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  • Eat Sleep Cycle’s 1 year Anniversary

    So much has happened in the first year of Eat Sleep Cycle that for the first time in my life looking back actually slows time down. “Were we really painting the walls of our first shop the night before it opened just one year ago?!” I have never enjoyed reminiscing so much!

    Yesterday around 60 cyclists descended on our Girona HQ to celebrate one year delivering amazing cycling experiences: 10 Pyrenees trips, over 30 Girona trips, hundreds if not thousands of bike rentals. But much more than that it was a day to celebrate with friends, loyal clients who have been with us since the start and anyone simply in town who likes riding bikes.

    From the very start we set out to create a different type of business. At the core of what we do are the tours and bike rental but Eat Sleep Cycle means much more than that to us and hopefully the people that come and meet the community. The weekly social evenings and rides have brought locals, tourists and even non cyclists together. New international friendships are made, epic bike rides are planned and more people have more fun.

    One of the early social nights. These days upwards of 30 people come along!

    I’m sure that all new businesses have funny stories about how they got to where they are today. I sometimes wonder how many of those are kept secret and at what point they can be told!

    We started with 7 bikes purchased on credit cards and stored in our apartment. When a client was in town they would call me and I would run down to the street, inviting them in and explaining we are new and looking for a shop…

    We ran our first trip in August 2016 by recruiting friends. We rented a van, booked the cheapest accommodation we could find and set out into the wilderness. At the time Brian was still a reporter and had to stay back to finish some articles. He’d booked an apartment with one room less so Louise and I spent the night on the floor of the kitchen next to the noisy fridge (He claims this was intentional to prepare us for the first months in business; backs to the wall but staring at the stars!). I was determined not to switch it off to protect the mornings orange juice. The blow-up mattress was completely flat by the morning!

    Day one of our very first tour! Girona to Biarritz, August 2016

    From our small savings we found a 30m sq shop and got to work painting, drilling and squeezing in 20 bikes. Clients would constantly bump into themselves or our bikes but still seemed to return to us. This first shop was opened on November 11th 2016 and that marked the date of our anniversary yesterday.

    Six months later and we opened our HQ just across the road. The shop had been on the market for a long time and it was only the three of us (Louise, Brian and I) who persuaded the lovely gentleman Jordi that we were the reliable people he was looking for. We have now become good friends with Jordi and his lovely wife. We found local superstar Boris; an outstanding mechanic, creative whiz and all around incredible person. Rien from Belgium completed our 2017 team perfectly; mechanic, web designer very strong cyclist.

    The opening of the new HQ, June 2017

    Between Brian “breaking” into hotels to find coffee for our clients the next day, Lou making a minor error in the route planning meaning an extra Pyrenees climb for our otherwise exhausted clients and me hurtling that first rental van around the switchbacks without strapping the contents down, there have been many challenging moments. One thing I am sure of is not the importance of these mistakes but how we react, deal and learn from them when they are made.

    Hopefully this explains how we have come so far in such a short period of time. Our genuine social motivations, continuous improvement and a multi-disciplined team, each person bringing skills and different personality traits; together forming something much bigger than the sum of each of us.

    Next year we want the Anniversary ride to be even bigger. We’ll probably need a rolling road closure to do that but we’re already planning that. We’re heading to the Dolomites and Picos mountains on our tours and the Girona bike rental operation is expanding too.

    Thank you for being a client, a friend or just reading this blog!

  • Girona in ‘winter’ and the season of base miles

    I absolutely love this time of year in Girona; the tourists have moved on, the light at sunset is magical and the markets are exploding with colour and flavour.  We are still riding with our arms and legs out and some of the Eat Sleep Cycle team are actually improving their tan lines! But then again it is still Autumn and we are normally blessed with warm temperatures right through December with Girona’s short Winter starting in January and lasting until the end of February.

    For racing and leisure cyclists, the start of November is typically the time when some form of structured training is recommenced after an October break. At Eat Sleep Cycle we are no different and for the next four months we are focusing our energies on getting the very best out of the great weather.

