Santa Vall
Just a little recap of our trip to Spain! Last year I brought Kyle along, but he was training for the Naples Half Marathon and Rome Marathon, so he opted not to bring his bike. After seeing how much fun I had, I knew he’d be on board with racing this year. I got him a new travel bike case for Christmas, got us both registered, flights + bnb booked and we were off! He had a pretty eventful week, being embarked on the ship in Gaeta, only arriving home the night before we left. I snagged him away from work on Thursday and we arrived to Barcelona that evening. Since it was Presidents Day weekend, the base here had a four day weekend on tap, and we capitalized!
We stayed at a nice hotel on the Rambla in Barcelona (a mostly car free, tree lined street, that was unfortunately undergoing some major construction.) We had a lovely dinner at a Greek restaurant and went to bed early in hopes of a good night sleep. Again, unfortunately we were woken up at midnight to our bathroom flooding from the floor above. (insert grumbles)
We walked around a bit in the morning before taking the metro to the main train station to catch the fast train to Girona. Got settled into our place, built the bikes and went for a quick shakeout spin along the river and ran into our favorite PNW pro, Heidi Franz! Got our bib numbers and found a delicious pasta place that was open before 8pm.
Up early on Saturday so I could start with the pro women at 8am. The venue is about 4.5 miles from Girona Old Town, so it’s a nice warmup ride to get there. Klassmark runs a smooth event, with a bag drop right next to the breakfast bar and coffee station.
Day one combined the time trial route (straight up a cliff) from the prologue stage last year, with the rest of the route. I knew that would be the last I’d see of anyone, until the pro men came hunting me down. I enjoyed the day, a bit chilly so no worries about overheating. I stuck to my fueling and pacing plan and had a great day out. Kyle caught me with 5 miles to go (starting an hour after me) and so we rode into the finish together. There were maybe 6 deep water crossings / unavoiadble puddles throught the course. My feet would almost dry before diving into the next one. Felt like I was pedaling lego bricks for feet. Unfortunately the last one ate me up. I didn’t have anyone in front of me for nearly all of the crossings so it was choose your own adventure line selection. I plummeted into thigh deep water and slid down the sidewall of the hole, toppling over. My knee hit the other side of the hole, my arm totally drenched. As I’m freaking out, I look back and see a pack of 12 dudes, who clearly watched the entire thing unfold. I’m profusely apologizing trying to drag my body and bike out of the mine pit and stay out of their way. I straightened my right shifter and was on my way. Laughing at how silly that must have looked from behind.
Day two brought a significant increase in elevation and 20 more miles. It was a chillier start and stayed colder, longer. I wore a vest and knee warmers, which were additions to the kit I wore the previous day. It was the same course from last year so I had little reminders of where I can push, and oh yeah I remember this! Fun single track, an uphill slog that didn’t feel as sloggy as last year and a fun ridgeline techy section. Tree lined flats, smooth fast gravel, and more single track to finish it off. The course is super well designed, mostly well marked, and the aid stations are perfectly placed. Kyle caught me after a long downhill and gave me the last sip of his bottle, as I ejected both of mine after the aid station on the chunky descent. I’ve been using these cages since forever and have never lost a bottle until now - and I think it’s cause I was using a different brand of bottle. Luckily the second aid station had another and I was able to minimize the time I had without water. (And luckily it wasn’t hot!).
We enjoyed the post race food (and microwaves, and reusable bowls and cups!) and the power washing station, as it makes traveling so much easier when you can clean your bike before packing it. And I’m sure the local rentals appreciate cleaner apartments as well. Enjoyed our post race beers while packing up the bikes and eating all the random food we had at the house and then had a delicious tuna steak and duck breast dinner just a few doors down from our place. Got the mid-morning train back to Barcelona and an early afternoon flight back to Naples. Unpacking, laundry, cleaning, rebuilding, riding and getting ready for Sahara Gravel this weekend! I leave for Morocco tomorrow and I’m so excited to explore a new country and continent!
