Rolling my bike box through Manchester Airport, I had no idea what I had signed up for as I headed out to Girona for the Synrgy Cycling Training Camp. As well as hoping my bike would travel ok, I was mainly worried about being able to keep up with everyone else. I was coming out of my first full winter of off-season training without having exams to worry about, so the Training Peaks numbers were positive, but that was only as good as I’d been previously. The Peloton’s only get stronger right?

On reaching Hotel Ultonia I went straight down to the bike room to build my bike. Thankfully there were no dramas there, so I could get out for a quick ride to iron out any issues before the proper training rides started. Having not ridden abroad since 2020, this also gave me time to adjust to riding on the other side of the road…

The leg spin route sent over by Synrgy Cycling quickly took you out of the city and into some hills above Girona. It was definitely an area I’d explore more if I ever went back. Riding my bike abroad alone brought back crazy memories of a ride in Belgium, which helped calm my nerves, as if I could survive crosswinds and rain in Belgium, Girona would be fine.

With various talks planned throughout the week, we went straight into a Training Peaks talk explaining more about the platform. Although I need to look back over my notes, it was good to have more insight into what it was capable of. After dinner at Hors Categorie Girona we also met Dr Gemma Sampson to talk all things nutrition. Paired with what we were given to fuel our rides, the knowledge I gained around nutrition was probably the biggest take away from the camp. Cycling can be a toxic environment at times, but you can’t expect a car to get you from A to B with an empty fuel tank, so why should your body be any different?

Moving into the first official day of the camp, an endurance ride was planned covering nearly 70 miles heading towards the coast and back. This was big mileage compared to what I was use to, but with the information from Dr Gemma Sampson running through my mind I was making sure I was taking on enough fuel and water to get round. Having a support car driven by Will or Hannah throughout the week carrying water and nutrition certainly helped with this too.

As well as ride leader and coach Zoe Armstrong, we were lucky enough to be riding with Brazilian National Champion, Ana Vitoria, or Tota as she prefers to be called. After a tough few years, I was wondering how one earth I’d ended up riding a climb in the sun with the Brazilian National Champion listening to Style by Taylor Swift, but that’s exactly what happened. It made the endless hours of studying feel worth while.

After a cafe stop at Dulce Pikika, we had the option to go over the Els Angels climb on the way back to the hotel. Prior to the camp, I’d not heard much about Girona, so I didn’t know what all the famous climbs were. However, being the Welsh cyclist I am, if there was a hill on offer I was going up it no matter how broken my legs were.

Back at the hotel, we were provided lunch by Emma Cummings, which was greatly appreciated throughout the week. Being able to eat as soon as we got back certainly helped with recovery.

Despite riding the high of cycling in the sun, I was grateful for a yoga session at Exhalar Studio to stretch out after all of the travelling and cycling of the last few days. A must visit for Rest Day, or during the evening after riding if you’re planning on heading to Girona.

With one of my favourite types of sessions, Under Overs, planned for the second day of training it was time to rest and recover before getting ready to go again. (More blog posts to come!)