Cycling in Spain

[forzainter]

Hi, im going to be moving to Spain in January for Nine months and was wondering if anyone knew answers to the following questions, any help is really appreciated. Firstly, is there a good cycling culture in Madrid? I could only find one club in the city and I had been thinking it'd be a great way to meet new people over there. I was also planning to race over there, does anyone know (from experience or not) whether a British Cycling silver membership and racing license makes me eligible to race over there, and how does the style of racing compare to here?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[collateral damage]

I'm from barcelona so I don't know about the clubs in madrid, but as for style of racing, it tends to be more agressive than in the US, but as long as you don't **** off some of the usual crowd, oh and prepare to be mocked if you brag about britisch cycling, but you should be fine.

 

[cromagnon]

Not exactly what you're asking but people go skiing very near to Madrid, so it must have some decent mountains around there. To me as a Brit it would be a shame to go to the continent and not try a long climb of several kilometres.

 

[shawnrohrbach]

Hi, im going to be moving to Spain in January for Nine months and was wondering if anyone knew answers to the following questions, any help is really appreciated. Firstly, is there a good cycling culture in Madrid? I could only find one club in the city and I had been thinking it'd be a great way to meet new people over there. I was also planning to race over there, does anyone know (from experience or not) whether a British Cycling silver membership and racing license makes me eligible to race over there, and how does the style of racing compare to here?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

After finishing grad school in 2000, cycled with a class mate from Amsterdam to Madrid and then up to Milano for the flight home; throughout Spain clubs would ride up behind, chat with us and then draft us until we just could not keep up. Everyone on a bike was very kind, supportive if also a little competitive with the trash talk. The Spaniards were far more welcoming than the French.

 

[isayic]

For climbing is the Sierra de Madrid with some good mountains. (Alberto Contador trains there often)