Crossing Communidad de Madrid, Spain by bike

The travel books will tell you Spain is not a popular destination for bike touring. This might lead you to the conclusion that it’s a bad place for touring which is wrong. Secondary roads often make for good riding in my experience. Just steer clear of autopistas. Since I live in the largest city, I think this probably applies to the whole country. If bike touring is doable here, it’s probably doable elsewhere. So after a long hiatus…here is an entry about cycling. When I first got here, everybody I asked about cycling told me about mountain bike rides, but the almost unanimous opinion of cycling on roads was that it’s too dangerous and they wouldn't do something like that. When I was directed to the "hardcore cyclist" guy of the department, and he found out I was bike commuting in Mostoles, he actually told me to ride on the sidewalk. For the record, except for a couple trouble spots, commuting in Mostoles was no problem. A few people tipped me off to what I would call “urban trails “like the green ring around Madrid, and other people told me about vias verdes which are basically the same as “rails to trails”. But nobody really thinks about, or was able to provide information about, the kind of riding I love…not particularly fast long rides that last all day. And I'm not looking for rides where you drive you bike somewhere and then ride, I mostly just want to either walk out my door or take the available public transport if its REALLY far, and ride. So I’m going to be the guy to help the next person looking for this information. The following is a description of how to cross the majority of Communidad de Madrid with little interaction with cars, either for recreational riders in the Madrid area or tourist cyclists that are crossing the interior of Spain (the communidad is like a small state, or big county). One of the worst things on a multi-day (or multi-week, or multi-month, or multi-year) tour is getting across the big cities without taking a really dumb indirect route. So that is the piece that I hope this provides to someone who wanders across this on the web. Basically this is a link-up of urban trails, vias verdes and roads. There are plenty of small roads with low traffic that are perfectly safe to ride on, but I think any cyclist would enjoy and almost car-free day from time to time. Day riders might enjoy this route in pieces.

The description is from North to Southeast, but there’s no reason not to reverse the direction.

Section 1: Soto de Real to north Madrid city: ~35 km
If you are cycle touring and have wound up in Soto de Real, you have just crossed the Sierra Guadarrama not so long ago. You may have come over Pto. Navacerrada, Morcuera, Canencia, Somosierra or somewhere else in Castilla y Leon (I’ve done all but Somosierra and all are nice rides and it should be a fairly easy spin down to Soto in less than 25km, depending on which pass you came over). This trail makes use of a city funded-project to safely get road riders out of the city to the nice roads in the foothills where they want to ride. It’s a two way- paved bike road that is separated from and parallel to M-40. I don’t have a high quality map, but since it parallels M-40 the whole way (usually west side) it ain’t hard to find or follow. It’s not as picturesque as the mountain country you passed through earlier, but it’s a nice rural landscape, greener than you probably suspected with lots of cow pastures. The best thing is that there is few road crossings, so it’s like a freeway for bikes. The worst thing is that there is zero shade, so if riding in summer make sure you’ve got the water you need, and be aware of heatstroke and dehydration symptoms. South of Colmenar Viejo you can pull into the back of a gas station-convenience store right of the trail for a sliver of shade and my favorite cycling food-ice cream bars. Unlike the Anillo Verde, below, this trail does not have water stops.

So far the website with the most complete compilation of all the bicycle routes in the Communidad is http://www.pedalibre.org/vias_ciclistas_madrid.htm
They are an advocacy group and have some description of all routes in espanol.
In the map below the Soto de Real to Madrid trail is the one running N-S near the top. The trails described below in sections 3 and 4 are also shown.

