Girona....

terrydel

Arrived back from there late Friday/early Saturday.
what a lovely place to cycle it is, despite the weather being a bit of a letdown, it definitely lived up to my expectations, tho probably for different reasons than I would have expected.

Myself and the brother arrived on Monday, and by the time we collected our bikes from BikeBreaks, we only had time to do a 40-odd km spin, following one of the tracks provided on the BikeBreaks gps. I did not feel great at all on this spin, and was a little worried that I was coming down with something and would struggle all week, but thankfully that was not to be.
It is scenic and certainly different to here, the lack of cars on the roads once you get outside the city is the biggest plus of all. Drivers are also far more accepting of cyclists in general, the 1.5m signs being everywhere.
Tuesday we got about 90km in, taking a spin out to Banyoles, a pretty average town imho, aside from the nice lake that was used during the '92 Olympics.

The gps (brand was Falk I think) was frankly awful, seemed to me very old and slow to react. We really struggled with it, and even tho it was our first experience cycling with one, I cant imagine they should be as bad as this was. I've used Garmin a lot in the car and motorcycling abroad, and they'd be miles better than this one was. Next time we will insist on a garmin gps for the rothar if required
The bikes themselves were excellent, Cannodale Synapse carbon with full 105, in great condition and really well serviced. Gears worked perfectly, you can tell the shop really looks after them. The geometry also suited me great coming from a Giant Defy 1, as it was almost identical. The bike itself was far nicer tho! Makes me yearn for a full carbon machine myself :P

Wednesday we took on the famous Rocacorba, and after some serious issues navigating to the start, dirt tracking along the way, we hit the climb in nice, slightly overcast weather, mild temperatures that probably suited a climb like that. The climb is 13.8km but the start is really at a point that measures the climb at 10.1km. It starts out fairly ok and then has a couple of sections hitting 10% before the middle, where it levels out and has some downhill. This is the chance to make up time, but having never done the climb, I didn't hammer it here. My brother was struggling from the start so I held with him for a while and then realised I should just push on.
The last 2-3km it ramps up and seems to never end! The suffering is worth it for the incredible views at the top however! I managed the climb in 49 minutes, just missing the local's measurement of age + 10 mins (I'm 38!). But I was happy with that, the slow start and sticking with my bro probably cost me 2-3 minutes at least. I'd fancy myself to get near 40 mins with some practice :P the brother came in 4-5 mins after and we enjoyed the view and some photos before the long downhill (its a one way climb!) Then back to Girona with the rain kicking in just as we arrived back.
The rain that night was constant and biblical in nature!
Thursday we arrived at bike breaks shop for their free Thursday shop ride, to find that the shop was not running it due to the poor weather and forecast for the day. It was warm with a little drizzle with very wet roads. So a very kind local guy decided to lead the spin and took us out for 90 odd km, taking in the 10km Els Angels climb and the 6km Santa Pellaia climbs, both wonderful climbs with lovely churches/sanctuaries at the summit. I was second of our group to the top on Els Angels and first up Santa Pellaia. By this stage I really felt I was climbing well and got great satisfaction from my form over the last couple of days.
The highlight of Thursday was the beautiful setting for lunch that our local guide Martin took us to in Monells (sp?) A stunning spot. with great, fresh food and wine. As my brother said, this is what we came here for and it really delivered. Girona is beautiful but for me Wicklow more than matches it in terms of scenery. But it is places like Monells that Wicklow cannot match in terms of food, wine and the whole experience that comes with it. Personally, it is places like this that make cycling what it is for me.
We made some good friends on this spin too, and met up with them later for dinner in the wonderful Vintages restaurant. I'd seriously recommend this place to anyone visiting Girona.
Friday, we could not negotiate a late checkout with the hotel, so we unfortunately had to return our bikes and miss out on our spin. We met our new friends again for coffee and a few drinks and then made our way back to Barcelona airport by train.
All in all a wonderful holiday, that was everything I'd hoped it would be, apart from the weather!
The landscape is probably not as stunningly beautiful as I'd expected, but the overall cycling culture is just far superior to here, and for that reason I'd recommend it to anyone, and I'd go back in a heartbeat. I'd just get a better gps next time :P
Managed approx. 320 odd km over 4 days, which given the weather, was pretty decent. I'd hoped for more but it would have been tough in the conditions.
Roll on next year's cycling adventures abroad :cool: