It was a planned excursion with the local club (Bici Muntany El Papiol) and we got up early (at least for me, I'm not use to ride that early in the morning, even less in the winter).
We arrived at Aiguafreda before 08:00, it was pitch black and the road where we parked was covered in ice.
The plan, in typical club way, was to ride up to a restaurant in Collformic, have a brunch, and come down looking for the GR5, a very nice and tricky singletrack.The pace of the group was not very fast and it took us two hours to get to the restaurant; 16km and over a 1000 m climb.
The views were great, the Pyrenees were not far away and we could see the snow. Funny how the higher we got the warmer it was. We started at 0º at 400m and up top at 1300m we were at 15º. It's called thermal inversion and it often happens in the winter around here.
The food and the company was great, but the main dish was yet to come. The downhill through the GR5 was worth the early wake up call. More than 800m of elevation loss and over 3km of tricky but not scary singletrack.
Flat rocks wet enough to be careful, but surprisingly grippy, drops every now and then and tight single around the trees. We had to put our foot down a couple of times, but we are sure to come back soon and clear it all!
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