Bagä To Tuixent

 

Pyrenees

September 12, 2024 

Bagä To Tuixent

Our planned route out of Bagä started out with some single track and headed straight up. We climbed over 3000 feet in the first 10 miles, first on some chunky trail, but thankfully after the initial gnarly bits, we reached what is just the typical gravel road here. I've long complained about the term gravel being used around us, for everything from smooth hard pack dirt to gnarly mountain bike worthy stuff, and everything in between. I think it does a disservice to riders, who may be put off ever doing anything unpaved if they get into truly gnarly stuff, or may discourage folks from riding when it is truly hardback smooth dirt. Well gravel is gravel here! If you've been looking at the videos on a screen larger than your phone, you can clearly see why I spent the trip wishing I had fatter tires and lower gears, and ocassionally even wanted a battery and motor.  The video may not convey the steepness, but you can certainly hear me breathing pretty hard.

We rode up into the Parc Natural del Cadi Moixero mountains. The scenery was amazing. As was the weather. The forecast kept indicating rain a day or two out, but so far bluebird skies prevailed. One of the surprising things for me was seeing cars on these roads, not four wheel drive vehicles, but just regular cars on what we clear to me was a four wheel drive road. We also saw hikers, mountain bikers and horse riders. 

This would be another short day, in terms of distance covered. As we rolled into Tuixent, I suggested we check for lodging. We found an auberge that worked out great. We then met some folks while walking around town, who had relocated from Barcelona. One had worked at the bar associated with the auberge, and we headed back there for drinks. This couple spoke excellent English and acted as translator for the other cyclist who was staying there. We had a wonderful dinner and our host  made us sandwiches for lunch the next day

The planned route

 

What we actually did

The video

 

Rupit to Bagä

 

Pyrenees

September 11, 2024 

Rupit to Bagä

Our second day on the road started at a lovely bakery in the center of Rupit. 

Then off to another climb

Girona to Rupit

 

Pyrenees

September 10, 2024 

Girona to Rupit

Last spring, we travelled to Girona and stayed at Mas Pelegri, a bike hotel situated just north of Banyoles. We did lots of loop rides from there, with the mountains of the Pyrenees visible on the horizon and temptingly close. Fiona and Gareth, the proprietors, were excellent hosts, and we decided we must return and do a point to point tour to make it further into the Pyrenees, bookending our tour with stays at Mas Pelegri. 

John found El Piri, a gravel event from this summer and proposed their route as the basis of our tour. Looking at the videos and description, I agreed to give it a go. John did lots of research and came up with services 50 to 100km apart. With  10 days to do 800km, I was a bit worried about 100km days based on on our tour out of Nice last fall, where we rode 75-80km days on pavement. I figured we could map out a shortcut, if he'd been as over ambitious as last year. (... foreshadowing...) He kept saying 50% pavement. I kept thinking how hard the gravel ride up Rocacorba was.

So I loaded the route on my GPS, and packed the bike for a credit card tour,  The plan was to eat in restaurants and stay in hotels, both for comfort and the ability to pack lighter, since we wouldn't need tent,  sleeping bags, and cooking supplies, and we could wash our bike shorts and have them dry overnight. 

I wore shorts and jersey and carried a spare jersey and shorts, plus arm, leg and knee warmers, vest, rain jacket, warm gloves, hat and headband. For off the bike, I had lightweight long pants, shorts, t-shirt and sweater,  socks and underwear. I have a very packable down jacket, that has saved my life on a few occasions.  I carried a small bag with wall charger, plug converter, AXS charger, goPro battery charger, and usb cables. A small toiletries bag had toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, and shampoo.  

I used a Nathan hydration vest, but also had a small water bladder in the frame bag, in case of long remote sections in hot conditions. 

I had 650x48 WTB horizon tires, set up tubeless. This is the largest I can fit in the back. I had 38T chainring, with 11-50 12 speed cassette. I have SRAM AXS electronic shifting, controlled by blips. Wireless shifting makes packing a bike so much easier. My toolkit had a small electric pump, plus a traditional pump. 2 spare tubes, tire levers, chain tool, extra links and quick link, patch kits, a small ratcheting tool with various bits, and a plug kit with spare plugs. John had a few other tools and carried a spare tire. 

