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#1
10-08-2015, 11:44 AM
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Spain advice
So I'm going to be in Spain later this month and trying to decide where to do a quick bike trip. I was originally settling on Andalucia/Malaga but the costs for the option I'm looking at has me doing a bit of re-evaluation. Thinking that Girona might be a viable option as well, but would like to hear if anyone has experience or knowledge about general weather conditions in October? Any quick advice would be appreciated. Gracias!
Info/experience on renting road bikes in Girona also appreciated!
__________________
Ad astra. Tempus est. Andiamo! 
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#2
10-08-2015, 12:04 PM
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Lots of bike shops and tons of riders in and around Girona. You can always hop the train into Barcelona. You don't want to miss the food. Avoid the upper parts of the Costa Brava. If you want to stay on the sea Tamariu, Sant Sebastia, Palamos, Tossa de Mar but you'll need a car to get there. Girona or Vic for the mountains. Food and accommodations were all quite affordable. Would also recommend SIXT rent a car. You could get a BMW for some crazy price like $70 a day.
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#3
10-08-2015, 12:04 PM
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Weather is not bad in this season, weather is like DC metro in general... so is not that is going to snow or be super cold probably till end of november-mid dec....
1st thing i would advice you is do not take anything with the US flag in it, like a backpack with an american flag... spaniards are super nice people but you dont want to enter in argument with somebody that doesnt like american foreign policies, specially when you have nothing to do with it, and honestly lik in many places as blended you are with the population the safest you will get. If you need to put a flag just to identify your stuff just put the canadian one :P Second thing... spanish... hope you know spanish, because between one town to another accents and intonations change a lot (my wife is peruvian and she was having a hard time with the speedy talkers, I didnt), if you know french that will help too... you are going to catalunya... dont get surprised if in a store you ask something, and they answer in catalan, they are really proud if their culture, besides that... you will have a good trip  This happened to me twice... you rent a room in a hotel based in the pictures, when you get there you find that is not even close to the pictures, advice? dont waste your time complaining about it, specially if what you are looking for is not like a 10 stars hotel. BTW, there is monastery in that area (honestly cant remember too well where it is because they took us there) they manufacture turron and chocolates... enjoy the cava, and the other stuff they produce... excellent food. 
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#5
10-08-2015, 02:19 PM
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Culturally, Catalonia is very different from Andalusia. Barcelona is a cosmopolitan, artsy, cultured, sophisticated, hard working modern business capital and port (think fashion, shopping, gourmet food, art galleries and museums).
Seville/Granada/Cordoba are all smaller cities/towns that, to me, are much more evocative of the Spain of white villages, hard landscapes, and medieval (or older) castles and cathedrals (think Alhambra, Mezquita, Flamenco). Both wonderful choices. But very different.
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#6
10-08-2015, 02:20 PM
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Girona was a great base for a few days of riding for us, a few years ago. Then we went north to the Pyrenees Orientals for the rest of our trip. We rented an apartment in the old city at the Bellmirall Hotel. They were very used to bikers. See picture. There is a great market there, you can get whatever you want to eat and cook it up in the apartment. Or eat out, whatever.
Enjoy, its a great spot.
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#8
10-08-2015, 02:34 PM
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We had black hoof jamon iberico for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We even had it at the airport before we got on the plane. That picture is making me weep...
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#9
10-08-2015, 03:22 PM
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Further, Catalunya is generally more expensive and higher scale. In Andalusia, there are many small towns with amazing rural cycling. Check out Montefrio. There's an Englishman there who converts old homes into short-term rental residences. Hills are steep and shorter, you're riding through olive tree orchards everywhere, there's a lot of old Moorish and early Christian structures. If you want to be on the coast, it gets pricey and the traffic gets a lot heavier, but you can be an hour away and have great riding. It's warmer, drier, and you're more on your own. Coastal Catalunya and the towns close to the coast (Girona in particular) is more expensive but very pretty. Different kind of climbing but also more routes that avoid a lot of hills if you want something less aggressive. More bike shops. The food is a little more evolved (Catalan food is some of the best, rivaled only by Basque cuisine) and Armstrong made the area famous by living with much of the Postal Service squad in Girona for a few years. The town has grown a lot since then and isn't the quiet backwater it was in the 90's.
