pistonbroke wrote:Seems a few signed up riders are feeling a bit under-climbed. Here's a thought, I have an opportunity for a 3-4 day trip w/c 5th of August as Mrs PB is back in the UK for a week. I could collect from Reus (Tarragona) airport and either ride north to the Pyrenees or South to the c2,000m range of mountains to the south. The riding will be gravel/country lane based, no big rocks and vertical downhills. There's a massive network of such trails around here and the scenery is great as anyone who has done the C2C will confirm. Obviously it's short notice but timing wise it seems ideal to sharpen up the suffering gene prior to the 3rd of Sept. Let me know asap and we can flesh out an itinerary.
Ps flights are going at around €50 each way plus bike so won't break the bank. Mrs PB is going to Bristol for €70 return Sat-Sat.
pistonbroke wrote:Oops, Mrs PB is actually flying on Sat 4th. Flights Bristol -Reus on the 4th €42 Girona -Bristol Wed 8th €50 plus bike obvs. Perfectly possible to do a trip over 3 days. Temp wise, UK has been similar over the last 3 weeks and I'll bet it'll be well into the late 20's early 30's for the TNR.
OK that works.
Am definitely interested, though I'm loathe to give Ryanair any money at all, let alone £120 to kick my bike about.
I know what you mean re Ryanair but nobody gets near them on the basic price in July Aug, Jet2 are full of package customers, Thomson only do Sat-Sat, have a look at bike charge with Ryan as they can be dear. If you are definite, let me know asap as I'll look at getting a train back here from Girona. The terrain between here and Girona is lovely, straight out of the airport there's a 1,000m climb up the Montsant then across to the Montserrat monastery and Montseny which rises up to 1,700m. If there's time we could do a loop into the volcanic area of the Garrotxa before riding down the Via Verde to Girona.
Montserrat monastery https://goo.gl/images/brLqQE
Aww sh*t man... why did you have to make the decision so hard with that pic.
Edit - What's the odds on being able to get a cardboard box at Girona? I've got a CTC bag but I'm nervous at the prospect of using it (especially on the way out).
Re cardboard box, I'd be very confident of getting a box, Girona has several bike shops and has a big cycling community. It is the venue of the Sea Otter Europe event, I did a 350km gravel race there last year and there's a huge cycle infrastructure. It's also a weekday which helps.
Hi Paul, rings are perfect. I've been putting in some hilly miles recently with most of my kit on the bike and have not yet found anything unridable on the 30/36 bottom gear. If there's traction I can ride 25+% ,whether that will be the case after 200km is likely to be unrelated to the bike
The scenery in this part of Cataluña is a well kept secret, apart from the up to 8,000 riders who take part in sportives around here. Google Gran Fondo La Mussara for more info.
Sat 04 Aug 2018
BRISTOL 14:00 - 17:10 BARCELONA REUS
Wed 08 Aug 2018
BARCELONA GIRONA 15:30 - 16:40 BRISTOL
I guess I'll just have to work extra hard the next few weeks. Oh, and I'll be bringing old faithful... so I'm not going to be quick (hopefully that bike is capable of withstanding Ryanair's ground crew ).
Great stuff, I'll get planning a route. Initial thoughts are 40-50km on Sat teatime up to a refugio at 800m then 120-140ish km for 3 days leaving a run into Girona on Wed morning, pick up a box then poss taxi to airport and train home for me. I'll put a note on "who's playing out" for those not following the TNR thread. What is "old faithful?" You'll need something fairly robust in the wheel/tyre dept, 40mm+, bear in mind that baggage handling is nothing to do with the carrier you fly with, it's an airport thing, Reus is quite small and old fashioned like Bristol which is a good thing in my book regarding care of fragile goods. I've flown there with my Ti road bike and was far happier than Barcelona or Mallorca. Afaik Girona is similar and well used to handling pro riders' bikes, many of whom are based there.
Old faithful is a 26er XC mountain bike, and I've done pretty much everything on it (from orange rated downhill tracks to 20 hour plus days with 15,000+ feet of elevation).
