The Pros Backyard
With the onset of Autumn and the racing season coming to a close the attention of the professionals turns to training. After a few weeks of rest, they’re soon back on their bikes, embarking on long training rides to build their base km’s ahead of the new season. Perhaps putting volume of training aside, it’s a similar story for us non-competitive folk, too. The Autumn season paints our well-known local routes in a new, softer light, our bodies adapt to cooler temperatures and our minds race to the snug post-ride warmth that only an open fireplace can provide
Nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Girona is the perfect location for these long training rides – nicknamed ‘the pros backyard’ – thanks to a selection of idilic routes ridden religiously by over 100 resident professionals.
We asked Girona local man and CHPT3 ambassador, Ramon Lozano to head out and ride his favourite Autumn routes, sharing them with us as he went. This, his first and much-loved training ride, is famed for its traffic-free roads which makes for the calmest start possible to the cooler seasons.
Riding south from our medieval home of Girona, Ramon winds steadily along quiet roads to Cassà de la Selva, a chance to warm your body up before the gradual climb to Santa Pellaia. The ascent makes for a perfect chance to take in the views and watch your breath lingering in the chilled air.
Reaching the midway point of the 100km excursion, the town of Monells is the first opportunity for good coffee; a high point for Ramon and his friends as they catch-up and, in the deep winter, warm-up.
Continuing along the glass-smooth surface, the route sticking exclusively to secondary roads, the town of Madremanya is spotted on the horizon. It’s beautiful church bell tower stands high among the other 14th century stone buildings and usually marks a turn-off point where riders climb up to Els Angels and back to Girona. Come on, this is a base miles ride… there’s more km’s to be ticked off.
Onwards the route continues, now well north of Girona, but still undisturbed by cars. Before long, the final climb of Puig Saleta is complete and you’re left to roll back home through Canet d’Adri – another town etched into the minds of pros and signalling point to ease off on the pedals and let gravity do its job whilst legs begin to recover, ready to go again tomorrow.
This geography has served as inspiration for the surface pattern of CHPT3’s 3-season base layer, creating an abstract road map of the roads and villages that every pro knows so well from their off-season rides. Share in the pros backyard and we hope you find some inspiration in this story every time you pull on your CHPT3 Backyard Base Layer.
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