To Palamós

March 21, 2022

Spirits are high this morning when the team consults the weather forecast and sees it greatly improved. There’s the chance of rain here and there today but with luck we’d get a ride in and stay dry; and beyond that it looks like the next few days are improving too. We quickly decide that it’s time to move on and book ourselves into a hotel in Palamós for the next two nights. Over breakfast we tell our host that we’ve decided to move on (he’s blocked out our room for another night in case we decided to stay on) and then head back to the room to pack up.

The weather report looks virtually flat for the entire day - it’s 56 degrees now and is listed to stay exactly there until this evening. With only about a 25 mile ride ahead we could fit them in whenever we like, so we decide to stay around until checkout time at 11 which pushes us out late enough so that we can check in to our next hotel in Palamós when we arrive.

Looking like a princess. Actually this look reminds me of the cover of an old Herb Alpert album, Whipped Cream and Other Delights.

Looking out from our lodging for the night, Fonda Can Tort.

Rachael and the manager of both Can Tort and Maria Rosa. Good folks, and a business worth your business if you’re passing through.

Rachael’s been apprehensive about today’s ride, which begins with thirteen very lumpy miles between Tossa and Sant Feliu de Guixols. She’s hardly done any climbing since we left California, and RideWithGPS makes out these miles as being harder than I remember them from our ride through here eight years ago. i mostly recall it as a gorgeous ride, challenging but not overly so. It’s a ride I’ve wanted to repeat ever since.

My memory is pretty accurate for a change on this one. It’s definitely gorgeous, and a challenge as it climbs over one headland after another - maybe seven or eight of them, but who’s counting? None of them is crushing though, and at the end of the day Rachael’s pleased with her performance and feels more confident about the days ahead. mostly though we’re grateful to have gotten reasonable weather, much better than the cold rain we’ve been dreading. It’s windy enough and hardly warm, but dry - comfortable enough conditions that they don’t deter us from stopping over and over again to admire the stunning scenery. Really, this is some of the best coastland I know of.

We start climbing as soon as we leave town. We’ll be up and down all the way to Sant Feliu de Guixols.

A last look back. This has been our third stay in Tossa de Mar. every time we leave a place like this I wonder if we’re seeing it for the last time. Hope not.

We have a lot of company. We see groups of cyclists passing in both directions all the way to Sant Feliu de Guixols.

The ride is lumpy but exceptional all the way from Blanes to Sant Guixols as the road follows the coastline and crosses one headland after another for 25 miles.

A single small tunnel spares us of a tiny bit of climbing.

Sound track: Amigo en el Baño, by Kany Garcia

Coming down from the final headland we look up and see the sky ominously darkening ahead of us; and sure enough, a few minutes later the wind has picked up and it’s lightly showering. Our timing is nearly perfect though as we enter the outskirts of Sant Feliu a minute later and pull into the first cafe we come to. An elderly gent taking a smoke out front quickly helps us move some tables and chairs away from the wall so we can squeeze the bikes under an awning and then we take a seat on the other side of the window and sit down to wait for improvements. Three or four other bikers pull up to do the same, stand there thinking it over for a few minutes and then decide to continue on.

With near perfect timing we arrive in Sant Feliu de Guixols and pull into the first cafe we come to just minutes after a shower begins.

Improvements come much sooner than we expected and about a half hour later we’re on the road again, seven and a half euros the poorer for the cafe con leche, liter of water, and two cheese and lomo sandwiches we put away. Exorbitant for sure, but worth it to stay dry.

The next ten miles are an easy ride as the country flattens out and we pass through a string of small coastal resorts before arriving in Palamós.

We fly past the great mallard of Platja d’Aro, a giant topiary pointing its beak toward a nearby nature reserve popular for birdwatching.

Year over year the bike infrastructure in Europe keeps improving. Here there’s a new stretch of bikeway leading into the outskirts of Palamós.

With a 15-20 mph offshore wind the surf is wild as we enter Palamós.