I had a small handlebar bag, that tucked in behind the GoPro. This came in handy for pastries and other food we bought each morning. I used my iPhone 15 for photos. John has a new Sony camera as well as his phone. 

We started the day, heading down to Girona to intercept the route. Unfortunately, despite loading the route in advance, when I tried to start it in Girona, the GPS decided it couldn't cope with the full route. We ended up wasting lots of time, while I chopped the route into more manageable segments. Once moving again, we had great scenery. 

Rocacorba, the gravel route

Pyrenees

September 9, 2024 

Rocacorba, the Hard F'n Way

We climbed Rocacorba on the paved road back in the spring. But for this trip, we were planning lots of gravel, so decided to warm up by climbing the gravel road up Rocacorba. I had no idea that this was to be a preview of things to come. I made it up the first part of the climb. The surface occasionally went from gravel to cement when the gradient got really steep, so I began to dread seeing the white surface up ahead, especially when it was grooved. 

Then we had a long descent, losing quite a bit of the elevation I had worked so hard to gain.. And then came the hard part. The surface turned quite chunky, and the cement sections, while smoother were brutally steep. We eventually made it to the top and descended the paved road.

John tried to tell me our tour wouldn't be this hard!

There are no photos of John, because it was hard enough that I couldn't get the phone out. However he does appear in the video. Be sure to click on the YouTube link, to see it full size. 

El Mont - May 8, 2024

 

 

We had spectacular bluebird skies for our last day of riding. From our hotel, we could see the snow capped peaks of the pyrenees. We could also see the towers on top of Rocacorba and El Mont. We had taken the gravel route around El Mont a few days ago, and decided to go up the paved way for our final ride. We had amazing views from the top, and enjoyed a mid-week traffic free descent. 

We had such a great time here that we definitely will be back.

Lots more photos. Click below

Champagne Gravel - May 7, 2024

My friends are used to hearing me complain about the term gravel biking, being used for all manner of unpaved rides, especially when our lovely hard pack dirt roads are called gravel. Well I can say definitively that if you want gravel, go to Girona! They have real gravel. They also have some lovely smooth unpaved roads and it's called champagne gravel.  We decided to take in some of it for a day. But first we had to ride through some sticky mud!

More photos. click below

Els Angels - May 6, 2024

 

 

Els Angels is one of the most popular routes out of Girona proper. We took a nice route down through a nice walled village to do the climb before dropping into Girona town, where we enjoyed coffee and pastries. We saw lots of biker gangs on Els Angels!

More photos - Click read more

To the coast - May 5, 2024

 

 

 

Today, we started on gravel route out to the coast. It started out really nice, but at some point, we missed a turn. We backtracked to where it should have been and couldn't find anything that seemed reasonable. We took a couple of paved roads to link back in, but again lost track of the route. So we switched over to the paved option. It was on mostly quiet roads and given the pace we were maintaining on the gravel, would allow us to finish in daylight! Sunday maybe wasn't the best day to ride on the bike path at the coast, but it wasn't as bad as I feared. We also overlapped with the Traka Sunday riders briefly. 

Lots more photos. Click read more

Gravel around El Mont - May 4, 2024

 

 

 

The weather has been improving and we decided gravel roads should be dry enough to try, So we scanned through the routes that began with G and decided to go around El Mont. There is a restaurant on the top that is open on Sundays, which makes for lots of traffic on the paved route up. We hoped that the gravel route on Saturday would be fine. The route started out as a bit of single track right behind the hotel! Fortunately it turned to regular gravel roads not too far into the ride. I was not ready for 66 km of single track.

The climbing, on the other hand, was relentless. I definitely earned any kudos I received on my strava upload. 

A few years back, John and I decided that we should tour on single bikes versus the tandem. With the tandem, all the photos were of me holding the tandem, looking bored. With single bikes, we could get action shots of each other. But our speed differential is such that I was rarely sopping for pictures. Then I got the GoPro. So For most of these posts, John appears in the video and I feature in the photos!

Lots more photos - click read more

Beget - Camprodon - May 3, 2024

 

The forecast for the day was good, so we decided to head west for a long ride. We would pass through Beget, and Rocabruna on our way to Camprodon. Apparently, the guided group was going to the same places, but in the opposite direction! We encountered them riding up the climb from Camprodon. 