Section 2: Anillo Verde: ~ 20 km
The Anillo verde is a circular paved path around Madrid, it connects all the burbs with their monotone red brick apartment buildings (boring) , and quite a few parks (pretty nice). It’s biggest failing is that its got quite a few crossings of roads, and it can juke you if you go where you think it should go instead of where it actually goes. But it’s a great connector, especially when passing through an unfamiliar city of 5 million. To avoid getting lost, and avoid wrong turns at intersections with other urban trails, always follow the poles with an orange top. When riding the path from Soto de Real into the city, there will be a fork, one direction leading over a pedestrian path, the other direction marked by a spray painted arrow on the path. Follow the arrow, don't cross the bridge. In a few more km the path will terminate at another pedestrian-cycle bridge. You will hopefully know the terminus because the trail markings gradually disappear, and although there is room to continue riding, you would be travelling the wrong direction on the side of a freeway with no traffic barrier. I did this once, it was lame, avoid it. The real route does not put you in such a situation without a barrier. Once you’ve crossed the ped bridge look for the orange post and the anillo verde. You want to travel west. If you are confused, you were riding south on the path from Soto, so you want to basically make a convoluted right turn via the ped bridge.

The most error proof thing you can do is stay on the anillo verde, but between the 2nd rest area and a couple km beyond the 4th (Fuentelareina on the map) the road crossings might become maddening. So you could just ride the road for a few km, just keep one eye on the trail so you can catch it when it leaves the road and enters a part after the 4th rest stop. Eventually you will make it into Casa de Campo, the biggest park. It’s confusing in there, just always look out for the orange top poles. If it’s late in the day there is a youth hostel (here they are called alburgues, although FYI a hostal is a cheap hotel with shared bathrooms that can be just as cheap as an alburgue) inside the park. I’ve never stayed there, so I don’t have anything to say about it. But this park is where you can find zombie hookers, ride a cable car, go to a roller coaster park, or go to a zoo (whichever you prefer). You might also need to roll into Madrid for parts or something. The easiest thing to do is hit up Otero on Calle Segovia. This is a decent shop, although they seem to be really paranoid about theft and everything is locked up. From Lago (an artificial lake in casa de campo), exit using Puerta del Angel, turn left on Paseo de Extremadura, cross the Rio Manzanares using Puente de Segovia and then climb the hill of Calle Segovia. You’ll pass right by the domed cathedral on your left and under the viaduct (a cool looking bridge). Shortly after the viaduct watch for the bike shop on your left. If you head up to the cathedral, you are close to the major sights of Madrid: the palace, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Templo de Debod, Sabatini Gardens, Plaza de Espana, Etc. You can find Madrid walking tour signs which direct you to all this city center business.

If you ain’t sleeping, sightseeing or fixing your bike….just keep riding through casa de campo to Parque Manzanares. You’ll know it because there is a big hill with a crazy scrap metal-like sculpture on it. It is near the southernmost point of the Anillo Verde.

Heres a map…click for a larger version. You’ll notice the route has connections to some additional routes in the city too, and it has the metro stops which could be important.



Part 3. Parque Manzanares to Via Verde de Tajuna ~47 km
To change trails, the simplest thing to do is follow the anillo verde left upon entering the park. Eventually you come to a roundabout, go 25% around and turn right on a pedestrian path that has segments of pavement interspersed with segments of grass. Cross the bridge at the end of this and then turn left on the paved path which parallels the river. It, the more southerly N-S trial on the map up top, and its junction with the Anillo Verde is also shown.

This one has a tricky spot. Take the path along Rio Manzanares. Despite the general disdain for this skanky river among Madrilenos, this is a nice idyllic shady trail, especially welcome in summer. When passing under bridges, the path is rough cobblestone which you will fail to see because you’ll be wearing sunglasses when you suddenly plunge into the shade, so don’t freak out if your horse gets a little spooked without warning. Ride it out buckaroo. There seems to be perpetual construction nearby, so parts of the paved river path may be closed, but there is a dirt path on the other side that works if you have this problem. You have to find the intersection with a trail that spurs off to the right after maybe 3-4 km. The problem is this trail is not constructed yet, its just a rather rough dirt path, but strangely it’s got at least one bench and lights which you will see. Take this, walking if need be (its short) and pass through the tunnel under the freeway. Right after crossing there’s sort of a broad sidewalk to the left, take it. Before long the broad sidewalk is parallel with a road, and within a few hundred meters, dumps you out there. Turn left on this road. In another 100-200 m there is a T intersection, turn R, then take the first L. Follow the present road to a roundabout and use it to turn left (under a road bridge). Watch for the via ciclista (it’s red asphalt on your right. Apparently these two trails are slated to be connected soon, and this clusterfuck won’t exist. If you get lost just ask someone where the via ciclista a San Martin de la Vega is.

