Calar Alto Ride

Calar Alto Ride bills itself as the highest cycling event in Spain, and altitude shapes the whole day: long stretches of track along the spine of the Sierra de los Filabres, thin air, and the white domes of the Calar Alto observatory marking the top of the course. Gravel and mountain bikers start together but ride for their own podiums, with chip timing deciding the results.

The Filabres are a dry, open range in the north of Almería, where rocky high pasture and pine plantations give way to wide views towards the Sierra de Baza and the Tabernas desert lowlands. Everything begins and ends in Sierro, a small hillside village with a castle above the rooftops and old water cisterns that now house a photo exhibition on local life.

The organiser is C.D. Balabak, an Almería club that launched the ride in 2024 and has grown it into a full weekend. While riders are out, families get guided walks and activities in the village; afterwards there is live music, and on Sunday a short social ride ends with an aperitif by the Sierro pool. The club also does without single-use cups at feed stations and plastic tape on the course, out of respect for the mountain.