Last October, Jake Kinney packed his bike and jumped on a plane from Los Angeles, California to come ride the trails and street spots that Barcelona, Spain has to offer.
Due to an ankle injury a couple of months prior to this trip, Jake was struggling through pain and discomfort every time he rode his bike here… But we did our best to document the trip and shoot photos of Jake’s Spanish adventure.
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This was my first trip to Spain, I was really looking forward to some fun riding and hanging out with my good friend Héctor Saura from Bicycle Nightmares. I met Héctor through his website, he then came and visited me in the States and we had a killer time together during summer camp at Woodward West.
Right when I got off the plane, I hopped on a bus and headed out to the city center of Barcelona to meet him. He took me back to his house and we started building my bike, but first I needed a coffee. I had so many coffees on this trip, it was insane.
After I built my bike, we met up with his friend Pol Aceña, a killer photographer. We headed out to the local skatepark of La Marbella, to warm up and get some riding in. I was pretty beat from all the traveling but the park was really fun. I like tight and fast parks and this one had some fun transfer lines and a really good quarter to hit.
After the park I had the chance to ride the famous Sea Walls, in the Forum, which has always been a dream of mine to ride those. The walls are giant. I pretty much maxed out my gearing trying to get as high up the wall as I could. After riding the park and the walls I was pretty tired, so we headed back to Héctor’s to crash out for the night.
Over the next couple of days we checked out La Poma Bikepark. That place was amazing. La Poma has trails style jumps, contest jumps, a pump track, a foam pit… Everything to have a fun day of riding. The local diggers were getting the contest jumps ready for the Happy Ride jam that weekend. We rode the trails style jumps for a while and I was able to snap some good photos.
The following day we went to some really rad trails, they are called Lloret Trails. It was Héctor, Pol, myself and this local shredder with so much style named Carlos. This kid has so much talent and flow. It was a blast to ride with him.
Those jumps were amazing, probably some of the most technical jumps I have ridden in a while. All the locals were really cool and amazing riders. After a long session there, we headed back to Barcelona for the evening.
The next day and a half Héctor took me around the city to do some sightseeing and down to the beach. I got to enjoy the sites and culture of Spain.
On Saturday, we headed back to La Poma for the Happy Ride event. This is a giant jam they put on every year with MTB and BMX riders from all over, who come to hang out, ride and have a good time. It was awesome to see friends from all over the world and enjoy everyone’s company. I had a blast hanging out and taking some laps on the jumps. All the amateur riders killed it during the session and Carlos ended up taking home the well deserved win.
Unfortunately, as I was still healing from an ankle injury, I rode practice but did not enter in the contest.
Overall, I had an amazing time and I can not wait to get back out there. I know for a fact, that next time I am not going for anytime less than 2 weeks.
Spain is amazing and I can not thank Héctor and Bicycle Nightmares enough for everything, and also Pol for shooting photos and taking us to all the spots.
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Words by Jake Kinney
Photos by Héctor Saura
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Copyright: The images may not be used; distributed; copied; printed; published; or displayed without the prior written permission of the Photographer (Héctor Saura). If you are interested in one of these images, please contact us.