I flew from Girona, Spain on Sunday and will not return until mid-late October after my participation in the 1,350 mile Race Around Ireland the 508 mile Furnace Creek race in California.

I moved there in March this year to focus on rebuilding my body and cycling performances after a poor run of injury form in 2011 that left me highly frustrated and sometimes questioning whether I would ever rediscover my early promising form from 2010, my second year of cycling. But living in Girona, the base of many professional cyclists, has been a great experience for me and I have noticed great improvements in my cycling abilities and I have no doubt that were it not for my two bike crashes this year, I would be in a very strong position to challenge for honours at the Ireland or California races. As things stand right now, I feel privileged just to be alive after my April crash and having a second chance to getting things in place so that I might eventually end up with my targeted wins en route to my 2018 long stop deadline date. After all, nothing great in life comes without having to overcome some obstacles!

So, what’s so great about Girona? Well, for starters, it has almost constant sunshine year round with low levels of rain (the scourge of many a training ride in more northern parts of Europe) and it also has some excellent road surfaces for cycling along with a beautiful mixture of hilly or flat terrain depending on your cycling preferences. Add in the quiet traffic roads and majority of drivers in automobiles that are respectful of cyclists and it really is among the best places in Europe for cycle training.

I’ve managed to cycle to lots of different zones around Girona region but the following are my favourites:

1. The Volcanic Route – this has been my favourite and the course I used on 80% of my training rides, usually in early morning before starting work. Starting from Banyoles, you are immediately onto the quiet and smooth surfaced GI-524 back road that takes you higher and higher into the Garrotxa National Volcanic Park (dormant volcano region surrounded by beautiful valleys and forests). After 25km of interrupted climbing, you hit the beautiful village of Santa Pau before a further 3km of climbing and then a 5km descent into Olot (itself a beautiful town). Normally on my training rides I ride just past Olot to end outskirts of the Garrotxa National Volcanic Park before turning around and beginning the 5km gradual climb from Olot and then a series of fast descents interspersed with a few flats and climbs before arriving back at Banyoles for a total distance of approx. 70kms and an overall ascent of 1,000metres. The best feature of the ride is the ability to ride at threshold for several kms en route to Olot on roads that make you feel like you are a professional cyclist climbing into the mountains on a closed off road. And I also love the descents on return leg with several sharp bends that improve your cornering abilities. In short, I love it. I miss it already!

2. Rocacorba and Mont de Mare Del Deu – these two climbs are 1,000 metre monsters and are done on days when wanting to ride at and above threshold for 10km or more uphill! Many people claim that the 13kms of Rocacorba is harder but I am not so sure – I have found Mare De Deu Del Mont to also be brutal, often far worse because although the base section/first few kms are easy going, the remainder of its 19kms prevent you from forging a solid power output or cadence rhythm. Foolishly, maybe, but I have normally ridden these climbs at lunchtime in the midday heat (hottest recorded was 37.5 degrees celsius – cue many expletives on each rising hairpin and a sweat level that is just not healthy). One thing is for sure, the views form the top are breath taking and a just reward for the killer efforts that preceded it. On balance, I prefer Mare de Deu del Mont due to the beautiful route that leads you to its base – from Banyoles into Esponella and Crespin, good roads for some aero bar time trialling and with opportunity to pass through beautiful historic medieval town of Besalu on return leg. Very breathtaking.

3. Finally, my other favourites would be the longer rides to Valter ski station on French border or the gentler looped ride out to the Mediterranean coast which takes you to into Cap de Creus national park area (can be windy but with great views of a monastery and sea views to be had). The Valter bike ride can give you over 3,000 metres of climbing if doing an out and back loop of approx 100 miles and I almost died on bike getting there during one August ride due to the suffocating heat. I had also sought to complete the 112 mile, 5,000 ntres of climbing route from Olot to Port-Aine which featured in stage 3 of this years Tour de Catlonia but that will have to wait for another day given its long traverse across some of the main N roads.

In summary, I love Girona cycling roads and if you want to explore the above routes any time, I suggest you contact Gareth or Fiona at Girona Cycling who will accommodate you and give you detailed analysis of the above routes along with the countless others that exist depending on your tastes. They are the masters when it comes to detailed knowledge of the Girona roads.