The Catalan Tourist Trophy!

Leg 1

The most technical road? Anywhere? Ever? Check tyre pressures, don full riding gear, clip visor down, kick the tyre's and light the fires! Turn onto the Tossa de Mar road form San Feliu de Guixols (GI-682) and as you pass the historic Monestry on the left, you are immediately thrown into the first sharp right hander of many! This road is around 20km long, has around 400 bends and a large proportion of these are over 90 degrees. Beautiful vistas and surfaces, amazing views and twists!

Leg 2

Fast twisty fun! The technical part is over for now (more later) we reach Tossa de Mar and bang a right at the roundabout, taking the GI-681 signposted Llagostera. As you make your way our and past the suburbs the road opens up and you are initially greeted by a long fast straight stretch, with a couple of little fast smooth, open bends. As you progress you are treated to more of the same, gradually the road becomes twistier and twistier, giving you that sense of satisfaction and one large grin! If you are lucky you will time this stretch right and be treated to a few tows from the local bikers, who as you can imagine call it their playground!

Leg 3

A straight blast! We've passed through Llagostera and are making our way now to Cassa de la Selva. Not the most technical road, as its a straight blast, but a great oppurtunity to wring that throttle and get tucked in. Or take it steady and take in the beautiful countryside views. Cassa de la Selva is reknowned for cork production and as you pass through you will see that this is Cava country! But hey ho, this is the Catalan TT so forget all that! head down and twist that right wrist!

Leg 4

More twisty fun! After the quick straight blast we turn onto the GI- 664 heading for la Bisbal, a fantastic bit of road that is both technical and has fast flowing sections! This is a beautiful region but concentrate on the road ahead! There are a couple of switchbacks that can catch the unwary by surprise, luckily we know this road so well that we can make the most of our experience to get maximum lean angle! It's one of them roads that when you get it right leaves you with an enormous sense of self satisfaction! and a mahoooosive grin from ear to ear! Occasionally we will stop for a rest in la Bisbal, park our bike up in the town centre and grab a coffee. Do some people watching as the local population of this market town go about their bustling lives.

Leg 5

Technical mountain curvas. This road is again a bit cheeky for technicality. Initially its a fast open road but then starts to close in and get narrower, leaving minimal room for error before, during and out of the apexes. If you are not aware the Spanish are not very great at lane discipline, we tend to ride rather conservatively on the twists up and down the mountain here, as there is a good chance something will be coming toward you on your side of the road! We have had a couple of squeaky bum moments! You might argue why include it then? Because - like all the other roads it has great twists, surfaces, and views. It just needs to be treated with a certain amount of respect!

Leg 6

More curves and great surfaces We've made it to Calonge, and we turn right onto the GIV-6612 signposted towards Romanya de la Selva. A spectacular stretch of road that has everything you want! Straights? yep! twisties? yep! fast flowing exits? yep! great surfaces? yep! switchbacks? yep! When you get this road right all the way through you feel like you've just been signed up for a MOTOGP ride! Slow is Smooth - Smooth is Fast! this is one of them roads that you can quite easily spend all day on, one way, then the other, then reversed again and so on and so on! A thing we have done! ;-))

Leg 7

Tired by this point? A short little section that has seen us pass Romanya de la Selva, but we are still on the same road. The road opens up and starts to get progressively faster, the great visibilty of this section promotes hitting the apexes at top speed! Fatastic surfaces lead to sublime confidence in your bikes rubber (we are Pirelli fans). This is what the tyres are designed and manufactured to do right? they don't dissapoint!

Leg 8

Heading back to the sea. Turn onto the GIP-6821, we are heading back to the sea but keep them concentration levels up! Switchbacks, fast flowing right and left handers, low speed technical cornering. When you finally crest the hill and start making your way back down the vista is amazing, on the right day in the right light you cannot tell where the sky stops and the sea starts! Anyway back to the ride, as you work downhill there are a couple of sharp off-camber corners to contend with, again the confidence in your tyres should be high by this point, trust in them and they will get you round. Throttle control is key here!

Leg 9

Back to SFG for beer and stickies, with a big grin! We've hit the T-junction with the GV-682, we are turning left back towards SFG, but there is no reason why you cannot turn right and start the route all over again? ha ha we have! So we are back on the technical GV-682 again, but importantly we are riding the opposite way! This means that now the left handers put you in close proximity to the Costa Brava and the rugged cliffs. The drops range from 300/800 feet, so we tend to not go in as hot on the lefties! ;-)) But some days when the devil is in you we do push and test our skill levels! So, we are back in SFG, we park the bike up on the beach and head to one of the bars for a bit of tapas and a couple of Cañas! A deserved treat and reward for taking on the Catalan TT, we are legends at this point? ;-)) and although tired we are beaming and shaking from the adrenalin!