We rode through the cobbled streets of Camprodon, while making note that we should return here for a proper stay. We enjoyed a riverside lunch with a view of the bridge. We then did a small climb to Col de Capsacosta and found ourselves about to descend a very rocky track. I was certain I had picked a paved route. We paused to check our maps and decided there must have been a routing error with a shortcut down the track, and instead we rolled on down the paved descent!  

Soon we found ourselves in familiar territory near the gas station with croissants!. We also joined up briefly with Gareth and the guided crew. I asked if they had climbed a rocky track, but they had not. Later. I looked at the two routes and saw where our route diverged. I suspect when the reverse route was created, a missing way point led to the error. So if you follow the route above, and find yourself about to descend a rocky track after Camprodon, just stay on pavement and you will rejoin the route shortly!

Gareth mentioned icecream at the gas station, so we joined them for a brief stop, hoping not in invoke another hailstorm. We departed in opposite directions aas they headed back the way we had come out. 

Lots more photos - click read more

Rocacorba - May 2, 2024

The climb up Rocacorba is a very popular route out of Banyoles. We rolled out under brilliant sunshine around one side of the lake in Banyoles, before starting the ride up to the mast. We stripped down before the climb which generated lots of heat. Then we bundled back up for the long descent back into town along the other side of the lake. We saw so many cyclists along this very popular route. The number of cyclists almost rivaled the number of fields of red poppies.

 

Lots more photos - click read more

Girona Volcanos and hailstorm - May 1, 2024

Our first proper trip to mainland Spain came in early May (2024). Before that, we had been to the island of Majorca sometime in the previous century! We had briefly crossed from France into Spain in the Pyrenees a few years ago, but I don't think we ever saw an official sign on that ride.  And for Christmas in 2017, we were hoping to do the F500 around Calpe, but a busted collarbone derailed that trip. We decided 2024 was finally our year for Spain!

John picked the first two weeks of May as his best chance for getting away from work. We'd just have to hope we had enough fitness in the early spring to avoid too much suffering on the climbs. He suggested Girona as our base. 

The airport in Girona is small and only served by small carriers, so I booked aer Lingus flights from Hartford through Dublin into Barcelona. We figured we could take the train up to Girona. Unfortunately we had neglected to look at event calendars and I was quite surprised that I could not find accommodation in Girona for the full two weeks. I found a few places for a few days, but then we would have to move to another hotel, which didn't seem like fun!  I searched online a bit more and found a bike hotel about 25 miles north of the city that had space for the whole time at a reasonable price. They had guided and DIY rides, so we decided it seemed like a good choice. As John likes to say, we land on our feet. Our stay at Mas Pelegri turned out to be the best choice. Fiona and Gareth are amazing hosts. The accommodation was fabulous. The meals were delicious, and the riding out the door was great. 

It turned out the reason I couldn't find accommodation in Girona, was that the Traka was taking place while we were there. The Traka is the most popular gravel race in Europe, attracting thousands of riders, with multiple races of different distances throughout the week. So Girona was actually packed with cyclists!

Since we were flying through Dublin, met John's sister at the airport for breakfast. We then continued on to Barcelona, where we took the easy way and had a taxi meet us to take us to Serinya. We arrived under cloudy skies. Apparently, prior to this week, it had not rained for months. But now the rain in Spain came with a vengeance, with severe afternoon thunderstorms. The storms were so bad, that the 560km Traka event that was due to start on Wednesday was cancelled. Luckily for all the racers who'd travelled, the other events would still be held. 

As a result of the recent change in weather, our hosts said we should keep an eye out for those afternoon storms and that conditions on the gravel roads were not great, with lots of washouts and mud. We decided not to risk a nap, but instead assembled our bikes and got out for a brief ride to shake out the cobwebs. We got caught by the rain shortly before we got back. We quickly cleaned up before enjoying our first of many delicious dinners at the hotel.

Over dinner, we chatted with Fiona about rides to do the next day. The other calendar we had neglected to check was Spanish holidays and May 1 was a big one. She warned us that we might not find places open. 

After a solid night of sleep, we enjoyed a great breakfast and got ready for our first proper ride. We selected one of their routes out to the Volcano. I must have overheard the guided group talking about their ride. They also were doing a volcano ride, but in the opposite direction. We ended up crossing paths around halfway. 

 

Lots more photos - click read more