Taking my Cervelo Caledonia 5 on a big, stupid ride to France (Ep. 2; 2023)

I rode my Cervelo Caledonia 185 kilometers to the Spanish and France border in one day!

There are two border towns at this check point in the Spanish Catalonia Pyrenees. On Spain’s side is Portbou, but just over the Coll dels Belitres is the small almost identical town of Cerbére, France.

We were in for a surprise once we got to the border. But after I got home, I learned the chilling history attached to this beautiful mountain pass. I had no idea what I was about to experience.

⏰TIME STAMPS⏰
00:00 – Intro
00:13 – Our Plan
01:03 – Have any of us been to France?
01:35 – Does Marty know about where we are going?
02:55 – Detour (kind of)
03:27 – Coffee break (with food prices)
04:35 – A CRUCIAL tip
04:57 – France or Bust!
06:22 – Who called the cops?
06:33 – The Chilling history of this Mountain Pass

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A little about myself:

New to my channel? Well, I’m an average recreational cyclist that recently moved from America to Girona, Catalunya, Spain. The Tour De France 2023, The Vuelta España 2023 and The Tour of Catalunya will all be held here in Spain! Sometimes I race and when I do, I share my training with you along the way. So far, I’ve done crit racing, road racing and gravel racing. I haven’t done a duathlon or a triathlon yet, but it is something I am thinking about!

So far in Spain, I’ve seen DSM cycling, SD Worx, Team Jayco Alula, Rally / Human Powered Health cycling, Ineos, Arkea cycling, UAE team emirates and more all training here. Did you know there’s also a GCN studio here?!

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🚲Follow my Training Journey on Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/23822056
🛑 If you’d like to come along with me on my journey, then you can subscribe to the channel (it’s free). I also started a blog to document my journey in the written form: www.seesmith.net
📲 You can connect with my Instagram to see some cool cycling and non cycling content in Spain: @SeeSmith_
🙏🏾 That was a lot to type!! If you’ve read this far, thank you for taking the time to watch!

[Music] we are on the way to Francia is it FR Francia right frania frania I’m in the back with Aisha Aisha is not going to go with us all the way to France but what what are you doing today I just had 4 hours so the the route is basically like a loop but there’s a little shoot that goes up the friends I’m just going to do the loop she’s just going to do the loop we’re going to be unreasonable Town we’re going to is really like a train town I think so not sure if it’s worth it but we’re out with friends and we’ll see what it’s like when we get [Music] there where we at right now Paradise Bas you’ve been to France before yeah plenty of time which part uh per kassan wherever T is I never been to France how are the French people okay we won’t put will on blast uh if you’re watching this and you’ve been to France let me know how the people are there I’ve heard different things I won’t say positive or negative but we’ll see when we get there Marty have you been the friend before uh yes I’ve been to djon for a fixed gear race uh the fixed Nations cup and I think that’s it I’ve been to as well which is like the Belgian but yeah that’s not close to where we’re going we’re going like the more close route right yeah we’re going to be Crossing into the French border on the coastal side of the Mediterranean side we’re going through a town called you’ve been to France I’ve never been to France mhm you think us doing this 100 mile Loop is worth it do I think it’s worth it yeah it’s already worth it we’re only like 15 mil in olive trees Sunshine the weather is playing nice with us too it is perfect this is my favorite season yeah fall in catalunia is amazing yeah I agree we still got to get coffee too oh tons of it yeah we’ll need it you are 35 mi in we are a little behind schedule but at this point there’s no turning back we got to commit the views have been just crazy insane never ridden anything like this in America Google Master will take us about an hour 19k to get to the coffee shop so I’m trying to pick up the pace a little [Music] bit we’re close but we’re not there yet so oh after the curve so we need to go it’s 6 minutes away and we’re trying to go there M so up by the water I see right by that little Point nav to yeah I’m going to nav to this place all right so we’re going to steal we’re supposed [Music] [Music] to we are here at the restaurant l l flush you pronounce this El FL Marty flock L flock and we got um coffee some food coming would you get cetas bra and I got the sandwich I have a cheese sandwich and Camari show you guys the food once it gets here we all got the uh different coffee drinks too I got the cortado we got the Cafe Cafe conche Cafe Con Le over over C that’s the only I don’t know what are we C or Cafe conche which one are you what kind of person uh I’m a cafe do type of guy I am too it’s crazy here espresso dou but here I get crazy looks when I ask for double espresso is it the same for you no I don’t have that experience but uh yeah man I like a little kick in the throat you know tell me in the comment section are you you like black coffee or you like coffee with milk yeah I forgot to ask for the SIU that’s like a super sauce he so when you come to Catalonia or spia if you get patatas bravas always ask for the sauce on the side otherwise it could end up like this yeah I don’t like that and your potatoes will have just a bunch of sauce on them layer going to come off I like top look at Wills look at Wills patas braas that is a patata bra soup right there that is sauce with patatas on the side done with lunch back on the road get some quick water and and then make our way into francea Francia France France make our way into [Music] France we just got to France first time in France how do you feel man congratulations yeah how how do you feel being back in front it feels good it feels I want to say Sak I don’t understand any of that I don’t either I’m I’m American but uh we’re happy to be here it’s cool to be able to cross borders from our backyard and the if you do this route there’s no um border check at all I was kind of confused I have my passport in my pocket and uh nobody checked us how you feeling man it’s good now out of War he had the Poo so they’ll be better than that for the rest of the climb back home bubble G we actually just stopped because as soon as we started going down the hill we came across the old uh border checkpoint so you guys can see there’s a bunch of graffiti on here and stuff it’s really cool there’s a bar an old restaurant as well and I guess it just got completely shut down but we’re going to head back now towards um Jona so I hope you guys enjoyed that footage because just after the French border patrol pulled up out of nowhere and started asking his questions uh eventually let us go but after my ride I went home and tried to figure out when this checkpoint closed it turns out the border crossing closed in 1995 when the shenen agreement was implemented but this Crossing has much more significant history than that after General Franco’s Coupe Army took over Barcelona on the 26th of January 1939 this caused a mass Exodus of both civilians and soldiers also known as the Spanish Republicans who fled to the French border this withraw led to the displacement of close to 500,000 people one of the largest Refugee crisis in Europe of all time many of the refugees were sent to camps and frankco went on to rule Spain from 1939 until 1975 when he died the country only then transferred into democracy after his [Music] death