    There seems to be a myth that it´s too cold here to base yourself in Girona for Winter training but having spent the last three winters here, I´m well-positioned to say that´s not the case at all.

    This year, we had a week in February where the maximum temperature on each of the seven days of the week were as follows: 17, 19, 20, 21, 17, 15 and 17. Hardly Baltic?

    January is probably the coldest month and it is chilly in the mornings if you´re planning to ride early. But wait until 11am and the Mercury will already be up into double figures.

    Far from wanting to be accused of biasthe coldest temperatures it got down to on that same week were 5, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 2 degrees Celsius, but these are all hit at night time when you are tucked up in bed and resting those legs after a long day in the saddle.

    So, you can see the temperature range on any given day is quite wide – and the same can be said for the actual conditions. We do get wind and rain, but more of the former (especially further north towards the coast) and much less of the latter. Statistics actually show more rainfall in Girona in May, March and even April than January or February. So expect plenty of blue skies and sunshine even if it is a little cooler than the Spring months.

    One question we often get asked is what to bring and how to dress appropriately for Winter in Girona. To that we say the following; be prepared for all types of weather, be it wind, rain or sunshine. We get it all, and sometimes we get it on the same day!

    Always pack Winter kit (It´s worth noting that Team Sky riders flew home from Majorca last winter as the island got snow, so expect the unexpected!). Bring a good base layer as well as leg and arm warmers, and a skull cap is one of the first pieces of kit I pack wherever I go as you lose a huge amount of heat through your head. Keep your fingers and toes warm with overshoes and gloves – though expect to shed both these layers as the day progresses.

    Girona is quite unique in that it is situated between the high mountains and the sea, meaning you have access to all types of riding. So even on a day where rain is forecast there is always a ride window and somewhere in the Girona Province where it is not raining. You’ll often hear a local rider telling their heroic story of escaping rain byheading in another direction!

    Aside from it being a top cycling destination it doesn´t ´close up´ in Winter like so many other training destinations. Being a University town there is an amazing energy to the place with so many bars and cafes and restaurants – and more are opening by the week. 

    The price of hotels and apartments is a fraction of what you will be charged in summer while you’ll also benefit from the quietest training roads.

    So, ask yourself what you want out of a Winter training holiday and if it’s any or all of the above, then why not give Girona a shot this year? See more info here. 

  • Cycling North Spain: Asturias, Cantabria & the Picos de Europa

    Eat Sleep Cycle’s Lee & Louise traveled north to explore the green lands of Asturias, Cantabria and the hidden gem of the Picos de Europa. Lee gave us this report of the adventure.

    Cycling in North Spain

    I must admit I did not know what to expect from our recent reccy to North Spain. I’d heard that it rains so much that riders race with an aluminium front wheel whilst having a carbon rear one, so I knew it would be green. I was in for a very pleasant surprise.

    Louise and I packed the ESC van and embarked on the 8-hour journey from Girona. Once out of the rolling hills of Catalunya there came 3 hours of nothingness. Just when we needed a change, it came – we entered the beautiful Rioja region; vineyards now showing red and yellow Autumn colours, the light at bouncing off them and windy smooth roads through the fields. We arrived at Solares, a sub-district of Santander. When we couldn’t find anywhere to eat (I was definitely becoming “hangry”) we dropped into a corner pub and perched on the bar. The man smiled gently and got to work serving us the best damn beer we’d tasted and club sandwich which Louise still claims is the best she has ever eaten. The immediate hospitality from this man and other people in that bar set the scene for our wonderfully friendly stay in this relatively little-known place.