As we pull up to our hotel Rachael tells me that her own gears are a problem, something she hadn’t noticed on the ride to Tossa. They were pretty cramped in the storage room the last two days, so maybe her derailleur got bumped out of adjustment. Who knows? In any case, we search to see if there’s an open bike store near by and find one about a mile and a half away. She heads off on her own after we check in to our room and returns maybe a half hour later, problem solved.

Three trips to an LBS in three days! A new Team Anderson record.

Rachael returns from our third LBS visit of the tour after her own minor gear adjustment.

The Volta a Catalunya

In a shocking news item, we learned that the 101st edition of the Volta a Catalunya, a significant early-season tour on the professional cycling circuit, began today. Especially shocking since, as Patrick O’Hara let us know in a comment earlier today, if we were passing to Sant Feliu de Guixols we might cross paths with it.

Well we were there of course, stopping for lunch around 1:30. Stage one of the Volta (which I assume is the Catalonian equivalent of Vuelta) began in Sant Feliu, leaving town only about an hour and a half before we arrived, crossed back through again somewhere around 4 and continued on, finally returning to town for a third time to finish around 4:45. We were here right in the middle of the stage and even rode a few miles of their route but saw no indication of it. Incredible.

Also, we’ll note that their day was somewhat more challenging than our little 23 miler. The winners rode 171 kilometers and climbed 1,800 meters in 3 hours and 47 minutes, at an average speed of 45 km/hr. Oh, and it’s worth noting that this easy ride with 6,000’ of climbing is described in the course catalog as one of the flat stages. The hard ones come later in the week when they cross over into France and back, crossing over the Pyrenees both ways at elevations up to 2,000 meters. I don’t even want to think about how cold and miserable it might be up at those summits in this unseasonably cold week!

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Ride stats today: 23 miles, 1,900’; for the tour: 36 miles, 2,900’

Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 37 miles (60 km)

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Keith AdamsYears ago I was watching the Core States (or maybe by then it had become the TD Bank Classic) race in Philadelphia. My brother- a sometime amateur racer- and I had stationed ourselves on the "Manayunk Wall", a stretch of about eight blocks that rises precipitously from the Schuylkill River into the surrounding neighborhood. (In the stretch of a mile the street climbs 200 feet.) It's steep enough that it's noticeably taxing to walk up.

We were watching the pack work their way up on one lap when my brother nudged me and pointed to one rider in particular. "Look at that guy- he's still on his big ring!"
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Keith AdamsI remember the wall. I’d heard of it before and was watching for it as we biked into Philadelphia at the end of a tour that began in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I was not tempted to leave our course to test myself on it with a loaded bike. I think it’s steeper than you’re describing though - the Strava segment I’ve seen lists it as just a half a mile, with a max grade of 17%. Not quite devastating, but it would be no fun at racing speed.
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2 years ago

Patrick O'HaraBeautiful scenery and road today. One which Susanna and I hope to ride one day. Keep em' comin', guys.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Patrick O'Hara
I highly recommend following the Andersons’ Pyrenees route. I did it in 2016 (with variations including taking the train from Barcelona to Blanes and riding from there to Girona via Sant Feliu) and it remains my favourite tour to date.
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2 years ago

Patrick O'HaraTo Jacquie GaudetHi Jacquie. We are also inspired by The Anderson's. We did their Pyrenees tour in 2018. My favorite Anderson's tour is their French Alps tour which we also did in 2017. Always on their coat tails.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jacquie GaudetYou and Jacquie are naming our favorites. Both of these tours are at the top of our list too, and Exhibits A and B of tours I’d repeat in a heartbeat if I could erase five or ten years off of our legs.
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Patrick O'HaraAh, yes. I remember reading your journal because we did the first half of the Andersons' Alps tour the same year--and met someone else doing it at the same time. Sadly, we only had 3 weeks, the most Al could get off at one time.

Very good coattails to follow!
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonThat's the worst part of this pandemic for me: missing out on two years of touring. Had I known, I would have simply taken a leave and worked for one or two more years.
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2 years ago