My first morning ride out of Girona followed a route I had downloaded from a local cycling club's Strava page. Within 40 minutes I was on empty roads in the Gavarres hills, climbing through cork oak forest on smooth tarmac with nobody else in sight. The temperature was perfect — around 18 degrees — and the road just kept delivering: switchback, descent, switchback, open ridge with a view across to the Pyrenees. I turned around after two hours, not because I was tired, but because I had promised myself coffee in the old town.
Training Like the Professionals
Girona's appeal to professional teams is not mystical — it is practical. You can ride for six hours in almost any direction and never repeat the same road twice. The climbs above Sant Feliu de Guíxols offer Costa Brava views over the Mediterranean. The inland roads towards Vic are long, quiet, and fast. The famous Rocacorba climb — 10 kilometres at 6.5%, a known benchmark for local pros — sits 25 kilometres from the city centre.
"Climbing Rocacorba on my eighth day in Girona felt like a personal exam. The KOM on that segment belongs to a professional rider. My time does not. But the view from the antenna at the top is available to everyone, regardless of how fast they got there."
The cycling infrastructure in Girona is quietly exceptional. The local bike shops are among the best-stocked I have found anywhere, the mechanics are fast and knowledgeable, and the café culture is built around an understanding that cyclists will arrive in lycra, take up the corner table for two hours, and order three rounds of coffee. Nobody minds.
Two Weeks Is Not Enough
I came to Girona to ride. I stayed for the city itself — the Jewish quarter, the Cathedral steps, the narrow Carrer de la Força. I ate pa amb tomàquet every morning and anchovy-topped pintxos every evening. I rode 1,100 kilometres in fourteen days and felt stronger at the end than the beginning.
If you want to improve your cycling — not just complete a holiday, but genuinely get fitter and faster — two weeks in Girona with good route planning is among the most effective things you can do. It is also deeply, unexpectedly enjoyable.