    Peña Carbaga & Los Machucos

    We rode the Peña Carbaga at sunrise, which has stunning views of Santander and the rugged coastline, one of the regions special features. In the afternoon we headed into the Oriental Mountains (which we knew very little of before our friendly barman the previous night) and crawled up the Los Machucos climb, the one the riders protested about in this years Vuelta. I’ve never wished more that I had a compact, at-least a semi-compact, just why would I consider such a ludicrous stunt with a standard crank?! But what a reward at the top! 360-degree unbelievable views and the descent back down was pretty fun too. Following our ride we checked into the Palace (no really, that is the name of the hotel), an old restored, well, Palace which oozes posh but with super friendly down to earth staff. Everywhere you look in this building there is a 500-year old wooden beam or ancient painting. We fell in love the moment we walked in.

    The Picos de Europa & Lagos de Covadonga

    The next day we drove along the coast and entered the Picos mountains. Whilst I try not to compare mountain ranges (each one is unique and deserves its own identity) these can be best described as being like the Dolomites; pointy rock formations shocking to the eye and providing treats around every corner. Just like the Dolomites, you rarely ride up them, but skirt around them on the hills surrounding them taking in the views. The Lakes of Covadonga were a treat. At 1100m, the climb up there just gets better and better. The hotel had warned us that the road was closed for maintenance but it was our only shot so we had to try. As we arrived the security guard was turning away a disgruntled car. He looked us up and down and said “a subir” basically meaning “get on with it”. Cycling is most definitely in the culture in Northern Spain and we felt at home on our bikes, proud to walk into cafes in our skin-tight lycra and stinking of the hard work done.

    Everywhere we went local people stopped to speak with us and wanted to tell us about the next wonderful place we must see. We met a Basque couple interested in how things are going in Catalunya. A man with a horse. Cyclists out on a ride wanting to exchange phone numbers. Many barmen. Everyone was just so friendly and welcoming.

    El Angliru

    Our final stop was Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. From the outside it’s a big city but once inside the old town we felt right at home. We found a hole in the wall for dinner, which boasted a 10 Euro 2 course meal (with Rioja wine) and was bursting with happy people. It was perfect. In the end it was hard to leave the city, only a 5* castle and the chance of an epic 4000 m elevation ride would tempt Louise away. The castle would be the ideal spot to finish our trips, the ride an epic ending to the cycling. And so we were to tackle the one and only Angliru, often cited as cycling’s hardest climb. Louise had sent me up the Ermita de Alba earlier in the day (that of course had to be reccied) which has a lovely 30% ramp at the top, so let’s say I was warmed up. We nailed a tortilla bocadillo at the bottom and just went for it. If you want to meet your match on a mountain I’d say this is the place to go on your bike. I won’t try to describe it any more than that, it has to be ridden to be believed.

    We drove the 9.5 hours back to Girona with smiles as big as our faces and buzzing about the possibilities of trips in North Spain.

    Want to find out more about cycling in North Spain?

    If this sounds like something you’d be interested in then get in touch at tours@eatsleepcycle.com or check out our Trans Picos tour.

  • Girona’s perfect season

    I’m in the perfect frame of mind to write this blog. I’ve just spent the day at the beach in a small place just outside of Begur called Taimaru. It’s a 50 minute drive from Girona. It was the most perfect day I have ever spent at the beach. The sun was warm but not too hot that it drains your energy away, the beach had atmosphere but was by no means overcrowded and the water still held the warmth from the Summer and beautiful transparency that it always seems to have. The Costa Brava is just one of the reasons why Girona is so special in the Autumn. I use Autumn casually here because today for most people would be an excellent summer’s day. The factor 30 was out in force!

    Back in the old town, pros are regularly seen strolling the streets, sipping coffee in La Fabrica, or popping into our shop to say hi. It’s finally the off-season for them – the long awaited and well earned piss-up that commenced last night at the Girona Gala dinner.  If you like rubbing shoulders with the who’s who in cycling and cool cycling memorabilia (including if I remember correctly a signed jersey from the 1975 Tour de France winner) you should consider this event next year. It’s all in aid of the Qhubeka charity and organised by the Peloton Brief. The hard work and organisation really paid off on the night. This has become a landmark on the Girona calendar.

