Spain From North to South on Mountain Bike

From the 3rd to the 7th June, again coinciding with the full moon in that month, the second mountain bike sporting event Ruta Via de la Plata Non Stop (RVP Non Stop) will take place, with the support of the Cooperation Network of Towns on the Via de la Plata.

Organised by the Cycling Tourism Federation, in this second occasion, the challenge will again be to cover on mountain bike, either individually or in relays, the Via de la Plata Route. The event will start in Gijón (Asturias) and finish in Carmona (Sevilla). The challenge is to complete a distance of nearly 1000 kilometres with an accumulated height difference of over 12,000 metres in a maximum time of 100 hours, in the case of an individual rider, or in 75 hours for relay teams.

Registration is only possible on the official website of the sporting event: https://www.rvpnonstop.com/index.php/en . The number of entries is limited to 200. The first 100 riders to register will receive the event’s commemorative jersey.

Form of the event
The participants will cross the west of the Iberian Peninsula from north to south, passing through four autonomous communities (Asturias, Castilla y León, Extremadura and Andalusia), following the route of an ancient Roman road. The event, which is in a linear non-stop format, without compulsory stops, consists of eight sections. A compulsory checkpoint is situated at the end of each section where the teams participating as relays must change rider. The organisation will also hold two secret checkpoints where it will also be compulsory for the riders to have their route card stamped and which are intended to stop participants going off route.

The route will not be signposted. Instead, the organisation will provide each rider with a GPS track in order the follow the route.

In the first year, of all the participants in the event only 22 faced the challenge of riding the full route; the others took part in relays. Of those 22 cyclists, 16 completed the distance on their own, in a category (Centurion) for which great physical and mental strength is needed.

Trip for cycling lovers
For a number of years, the Cooperation Network of Towns on the Via de la Plata (https://www.rutadelaplata.com/en) has been promoting this attractive route as an ideal trip for cycling lovers. Many towns on the Via de la Plata Route are interesting places to visit. Additionally, a large part of the Via de la Plata forms part of the Eurovelo 1 route, where it crosses through Spain (https://ev1.eurovelospain.com/en/ ).

In 2016, the Cooperation Network set up the microsite: http://www.larutaenbici.com/en . This website contains useful information for cyclists interested in travelling along this historic route on two wheels: either on MTB or on a road bike.

The RVP Non Stop may be one of the greatest MTB challenges for 2020. An adventure in which, in every moment, the cyclists will discover unique tourism, historic, cultural and natural resources.

Ruta Vía de la Plata
Ruta Vía de la Plata is a modern tourist route crossing the west of Spain, through four autonomous communities and seven provinces on a north-south line (Gijón to Seville). It is nearly 900km long and goes through regions with a total area of over 120,00km2. The Route takes in numerous archaeological ruins, left by the passage of different cultures during 2000 years, and important cultural and artistic heritage. The route is also a journey around Spanish gastronomy and a sample of the ecological wealth and variety of landscapes that can be enjoyed in the Iberian Peninsula.