...and I get what you're saying on the baggage handlers... though when Ryanair tends to control an airport, they control most aspects of it. Bristol obviously doesn't fit into that particular niche though. But yeah, people like Swissport get everywhere, and mostly suck everywhere.
Looking at the Facebook group for TNR, people have raised (and i hadn't yet thought about) getting gas cartridges for cooking, for those landing sunday, will there be somewhere close by to pick some up? Or would anyone arriving by vehicle be able to pick some for those flying in return for hard cash/cold beer/sloppy kisses?
If you can get hold of them in Decathlon Spain, I'll bring as many as you want. Send me a pic of the connection type you need and I'll have a look next time I'm in there, same goes for the meths users. Not bothered about the sloppy kisses though.
Gas is only at bigger outdoor shops ime. Meths is easy to find in Italy and France, many small shops have it. I've picked up 500ml bottles of what they call BBQ fluid (meths) at a few shops around Turin in the past. 'Alcol denaturato' is what you're after. I'll grab a few bottles for the evening dinner.
Just struck me with this stove discussion, I wasn't planning to take any cooking kit for 2 reasons, firstly I thought I'd read somewhere on here that they were prohibited due to the fire risk and secondly on previous trips I've rarely used it and the weight of stove, meths and food is one of those "packing your fears" things. Having recently re-read Dave Barter's account of the first event, finding cafes and bars willing to feed you seems tricky. I know people will have different experiences based on their proposed pace and riding times but I'd really prefer to not spend too much time running on empty. Any thoughts on whether leaving the stove at home would be foolhardy?
I ride the route with no stove. You can get food...you just have to know where to look. Others might like to add to this list or take away for places that may have closed.
Going from memory...
- at the bottom of Finestre there is a restaurant
- cafe's in Sestriere
- supermarket at the bottom of the hill in Briançon
- pub on the right in the last village before the Izoard climb that did great lamb on the spit but was pricey
- ice cream shack on the left on the Agnel climb
- pub in the village on the other side of Agnel
- at the bottom of Death road, turn left and the first village has a great pizzeria
- good food in the Refugio Gardetta
- shops in Demonte and the first village beyond has a little local shop that did hot paninis and beer
- numerous restaurants between there and Limone
- supermarket in Limone
- pub with food at the top of the Tenda climb
- food in the valley below on the other side...Fontan IIRC.
I didn't really stop beyond that until I got into Nice, but I do remember there was a restaurant just beyond the top of Turini before you drop into the village.
I must admit that I've gone off not taking stoves after nearly freezing to death on a multi day ride (I got soaked and had absolutely no way of warming / drying myself).
I do hate lugging food around though, so it's a tough call.
I'm planning on taking one. If it was a couple of days I probably wouldn't bother but for this length of trip I think I'd rather take it.
Probably only use it for the odd morning brew and in case of emergencies and I need to rustle something up. Although what gastronomic delight I can cook in a 450ml mug I'm not quite sure of yet. Not sure if it's worth taking something a bit bigger, will decide nearer the time and depending on space.
Never taken a stove on a bike trip, including TNR1, and never had a problem finding at least one decent meal a day (often 3...or more!) - to be honest, sampling the local food is part of the experience for me.
Scattamah wrote:Oh yeah....James....I got the green light last night to snatch time out for the Nice-Turin 'prologue'. Will be in touch.
Greetz
S.
On the stove front, no need for cooking imo. I only use it for a dawn coffee. Micro BB stove, 400ml mug. Food is from restaurants or cold stuff carried to bivi from supermarkets.
Stoves are banned in some areas yes and you need to be careful where you use them - fire risk is not to be taken lightly. Common sense in any tinder-dry, pine tree area though.
I didn't bother with a stove on the TNR ... and I like a brew Maybe we were lucky with the weather but cold was very much the order of the day - water, coke, food but a hot meal was never that far away if you wanted it.
Maybe we were lucky with the weather but cold was very much the order of the day - water, coke, food but a hot meal was never that far away if you wanted it.