    At the end of October we will see the start of Girona’s crazy 2 week festival kicked off by the Carrefoc (translated as fire festival). I will not even attempt to describe this. You have to come and see for yourself! There are fair ground rides some how (I can only presume its real magic) positions in the complicated array of huge trees in the local Devesa park. The kids legs regularly brush tree branches and this seems to add to the fun of the whole thing.

    Because its now the off-season we can finally enjoy delights such as roasted chestnuts, cake made fresh at Martina’s kitchen, the best Xurros in Girona (and probably the world) right in front of our shop and cafe CON LECHE, yes with as much milk as possible. We can eat as much of these delights as we want until we start to feel really guilty and the winter training kicks in. Me, i’m just getting started with my food treats!

    At Eat Sleep Cycle we run more regular club rides and smaller tours including Micro Adventures. They attract locals and are more of a cool escape from the city than working. The riding this time of year really is spectacular. As well as being the perfect temperature, the light and changing environment (including multi-coloured trees) makes for a feast for the eyes on every ride.

    So here is to many happy Autumn miles in Girona!

  • The coffee that ruins all other coffees

    I didn’t really have anything to complain about. I was working as a bike mechanic in a very nice typical Belgian bike shop in my hometown of Antwerp. I had a good boss (it feels a bit odd to call him boss) and a job I enjoyed very much. I spent two winters working and cycling in Gran Canaria; the sunniest part of Europe during winter where it´s summer all year round. There are stunning roads for cycling and I made a lot of friends on that island. But still I felt something was missing. I’m not talking about getting my own place, a girlfriend, kids or a dog. Those are the things that I trust will fall into place over time.

    6 months after I returned from Gran Canaria, when I was working in Belgium, we had our annual holiday from work. The last two weeks of July are usually pretty quiet so we closed the shop. I strapped a lightweight luggage rack and two pannier bags to my bike – took a train to Charleroi – cycled 180 km to Leon – cycled another 200 km to Paris the next day – took a sleeper train to Cerbere, the last train station in France before the Spanish border – and from there I rode my loaded bike  70 km more to Girona. There I would stay a few days to enjoy the city and the amazing cycling roads (according to the internet).

    That’s when I saw the Eat Sleep Cycle HQ for the first time. A tiny shop and a tiny workshop on a tiny square in the middle of a maze of tiny roads in the beautiful old city center of Girona. The only way to find your bearings around this part of Girona is to get lost a few times. The alleys are narrow and there’s small tunnels and overhanging terraces everywere; google maps has no use here because your phone gets confused by the weak and messy satellite signal. The old town, or barri vell, is big enough to get lost but not so big that you won’t find your way around after a few tries.

    On the ESC Lazy Lunes ride I met a bunch of people passionate about cycling, half of whom I can call friends now. Cyclists of all levels from all around the world, meet and ride together around what has to be the true cycling heart of the world (I’m sorry Belgium). I met Australians calling Adelaide the Girona  of Australia, Americans saying Boulder is the Girona of the US. Almost all non-European and a lot of European pro cyclists base themselves in this city which suits all their needs during racing season. The people of Girona and Catalunya have a similar mindset to cyclists. They like to enjoy good food, good coffee, an afternoon by the lake relaxing. But they are also concerned about the appearance, health and wellbeing of themselves and the people around them.

    I started getting to know the ESC crew. Brian, an Irish guy who I met on the ESC pintxos night (tapas, beer and good company). It takes even the best English speaking person at least 15 minutes to understand his rapid Irish accent, but you can’t do anything but love it once you understand his words and his passion for the things he does. Louise, who was the one who inviting me to the pintxos night. People say she has a heart of gold, but I think the more fiery coloured ruby is a better way to describe her. Boris, the newly hired mechanic, always busy in the workshop when I met him, we got along from the first day. Lee, the first one of the bunch I had a longer conversation with. I rode with him on the front of my first group ride around Girona, trying to say something once in a while in between his never ending banter and shouting things to the rest of the group behind us. I must’ve gotten through to him because a few days later they offered me a job. There was one catch though, they wanted (and needed) me to start working with them as fast as possible.

