UNCHAINED 2026: Our Cycling Camp in Benicàssim, Spain
In April 2025 we ran UNCHAINED for the first time. A small group, a villa, five days of riding, and a gran fondo, the Mediterranean Epic Gran Fondo at the end of it. We held it together with improvisation and got away with it. In April 2026 we doubled the numbers. This is what happened both years, and what we learned in between.
THE PILOT: APRIL 2025
The first edition was coffee on the terrace before anyone was properly awake. Shared climbs through the Desert de les Palmes. Long descents into mountain villages where nothing was open. Badge hunts up Chodos and Bartolo. The jump into the pool at Casa Pedal & Pause after every ride, which became non-negotiable by day two. Then the national power cut. No electricity anywhere in Spain, and a group of cyclists a long way from home with the day only half ridden. So the van became the kitchen and we ate what we had at the side of the road. Nobody who was there has stopped talking about it. The pilot proved the week worked. It also showed us exactly where it would break if we grew it.
WHAT WE CHANGED FOR 2026
We doubled the group. That was the risk, and we knew it. More riders usually means less attention, thinner support, a group that splits into cliques. So we spent on the things that break first. More staff on the ground, so nobody was ever waiting for an answer. A fully stocked van on every ride, with drinks and gels included rather than something you carry yourself and ration. Further renovations at the villa. A professional photographer and videographer out on the road with us, so every guest went home with images of themselves riding rather than only the memory of it. And the carrot cake, which we did not plan for and which turned out to be the single most requested thing of the week. Ask anyone who was there. The honest measure of it: 2025 has a disaster story and 2026 does not. That is not because 2026 was less interesting. It is because the second edition ran on a structure rather than on adrenaline.
GRAN FONDO DAY
196km. 3,200m of climbing. Closed roads. Three thousand riders on the start line of the Mediterranean Epic. One of our guests finished fifth woman overall. Others rode as far as the heat and the cramp allowed, and finished on the shorter routes with a Pedal & Pause team member alongside them the whole way. Both of those are the right result, and we mean that. There are 110km and 160km options as well as the full distance. You choose on the day, not in advance, and nobody rides alone.
WHO WAS IN THE VILLA
Colorado. Vermont. Ireland. Scotland. France. England. Very different levels, one dinner table. April is early in the season for northern Europe, so several guests arrived without the climbing legs Castellón asks for. That is what the van and the shorter routes are for. Nobody was left behind and nobody was made to feel slow. One guest came back to ride with us again, on her fourth visit to this region.
Beautiful Food by chef Dave Well deserved beer after the Mediterranean Epic The group riding El Desierto de las Palmas Proud moment after completing 160Km Celebrating the moment Commenting the stories after the EPIC event
WHAT THEY SAID
"From start to finish they pulled out all the stops to give us a truly fantastic holiday. If you're thinking about a cycling trip in Spain, I can't recommend them enough."
"Shared meals, tired legs, full hearts, and lots of laughter with our crew."
MOVE OVER, MALLORCA
In May 2026, Sportive.com came to ride here and wrote it up under the headline "Move over Mallorca: this Mediterranean gran fondo is coming for Spain's sportive crown." Their writer described the area as "the secret Spain that I'd been lucky enough to be let into." That is the pitch, really. Everyone rides Mallorca, Girona and Calpe. This coast is quieter, cheaper, an hour from Valencia airport, and you can be at 700m within twenty minutes of the villa door.
UNCHAINED 2027
Third edition. Same villa, same coast, same gran fondo, and everything we have learned from two years of running it. Pre-registration is now open. It costs nothing, it holds your place ahead of general release, and you will hear the dates and pricing before anyone else.
Not sure it is for you? Book a free call with Paloma and ask. She lives here and rides these roads all year. info@pedalandpause.com
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