You’ve booked the training camp. The routes are mapped, the bike’s serviced, the watts are ready. One thing left to sort: what you’re going to eat for a week without getting burned.
Training in Girona means burning 4,000-6,000 calories a day, and the refuelling window is unforgiving. A bad meal during camp isn’t a disappointment — it’s a lost session. Here’s how the riders who do this every winter handle it.
Breakfast is non-negotiable. Find a bar where locals stop for coffee and a bocadillo — cured ham, tomato, olive oil, fresh bread. €8-12, proper fuel, no queue of cyclists. The hotel buffet is fine; the tourist cafe with the €18 ‘full English’ is a scam with eggs from a bag.
Mid-ride, eat like a local would. The best fuel stops on Girona routes are the village bars where the price list is handwritten and nobody speaks English. That’s how you know it’s real. Coffee, a tortilla, a coca — €5-7, and the people there can tell you about the road ahead.
Post-ride, protein and honesty. The recovery meal is where camps get expensive and disappointed. A €40 ‘steak’ that’s actually cheap meat with sauce, or a €30 paella that’s been sitting since Tuesday — these are the classics of the tourist menu. A real post-ride meal in Girona: grilled fish or meat, market vegetables, good bread, a glass of wine. €20-30. You’ll know it’s right because it’s what the locals at the next table are eating.
Reserve the expensive night for a place that earns it. Camps usually have one ‘nice dinner’. In Girona, nice doesn’t mean the most photographed terrace — it means a kitchen with a reputation. Spend where the locals spend their own money on a special occasion, not where the marketing budget is biggest.
The full shortlist — breakfasts, fuel stops, recovery meals, and the traps to avoid — is in the Girona Foodies guide. Train hard, eat smart.