    This put me in a difficult spot. After a few years of looking I had found a nice job in Belgium, with an owner passionate about his work who realised his employees also needed the time and freedom to be able to fully exploit their passion. Happy employees make happy clients. I didn’t want to be ungrateful to him and the chances he gave me by leaving him in a busy time of the season. I told the ESC team I would have to think about it a few days but would have an answer before the end of the month. They were understanding and although they really needed an answer fast, gave me the time I needed. This to me, was another good sign that this company cares, and this was an important factor in my decision. I travelled back to Belgium, hauling my bike and bags on and off 2 trains, a ride around Paris and and a long bus ride from Paris to Antwerp. All the time thinking of the dilemma that had presented itself and thinking I should get a haircut.

    I had my last day of work in Belgium the 19th of August and flew to Girona on the evening of the next day. I started working at ESC the day after. I have been working for ESC every day since that first day preparing for three weeks worth of trips across the Pyrenees: 1. Manning the HQ with Lee while the others went on trip, 2. Preparing for trip, 3. Guiding and driving the ESC support van across the Pyrenees, with a bunch of foul mouthed but gold hearted Americans from Chicago, 4. Taking a train from Toulouse to Girona with a backpack, suitcase and two bikes that need go back to Girona (the other bikes stay in Toulouse to go on trip No. 3).

    I’m writing this on that train, vineyards on the left, Pyrenees on the right, reflecting on the path I chose and I realise I made the right decision. Technically, I have been working for 18 days in a row. But it doesn’t feel like that in any way. Guiding a bunch of nice people on a Monday morning to the beautiful Banyoles lake for a coffee is part of my job now. I used to take days off from work to cycle across the stunning scenery of the Pyrenees.

    The first thing I will do when I get back to Girona before I unpack the bikes I’m carrying will be crossing the street from the ESC shop to get an Espresso. They say the coffee from Christian & Amber Meier’s Espresso Mafia will ruin any other coffee for you. Handpicked coffee beans, roasted in their own laboratory and a brewing process that’s timed to perfection. All steps closely guarded by the man himself make for a coffee that tastes like an angel pissing on your tongue (as we would say in Belgium). After you’ve had this coffee, all future coffees will be enjoyed less and even the best coffee you’ve had so far won’t ever be as good as it was on that particular day. Of course in the right circumstances a decent coffee can be enjoyable, but in the back of your head you’ll know the coffee could be better. The Espresso is like the job, thanks for hiring me ESC!

    After the coffee, I do need to get myself a haircut!

  • Passo Stelvio & Eat Sleep Cycle

    Stevio has a special place in Eat Sleep Cycle history. Eat Sleep Cycle founder Lee shares why on our recent recce tour of the Dolomites.

    Yesterday was a very special day for Louise and I and also a turning point for Eat Sleep Cycle.

    At the crack of dawn and in single digit temperatures, we rode from Bormio into the clouds to reach the snow capped Stelvio peak. Since we rode this climb 3 years ago we have admired the photo canvas of it on our lounge wall and said “we need to go back there”. It is jaw dropping and beautiful, epic and so hard! I just love the way the scenery changes through the valley, after one set of switch backs and another and another…

    Three years ago I had invited Louise to Italy for a cycling trip. It was the end of the race season and we wanted to get away and enjoy some leisure cycling. So I planned the Stelvio and Maratona routes of course. Louise had no idea what she was in for, but mountains would quickly become an important part of our lives.

    The first morning of our trip we loaded up with my mountain powder (a horrible concoction of pure electrolyte and fructose) and hit the climb. The night before I’d had nightmares of her smashing me on the climb (which later became the inspiration for our Eat Sleep Cycle logo). At the top, Louise was freezing so we huddled up in the cafe up the steps. We rode down the other side and after some cake and 2 espressos shared our first kiss.

