We are following the fortunes of young cyclist Evie Field, in her first season racing as a junior for JRC-Interflon Race Team. In Part 1 Evie told us about the transition from club to national level racing. In Part 2 of her blog she gives us a peek inside the team training camp which took place in the cycling Mecca that is Girona.
JRC-Interflon Race Team checking out new Trek bikes courtesy of Trek Travel
I had been looking forward to the team’s training camp in Girona so much. My first training camp as a cyclist was with my local club Liverpool Century a few years ago in cold, damp Wales, in the foothills of Snowdonia. This was going to be something else though. I had been to Girona before on a family holiday. I didn’t get to ride unfortunately as I had not long recovered from Covid, but did get to find out what a beautiful and cool place Girona is. It is basically cycling & cyclist’s heaven. The roads, the scenery, the weather, the cafes, the old town ... you can immediately see why so many professionals make it their home.
The team all flew in from various corners of the UK to Barcelona where we met up and headed over to our hotel in Girona. The camp was being supported by the bike tour operator Trek Travel. This meant we all got to ride top of the range Trek bikes for the camp to coincide with the opening of the new flagship Trek store in the city.
After our bike fittings, the first day was spent exploring (and getting lost) on the fantastic gravel roads around Girona. It was more like mountain biking at times and on one occasion while sending the skinny-wheeled road bike down a gravel descent I did have to abort into a field!
Day 2 was the big day. An epic 130km ride on the Costa Brava. This was one of the most amazing rides I’ve ever done. The views were insane. It was also my first taste of European climbs with nearly 2,000m of climbing & some stunning full speed descents along the coast line.
Day 3 was another brutal day of climbing in the mountains with the 25km climb to Sant Hilari, again with some mental descending from the top. We had a quick pit stop to watch the finish of the women’s Strada Bianchi before rounding off the perfect day in the Girona favourite that is La Fabrica to watch Tom Pidcock’s Strada win with a slice of well-deserved cake.
The fourth and final day took us up the local classic climb of Els Angels with some impromptu karaoke on the way up before another ‘full send’ on the descent trying to catch a Dutch pro team!
I really wish that we could have stayed for longer and will definitely be back to explore some more roads. I can already imagine myself living there when I’m older! Hopefully all the miles in the legs and what I’ve learned over the past week can be put to good use in this seasons races.
Finally a big thank you to everyone who made this camp possible, especially Wilderness Scotland, and everyone who looked after us.
Part 1 - New Season - New Team
https://evelynfieldracing.wordpress.com/
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