Looking at my trainingschedule I sometimes think that -although I’m training 6 days a week, 2 or mostly 3 sessions a day- volumes of single trainingsessions are not especially high. Coming from an Ironman preparation in which runs of 30k and bike rides of 200k were ‘normal’, I’m working on my speed now with more intensity and intervals. I must say though that I was happy to see a ‘familiair’ 4.5 – 5 hour easy bike ride planned for this weekend. I knew what I was going to do instantly; ride to the Mediteranean sea and back in a nice loop!
The Mediteranean sea is not very far from Girona. You can get there by car in about 45 minutes. By bike this takes a lot longer (duh); not only because of the speed, but also because of the amazing and quiet roads that you can choose to ride once you turn away from the highways (on which you can actually ride your bike here in Spain). It seems as if the landscape is changing every 15 minutes. From small historic towns, through wide open country side fields, climbing over hills and sometimes even mountains.
It was an amazing ride. Not often do I stop to take pictures during my training rides. This time I really couldn’t resist though. Some of the output you can find below here:
Nice thing was that I could combine these touristy stops with checking all the splits and finish times of the Amsterdam Marathon. It was cool to track all friends and colleagues who did so great. Special shout out to Debby and Rick finishing their first marathons in awesome finishing times. Really inspiring; you guys made me pedal up the next hills a bit harder.
Talking about hills. The most beautiful beach town of them all was Llafranc in my opinion. Getting out of this town you have to ride up a VERY steep hill with crazy villas build on to the cliffs. With steep I mean ‘too steep for my time trial bike with 39-25 gearing, wtf am I doing here’ kinda steep. Once on the top the views were stunning though. I got in a conversation with a nice couple who hiked up the hill. After hearing I was from the Netherlands they got very excited because it turned out their daughter studied there. After agreeing on how great of a city Deventer is (yeah I said it) I felt it was time to leave and hit the downhill.
Riding back to Girona was as special as it was riding towards the coast. The sun came through, the landscapes got more stunning by the minute and there was barely a car on the road. I decided to hit the gas and finished the ride quite fast with a decent average. Below you can see my complete route in a nice animation:
Hasta pronto,
K
Floor says
Te leuk om te lezen Kel! Ik sta nu op voor morning swim met Gerben. Trainze vandaag !
Ineke says
Ja Deventer is geweldig!!!! Leuk dat je dat zo van harte beaamde :hierbij ben je uitgenodigd voor een stadswandeling en dan sta je vast 100% achter je uitspraak
Tante uit Deventer
Denise says
Heel gaaf om zo je route te zien! Mooie pics x