kevmcd

Spain is wonderful. In general the country is wonderful and specifically it is wonderful for bicyclists. The weather is great in Spain even in November (at least this year)


Just riding the plentiful protected bike lanes on the streets of Barcelona, Palma and Valencia is like Disneyland for an American who is used to having to ride 6" from the curb with cars and trucks whizzing by within a foot of your shoulder. Note of caution: there are lots of scooters and electric bikes in the bike lanes that are going faster than you and they are absolutely quiet. Don't do anything stupid or unexpected like suddenly stop to look at your phone or swerve across the opposing direction lane to leave the bike lane without knowing whether someone is passing you from behind. I made a couple of idiot moves that were close calls before I figured out how to be careful.


Distances are long between cities in Spain. Taking the train or bus is a great idea but not always a good idea with your bike. If I were to do the trip over I would rent bikes in shorter intervals so I could travel easily between cities without taking the bike with me. I got trapped in Valencia for an extra day on a weekend because I couldn't get a ticket on the train for my bike. The next day I had to take a 6 hour milk run back to Barcelona with my bike. Taking the bus instead was not a great option as they were going to require me to either box the bike or break it down and wrap it in plastic. This problem may be limited to transit between the biggest cities on weekends but I may have taken the high speed rail to more locations if I hadn't rented the bike for 21 days.


Train travel on the local/regional Rodalie (sp?) line is great. But that is not for going long distances.


Taking the ferry from Barcelona to Palma and from Palma to Valencia was easy in retrospect and a fine way to travel. At the time I was a little intimidated by the gigantic scale of the ports, ferries and semi trucks that surrounded me but everything went smoothly and the people running/loading the ferries appear to be very skilled and professional.


Bicycling on Mallorca is great and I struggled with whether I should just spend all 21 days there. I took a Spanish class in Palma for a week and I really like Palma. Most of the bicyclists are based in Alcudia and I went there for a couple of days but I prefer Palma because it felt more like a Spanish city and less like a vacation resort. Bus travel is very easy in Mallorca because on most the buses the luggage compartment is completely empty and it is easy for you to toss your bike in the luggage compartment and go wherever you want on the island and be there in an hour. Hotels in Alcudia and Palma often have locked bicycle rooms with a bike stand and a bank of tools. In general Spanish hotels seem very bicycle friendly.


I went to Girona for a couple of days and I was shocked. It is even more of a bicycle mecca than Alcudia. I can only describe Girona as the Aspen of bicycling. Bicycle shops everywhere and the shops only seem to be selling very high end bicycles. Between bicycle shops are high end designer shops and very nice restaurants. I stayed at the Nord1901 hotel and it was full of Americans there on a bicycling holiday with a company called Trek Travel. Other than Girona I met very few Americans in Spain. Lots of Brits, Germans, Dutch and people from France. (Barcelona had lots of Americans but I didn't have a chance to interact with any of them). I think if I hadn't stayed at the Nord1901 I probably wouldn't have met many Americans in Girona.


I hope to go back to Spain next October.