    Yesterday was our one year anniversary and riding up Stelvio together was the best anniversary present for both of us. We rode up side by side from the Prato side and as a commitment to our future together stayed together the whole way up. This was all possible because Brian is back at base managing the HQ – without this man none of this would be happening.

    Our trip to Italy has also opened a new door for Eat Sleep Cycle and we are excited about the future. We have been working in Girona and the Pyrenees and now we will work in the Italian alps and Dolomites too. These mountains are what made our brand and it’s where Louise and I forged our relationship so it feels exactly the right thing to do.

    A few years later… our Classic Climbs of the Giro tour is up and running, as well as our epic Trans Dolomites Challenge. You heard it here first why Eat Sleep Cycle loves Italia! 

  • The wonder of Carrer de la Rutlla (Roo-ee-ya!)

    By Brian Canty

    Next month I’ll be celebrating three years in Girona and I’m just amazed at how quickly the time has gone.

    I still have the most vivid memories of those early days and weeks of arriving on 94/96 Carrer de la Rutlla, a street that meant absolutely nothing to me back in late August 2014 when I touched down.

    Nowadays I call the street by a different name: my street. Though ‘my’ street is actually Carrer de la Creu, it’s Carrer de la Rutlla I like to call my own because it was where I first lived in Girona – and I simply love it.

    Why? Well, where to start…

    I love the old guy about halfway up between C/Ultonia and C/Creu who works in a dimply lit dungeon sharpening knives and scissors and other bits and pieces.

    He’s always busy, never (ever) lifts his head to see what’s going on outside and is just consumed in his trade. I often wonder is it actually just a robot in there.

    There’s another guy, rather robust looking, who stands outside the 24h shop and never seems to do anything aside from be there, scanning left and right like someone in the crowd during Wimbledon.

    My favourite people are the four (three men and a lady) who work in the American-themed joint Kruskat Burger, just opposite where I used to live on Rutlla.

    I love them because they were the first to welcome me to Girona and that meant allowing me type stories using their Wi-Fi as I sipped green tea or an agua amb gas for two hours.

    Their burgers were – and still are, sensational and the American rock anthems blasting out no less so. The tracks repeated themselves but that was okay and on my Spotify playlist ‘Canty Favourites’ I have at least 10 songs they used play here. For fear of being chastised, I will keep the songs private.

    I get my haircut on Rutlla as there are five barbers within 300 metres of each other.

    I have spent thousands on bread, eggs, ham, cheese, chorizo, milk, bananas and wine in Novavenda. The girls in the shop always greet me and tell me take my bag off my back and leave it at the door like everyone else.

    I enquire about house prices every so often in the two letting agents on Rutlla. I get my NIE laminated in the photocopying shop when it gets tatty.

    I buy outrageously expensive healthy food in BioNefre though I swore I wouldn’t come back when the lady didn’t allow me take a trolley home once.

    I always say I don’t want a customer loyalty card as a kind of mini-revenge.

    There is a dog groomers where I stop and stare at the dogs getting their hair done inside the window. They look back at me and I’m sure they smile and think, ‘fuck yeah!’

    I cycle down this one-way street the wrong way every day and smile at everyone because I know I’m at fault. I see the same people at the same time every day and I think they’ve just accepted this is how it’s going to be. I kill them with over-the-top waves and smiles.

    There’s a pizza place (Tele Pizza) I’ve only eaten in once. It mainly attracts kids who play keepy-uppy and skateboard in the small square outside.

    I just love the street and everyone on it! Cars take forever to get into the underground spaces and I am often held up…but that’s okay because I piss them off as well.

    The place just warms me and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Lee and Louise don’t like it and we’ve had some discussion about me moving closer to town.

    You see, they are ‘townies’ who do not know anything but the Old Town. When I invite them over for dinner Lee moans it’s too far – and for a man who enjoys food, that is quite something.

    But I make no apologies. Carrer de la Rutlla is Girona in a nutshell!

  • The rock and roll lifestyle of a bike tour guide in the Pyrenees

    I won’t thank my new editor Lee Comerford for tasking me with the most general of all assignments; ‘a blog on the last week’, or something like that, would be great. Tonight.

