Bike Trip Day 1 - Cerdanya

Shuttle to Cerdanya 2½ Hours
Biking Options:

Hotel del Lago Route: 16 Miles (660’ elevation gain)
Urtx Route: 23 Miles (1,060’)

After meeting the leaders and the other riders in Barcelona at the Franca train station, we shuttle
northwest toward the soaring Pyrénées. Though Barcelona is Catalonia’s capital and its largest city, there is much more to this semi-autonomous region, and we’re off to explore it all. 

Puicerda

With its distinct culture, laws, traditions, language and cuisine, Catalonia is like nowhere else in Spain.  Heading into the higher elevations of the pre-Pyrénées, we notice the landscape evolves from Mediterranean to alpine. We pass through the Cadí tunnel, a gateway to the mountainous ski region of Cerdanya, en route to the Cadí-Moixeró Nature Reserve, one of Catalonia’s largest parks. Breathtaking limestone cliffs, abundant pine trees and green meadows. 


I realize that I'm not as fast on the uphills as I would like to be, but I was among the first to disappear on the long amazing  downhills!  I was tempted a couple of times to stop to take pictures, but was able to resist and keep barreling down those monsters.

Dinner in the village of Puigcerda.  Danny, our trip leader is from one of the mountain villages, talked about the history of Catalonia.  A favorite traditional food,  "Pan Tomate" is a toasted bagette smeared with garlic and tomato and topped with olive oil.  The thing that looked most palatable to me was the mushroom paella, which was what most of us ordered.  The chef decided to top all the paella with foie gras for the Americans.  Most of us asked that it be removed - it's now illegal to serve foie gras in the US (I think) or it should be!  Anyway, California just banned it.



A short video of Day 1 me on my bike.