"I started this year with “enduro” mountain biking at my local trails in south Germany. Every year I visit my family in Lisbon and spend there some weeks. Unfortunately I did not bring my bike, so in my tediousness I started looking for trails that I could ride next year then. I spotted out Sintra, which according to most sites on the internet, it is the best place to ride MTB. The promise of breathtaking pictures about the mountains, the beaches, the sea and the great climate made me do some more research..."
"Luckily I checked a review (ENDURO MAG) from a German biker about some local guides called WERIDE. The next step was to get in contact with these guys, hehehe… :)
My Portuguese is quite good, so I could talk and write with them in Portuguese. They were very friendly and gave me all the information I needed."
"Since I left all my equipment in Germany, I kindly asked them to borrow me an helmet and maybe some kneepads. They even gave me FiveTen shoes and gloves, so I was really ready for some action! The only equipment I had to rent was the bike itself, a Transition Patrol fully equipped! So the WERIDE team gave me the contact of João, a very nice Portuguese guy with lots of experience and he arranged me a bike trip. Great! I just needed to choose the day WE were going to ride. João gave me the GPS coordinates and WE met at 10am in Sintra. Had a nice small talk about biking in Germany and the crazy people that use traps for bikers in south Germany. He gladly told me that the Portuguese people were very pacific and that such things would not happen there."
"After that WE rode on a normal street and stopped by a nice view over a beach called Guincho.
Rode a bit uphill and then stopped at a trail called “Viúva”, which means widow in Portuguese, a very flowy and easy trail to ride.
João rode in front of me and guided me throughout this trail. The next thing WE did was riding the trail again but now I was going first so that João could watch my skills and also tell me the good side of my riding and what I could improve.
After that WE got to a place called “Cume da Peninha” and also had some time to recover.
The next trail was on the other side of the mountain which meant no problem since the mountain of Sintra is about 500m high making it quite easy to access all the trails, even for riders who are not in perfect fitness conditions."
"Lunch time. At 1:30pm Duarte, a friend of João and also a very experienced WERIDE guide, joined us and it was time for learning some bike skills with both of them!
I was taught how to maintain the balance on the bike, hiting some sharper berms and later on how to make the famous bunny hop.
So WE rode some more difficult trails. Duarte went ahead and João rode behind me. Therefore I could see what was coming and João guided me on how to achieve more balance on the bike and that was quite effective and good. Sometimes WE got off the bike to discuss the lines WE could ride and how to excel on it. Here are some impressions of our track walks…"
"After the ride WE got to the parking station and I gave back all the borrowed stuff. All in all it was an amazing experience with very kind people and lots of fun. I can simply recommend to everyone to take a trip with WERIDE. In my case… I will definitely be back ;)
Ride on!!!"
Christian Dores