    How can one sum up in words what it feels like to ride across the Pyrenees for work? How impossible is it to summarise 600 incredible kilometres in a few photos?

    We can only try and I guess one way of doing it is retelling the words that spill out of my mouth when people enquire, ‘oh how was your trip in the Pyrenees?’.

    I’ll say it was great fun. I’ll say the group were reeeealllly nice. I’ll say we had rough weather at times but we all got on great. I’ll say we’re hopeful they’ll be back again and we’re looking forward to our next trip. After that, well, do others who weren’t there reeeealllly care?

    For those that do I’ll tell with passion and energy of driving almost 500 kilometres from Girona on a Monday afternoon via Perpignan, Narbonne, Toulouse and Lourdes, stopping just once for a leak and surviving on peaches and Deff Leppard’s greatest hits.

    I’ll tell of reaching our start point and sourcing ride food, searching for quality and value in a tiny town where the average age must have been close to 70.

    It’s basic stuff this, but it just felt right and I definitely think I brightened up the shop assistant’s day with the most over-the-top merci beaucoup she ever heard after selling 8 baguettes, 24 bananas and around 4 packets of ham.

    I’ll recall the silence of that grey Monday evening in Arrens-Marsous and going for a late evening core session in a field to pass the time, washing in a freezing cold fountain for the sheer hell of it (and the guesthouse wasn’t yet open!).

    I’ll never forget the tick-tacking with Lee on the road from San Sebastien after completing a trip the week before and Louise back in the control tower pulling the strings.

    Lee’s buddy Chris helped us on this trip and he was in the Basque country getting a rack attached to the roof of our new van as Lee was guiding clients.

    An old housemate of Lee’s who volunteered to come along, Chris sat in a bar in Tolosa on a Monday evening at 5pm while the rack was being welded on. And he looked damn happy with himself in the selfie he sent on.

    Our other hired help Peter got a bit of a raw deal from Mother Nature, or at least someone with a fraction of his positivity would believe.

    He guided for four days and it rained a LOT. He rode as a back-marker in hail storms and sat in the saddle for seven hours on one particular day. Afterwards, he thanked us for giving him the opportunity to do it.

    All he wanted in return was enough food – which is not an easy task with this guy.

    Nobody who likes money and working more than eight hours a day would do this job of a bike tour guide.

    Nobody with less than a love for cycling could do it. But this week, it became very clear to us that there’s very little else we’d wanna do.

    Chris and Peter have brains to burn and it’s just as well because our demands on them this week were many. Yet their only complaint by the end was the trip was over.

    Maybe the reason we – and they, love it and do it is because it’s so utterly humbling to see the difference it makes to people’s lives.

    We had 12 clients this week from Ireland and the UK and to say they were a pretty accomplished bunch would be unfair to them. In cycling parlance, they were hitters.

    There were guys who worked in finance, medicine, insurance, property and construction and they were all very VERY good at what they did.

    We had some truly woeful weather, however, no more so than on day one when we headed for the Aubisque in appalling conditions.

    Yet wild horses would not have stopped the boys from reaching the top and their upbeat outlook was truly inspiring. The descent of the Tourmalet on Wednesday was similarly bad, yet they all rode down it like demons and wore wide smiles when we convened at the bottom.

    As one of them put it to us one evening over dinner, “I work with people over the age of 65 years of age. I’m up at 6 most mornings getting four girls up for school and I mightn’t be back before 6 in the evening. This is my week with the lads and I’ll maximise every minute of it.”

    His story was one we’ve heard over and over since we started the company so for that very reason we’ve strived to help people get the absolute best experience they can in the time they have with us.

    The life of a bike tour guide is a very privileged one and it offers absolutely everything a man or woman could want in a working life…except time off, a routine and riches.

    And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

  • 2009, Bedoin and the start of a beautiful love affair

    By Brian Canty

    The Tour de France is like no other event in the world of professional sport and it´s a race I hold very, very dear. 

