See Me Now

     The Backroads tour has concluded, and I can’t speak highly enough about what a great experience it was. Our guides were terrific.   In addition to being charming and knowledgeable, they made all the travel logistics appear effortless, which I am sure they were not. Moreover, they ordered up perfect cycling weather which is always a chancy situation.      After my initial fears about the long-climb routes, I came to appreciate the mix of moderate challenge, gorgeous views, and variable terrain. By day 4, after cold mornings and long climbs in the Pyrenees, we arrived at the small town of La Bisbal D’Emborda. From this home base, we cycled to the south and rode alongside the beautiful and balmy beaches of the Costa Brava .        In La Bisbal D’Emporda, we settled in at Castell d’Emporda where our rooms overlooked a stunning green agricultural valley with snow-capped mountains in the distance.   This hotel was quite l...

  Check out these route profiles and you can see what I mean about long climbs.   The main one on day two was 8.3 miles (miles!).   Just when I was feeling proud of myself for conquering that, I discovered that day three’s main climb was around 10 miles. But it turns out that the grades are relatively mild, ranging mostly from 3% to 5% with the occasional short section of something higher.   That’s pretty low key as far bike hill-climbing goes, so you just have to hunker down for the long haul.       There are only six of us on this tour, and four are on e-bikes.   I confess to feeling a few moments of envy as they sailed past us regular bikers early on.   But the effort has been rewarding and has justified substantial calorie intake at lunch and dinner time.      After two nights in Llivia, we rode to Ribes de Freser where we had a delicious luncheon in an old Victorian church, now converted to a restaurant. From there ...

After a few acclimation days in Barcelona, I met up with the Backroads tour guides who promptly loaded us up and drove us 2 ½ hours to Spain’s Cerdanya region. The scenery was really beautiful, but the journey was a bit unsettling as the magnitude of the mountainous terrain we’d be riding became apparent.   What have I done? I thought as our van labored up and up into a cloud bank which dropped big raindrops onto the windshield. Eventually, we descended into the village of Pi (Catalan for pine ) where we had a lovely lunch before suiting up for our first ride.   Luckily the sun broke through and we enjoyed a short but challenging ride to the town of Llívia – our home for two nights.     Weirdly, you have to cross the Spain/French border to reach Llívia which is small Spanish enclave surrounded by France.   After post-ride beers, we got settled into our hotel and then waited it out until Spanish dinner time, which is 8pm at the earliest.   We walk...