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#10
10-08-2015, 04:01 PM
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Ask for a good place to get Pan con Tomate
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#11
10-08-2015, 04:09 PM
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I spent some time kayaking in the Tarifa/Gibraltar area and then went up the coast a bit and hung out in Nerja, just north of Malaga. Great sleepy little town, and close to L'Alhambra which you should go see. It will blow your mind.
__________________
“A bicycle is not a sofa” -- Dario Pegoretti
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#12
10-08-2015, 08:20 PM
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Gracias, appreciate the insights. I must say if i were to go solely for Tapas/Pintxos I would bee-line it to San Sebastian/Donostia or at least the Basque Country. But on a previous trip i remember thinking in Barcelona that "the food is pretty good here, almost as good as SS." Valencia is the only place worth ordering Paella.
Riding-wise, i'm finding many, many more options in Girona than the Ronda/Malaga area in Andalucia. Hence the lower prices and higher flexibility. Many touring services are operated right out of bike shops and the quality of rentals seems high. Prices are much more reasonable in Andalucia if i had more time and/or a bigger group - Girona seems better set up for solo people who find themselves in the area. Looking for big climbs around 6-7% avg grade and lots of curves  and distractions/activities after the ride is over...
__________________
Ad astra. Tempus est. Andiamo!
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#13
10-09-2015, 02:07 AM
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Don't rule out northern Spain and the Picos de Europa. Asturias is beautiful w great food and the Picos is a paradise for cycling. Lots of landscape variety in a compact area with authentic towns plus a climb to tell the grandkids about in the Angliru.
I live in Barcelona and the riding is great. I could give you a 3-4 day itinerary that you would remember. Girona is not bad but I don't think the riding is worth it for a short trip that is to say I think you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere but a lot depends whether you like to climb, distance of routes you're looking for etc. One thing to keep in mind for Girona is the distance to the best riding - the pros do long loops out to Olot for example. If you do Girona Bike Breaks is the place to rent; check out La Fabrica for coffee. Mallorca, Granada, and Lisbon too # # Alto de l'Angliru 1573m Region: Asturias Nearest airport: Asturias Recommended route: From La Vega Length: 12.5km Altitude gain: 1266m Average gradient: 10.1% Maximum gradient: 23.5% Open: April to October The most famous and infamous "extreme" climb in Spain and possibly in all of cycling. It was said when the Vuelta premiered the Angliru in 1999 that no one in their right mind could have looked at this narrow, near-vertical Asturian mountain road and thought it suitable for bike racing, but that was perhaps the point: the man who had proposed it to the Vuelta organizers, Miguel Prieto, hadn't seen it because Prieto was almost blind. A nature-lover and fanatical student of the mountains, he had one day struggled up the Angliru with his magnifying glass and altimeter, and been so struck by the steepness of the gradient that a letter was soon in the post to the Vuelta organizers. It was a gamble and likely to be controversial, but the Angliru and the excitement it generated were also exactly what the Vuelta needed to revive its flagging popularity. Unheard of twenty years ago, the Angliru is now already established among professional cycling's most hallowed heights, alongside the likes of Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux.
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#15
10-09-2015, 05:32 AM
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Mallorca or Girona?
Mallorca is nice, very challenging terrain, lots of cyclists. But, save the extra flight an drop down into Girona. Riding is spectacular, "taste" of real Espaa, w/out the touristy flavor, more variety available, for most part better road surfaces. Good luck, really can't go wrong w/either!
Depending on your riding ability I can connect you w/some locals. Great group of guys, very experienced cyclists. They ride daily throughout Girona, speak Spanish and Catalan, never the same ride twice.
__________________
Why Science? You can test it silly!
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