Almost immediately a bridge takes you to the other side of the highway and there is a gas station here with a convenience store…if you are out of food and water deal with it here because opportunities are scarce for 18km or so. So… just follow the trail south. At one point there is a fork, this doesn’t matter much as they converge again later, but the simplest option is to take the left fork. Soon you will pass through Perales and you’ll notice it’s kind of a shanty town and there might be a family of gypsies having a barbecue actually on the bike path. I've seen it, and had to ride around it. Don’t let this scene of urban decay get you down…press on and you start passing through a relaxing series of Kansas-esque wheat fields, then you start climbing. The climb is nothing major, and you are rewarded with a sweet downhill and a plantation forest on the right after the crest of the hill (nice spot for a shade stop). This is probably a good bet for ninja camping if desired. If continuing keep on paralleling M-301, and you want to keep an eye out for M-506 a little ways before entering San Martin de la Vega (the turn is where the train station is). Day riders who are running late will want to remember this train station might be a good way back to the city.

This portion of the route on M-506 and M-302 is shared with cars, but is a great road for riding. There is also a bike path connection planned, but it doesn't exist yet and I gotta say it's not really needed....I'd rather see new paths going in new directions. M-506 is flat, has low traffic, and passes through the river valley which is all agricultural fields. After ~ 5 km, you will need to get on M-302 at a roundabout and begin the minor climb out of the valley in the direction of Morata de Tajuna. These hilly uplands are a beautiful typical Mediterranean landscape of shrubby sprawling oaks and bunch grasses. These are hunting areas, and provided you don’t run across hunters are also probably good ninja camping. After about 6 km on M-302 you will start rolling down into the town of Morata de Tajuna, where you can catch a via verde.

Part 4 Via Verde de Tajuna: 36km
Vias verdes are the same as rails to trails in the states, they vary in their surface condition, length and connectivity to other vias verdes, but they are all abandoned rail routes. This via verde is going to be on the right when you are beginning to enter town. There’s a sign for it, you’ll have to make a hairpin left up a steep hill, then you come to a parking lot at the trail. This was the trail terminus but they just built a new 11km extension from here to Arganda del Rey, a town closer to and connected to Madrid via metro. People day riding rather than through riding might want to keep this option in mind for returning to Madrid or as a bailout if you are out riding too late and its getting dark on you. For the record this new section is really nice, and passes through some of the aforementioned oak savannah landscape found on the uplands in between the vegas (the fertile river bottoms- not “meadows” as it is often mistranslated in Las Vegas). In fact, if you want you could hop on the metro (weekends, and weekdays early AM and late PM only) somewhere in Madrid, ride it all the way down to Arganda del Rey, and get on this path. This alternate route would skip over most of section 2 and all of section 3. Anyways, the Via Verde…Take the right turn, which will drop down and pass though town. Go straight unless a marker tells you otherwise, and if at any point you are making a steep climb, you’ve gone the wrong way. This via verde is a really pleasant ride, and it is reasonably diverse: theres some pine plantation, some towns, some crops. You never really climb much, but you also never score any long downhills. The via verde is a “Y”, at km 35 (about 23km after you entered at Morata) you have the option of going right on the via verde de los 40 dias (it goes 14 km to Carabana, or left to Ambite (14 km). I’ve only been left. Both ways will dump you out near the border of Guadalahara and should be sufficiently distant from Madrid that secondary roads will be a decent ride. In the case of the left hand route, if you are on a mountain bike there is an additional 21 km of additional unsurfaced riding all the way to Yebra in Guadalahara.

Heres an OK Map…once you get on the thing you don’t really need it.


Check out http://www.viasverdes.com/ViasVerdes for the lowdown on this and the entire via verde system. There are printed books that you can find in the bike shop, but: 1) they are less up to date than the website, 2) they cost 20 euro each, 3) they are not organized by region, so to learn about all the trails in an area you need both books. So most people will probably want to just use the website and print out what’s relevant to your tour.