The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Spanish/French Catalonia - Pyrenees, Costa Brava

May 4th to May 18th

Ride Coordinator: Smith Doss
Report by: Benee Curtis

Springtime in northeastern Catalonia did not disappoint - the beautiful and varied terrain, the excellent road surfaces, generally very low traffic, absolutely the most courteous drivers ever encountered, and well-planned and interesting routes. Visiting in late spring made for fewer non-cycling tourists, pleasantly warm weather (maybe a little cooler than desired the first few days) and gorgeous displays of fragrant wildflowers.

This two-week tour covered a large clockwise loop starting from and returning to the historic town of Girona. The area we covered has earned the reputation as a cycling mecca. While cyclists were in the region long before, the late 1990’s really cemented the area’s reputation as a cycling destination when pro cyclists like the US Postal Service team chose Girona as their base. On many legs of our tour we were the only cyclists on the roads, but in some areas, namely those easily accessible from Girona, cyclists were everywhere.

This was a challenging tour. The climbs on the longer routes were typically up to 8%, with some steeper sections up to 12%, and a maximum of a brief 18% grade. Be sure to have appropriate gearing for your capabilities. Fortunately, almost every day of riding offered multiple routes; typically a hillier route and a more moderate alternative. With the exception of one town, we stayed in each town two nights. For those of us wanting extra downtime in between challenging rides, this was a very good set-up.

The tour was organized by Spanish-based tour company Iberocycle. Owner Simon Proffitt and staff member, Ignacio Silva accompanied us throughout the tour. Ride coordinators Smith and Claude collaborated very closely with Simon, reviewing each day’s routes and making suggestions for variations of the routes and extra scenic stops. They made a very good team.

Each evening, we enjoyed the customary group happy hour, complete with beverages (adult or otherwise) and nibbles like regional olives or crisps. Simon always presented a slide show with interesting topics ranging from the customs, the culture, the geology, the geography, the history of denizens of interest from the region. Then he’d cover the details of the next day’s routes and points of interest.

An example of one of Simon’s interesting cultural lessons was the “caganer” or poopers. Say what?! These small ceramic statues portraying a person pooping are included in the Christmas nativity scenes. Often the person portrayed is a well-known political figure. Sure enough, as we were walking the streets of Girona, we encountered a gift shop window entirely filled with poopers. A couple in our group found socks portraying poopers, and gifted Smith and Claude with matching pairs to commemorate our tour.

Artist Salvador Dali was born and raised and lived much of his adult life in the area. We had the opportunity to visit three Dali sites. Many of our group visited the Theatre Museum in Figueres and toured his home in Cadaques - highly recommended.

Each day’s ride and destination offered something different – extinct volcanoes in the Garrotxa region, gorgeous switchbacks up and over the Pyrenees, the charming seaside town of Collioure with its castle outside our windows, beautiful climb up to the Sant Pere de Rodes monastery overlooking the sea, punchy ride out to the lighthouse at Cap de Creus, gorgeous moonrises over the Cadaques corniche, coastal ride to Torroella de Montgri with a side trip to the ancient Greek and Roman ruins of Empuries, ancient dolmen near Sant Feliu de Guixols, and twisty climbs and descents with dramatic views of the rugged Costa Brava and the intense blue Mediterranean.

I highly recommend this Gira de Catalunya.