks, sheep trails and ancient footpaths of the area. Slowly but surely over those early years, lots of the little paths - or Caminos as they are known, were "bedded in" through regular use and joined together to form a network of trails. The "Asociacion de Amigos de los Caminos Tradicionales de Sobrabe" (the association of Friends of the Tradicional Paths of the Sobabe area) was formed to look after their upkeep.
Then around 10 years ago Spain (along with much of the rest of the world) entered a period of recession. Spain was hit hard and entered what is today referred to as "The Crisis". The bigger towns & the cities of Spain suffered, but the rural areas were hit especially hard. Testament as to how hard the rural areas were hit can be seen today when riding through the deserted and abandoned villages that litter the countryside. . . .
The story goes that a group of local businessmen, councillors and the members of the "Asociacion de Amigos de los Caminos Tradicionales de Sobrabe" sat down together one day to discuss what could be done to save the medieval town of Ainsa and it's neighbours from suffering the same fate as was happening to the rest of the country and whether the cycling trails could be a part of the solution. Ultimately, this is how Zona Zero was born.
Today Zona Zero is a large and professional operation. Bilingual staff in the office, new trails are being added all the time, accurate and easy to read maps are available in shops, hotels and tourist information offices and this year an App called "ZTrails" was released. Zona Zero has twice hosted a Round of the Enduro Series. In 2015 and again this year.
Geographically, Zona Zero is situated about mid way between the Mediterranean coast to the east and San Sebastian over on the west coast, and is 45km south of the French border.
Surrounded by beautiful scenery, mountains and valleys, fields and forests, rivers and lakes . . and all covered in a web of trails, tracks and paths, winding between the many villages and hermitages of the area . . . . Truly a very nice place to live!
