Is it windy? In the Ebro basin it nearly always is, and the cierzo, the dry north-westerly that funnels down the valley from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean, is part of the character of Aragon. It dries the soil, bends the almond trees into one shape, and can make a loaded motorbike on an exposed ridge lean at an unsettling angle. Learn to read the trees and keep your elbows loose.
Mallata itself is a hamlet name, and the shelter is the fourth of its series in the catalogue of the Vero valley's painted rocks. They are part of the Mediterranean rock art of the Iberian Peninsula that UNESCO listed in 1998, small red figures and signs whose makers lived long before any local village was founded. A careful walker with a good guidebook can read the layers of history in the same landscape: a prehistoric shelter, a Roman farmstead, an Arab watchtower, a Christian chapel.
Weather decides the quality of the ride. From April to June the hills are green and the roads fairly empty. July and August are hot and crowded around the canyoning spots, and in November the fog can lie in the lower valley, while the heights above stay bright. The surface on the main road is dependable but patched, and the connecting tracks are not for loaded road bikes. Trust the maps and be ready to turn around.
If you are running low on fuel, the nearest sizeable town is Barbastro, twenty-one kilometres away, with fuel stations on the approach roads and a wide choice of lunch places, from fast bars to restaurants where lamb and mushrooms are cooked over vine cuttings. Alquézar has coffee and little else in the way of services. Carry water, and leave the shelter as you find it.