    My first experience of it was on a balmy July evening in 2009, a couple of months  after I´d finished college in Galway.

    Without much money or cycling experience I planned a trip to France with a good friend which involved the cheapest flight possible from Shannon to Paris-Beauvais, a bus into the city centre, the TGV down to Avignon, a hitch-hike to Orange where we rented bikes and the last 30 kilometres chasing the sunset to Bedoin.

    I´ve cycled many kilometres in my life but few as blissful as that 20-mile team time-trial to the base town of Mont Ventoux.

    I recall the majesty of the little French villages we rode through, my belly crying for food and my tongue desperate for water. I remember having no lights on the bikes and us pedalling for our lives to get to Bedoin.

    There were all manner and make of vehicle on the same road, all making the same pilgrimage to the bike race. Buggies and bikes were strapped to cars while those with a little more had wide-berth campers with barbecues.

    Richie and I had maybe a set of kit each, a sleeping bag (each!) and not a whole lot else. In fact, my sleeping arrangement that night was an empty wine bottle wrapped in a jumper and the roof over my head was the underside of a camper which a Norwegian family kindly allowed me seek refuge under.

    The journey there was just magic, jumping in behind campers to take advantage of the slightest draft they´d provide. The brief moment where we were sucked along was perfect but all too short.

    We made Bedoin before dark and because we were two young guys eager for adventure we decided to actually ride up to the top of Ventoux for the hell of it. 

    Ditching our limited belongings and grabbing a quick beer and sandwich, we set off up the murderous ascent, one of us (ah em) reaching it around an hour later as the other (ah em) had enough by Chalet Raynard.

    Cresting the summit and scanning the endless lavender fields of Provence is an image still firmly etched in my brain and to quote the late Michele Scarponi “when I ride my bike, life seems light”.

    It was one of those evenings you wish would never end.

    I hadn´t much to my name that year after finishing college and less of a clue of where I´d go in life, but there was something sublime about where I was at that moment and I made a pact that I´d return to the Tour every year to get that feeling again. 

    Eight years on and I´ve stayed true to it – with the latest installment of my Tour career just over two weeks away.

    People say, ´don´t you just see the riders for like 10 seconds and that´s it?

    In some cases, that is what happens but there is so much more to seeing the Tour than that. There´s the fanfare that fills the morning long before the riders arrive, the banter with fans from all over the world, the atmosphere along the route, the delicious baguettes that only the French can do, the long lazy evenings spent chatting in cafes in the most obscure places, the lounging around in cycling kit after conquering one too many climbs.

    I´ve been at the race as a fan and a journalist, so I´ve seen the race through different lenses.

    And this year, for the first time, I will take a group as part of a Tour de France package we are organising – and there is no other thing in the world I would rather be doing than cycling in the Pyrenees or the Alps in mid-July.

    Warning, you may fall in love too.

     

     

  • A blissful union of food & cycling on our first Gourmet Tour

    Warning!! Contains images of food and cycling!!

    The Gourmet Tour of Catalunya is an itinerary inspired by all our favourite rides and all our favourite places to eat and drink in the Girona region. Here´s a taster…

    Wine tasting in the Emporda region is a must for any self respecting Gourmet Tour. The ride takes our cyclists through idylic country lanes to the only bodega in Catalunya that still uses traditional wine making methods. The results are divine.

    A visit to the Costa Brava and a taste of seafood from the Mediterranean is yet another treat for body, soul and stomach. We ride from Girona through farmland and small villages before tackling the climb up to San Grau. From there riders enjoy a spectacular descent and work up an appetite for the 3-course extravaganza that awaits.

    We enjoyed the first Gourmet Tour so much that we´re running two more for 2017 and more dates will soon be released for 2018. Join us for a true Eat, Sleep, Cycle experience.

    Thanks go to Tristan Cardew for the fab videos and to Colleen, Gil & Harriet for making our first Gourmet Tour extra delicious and to our fabulous hosts on the ride.