Cerdanya is one of the top destinations for outdoor enthusiasts in Catalonia. Located in the eastern Pyrenees, it features prominent road climbs that, despite not being featured in any Grand Tour, are worth the trip. Although we have been there several times, there are always roads left to explore. This time, the Baselayer Challenge organized by Tactic was the perfect excuse to continue getting to know the region in an unusual, extra challenging way.
The concept
The Catalan clothing brand is behind the iconic event Baselayer Challenge. Everything started as an attempt to ride all the most well-known climbs around Girona in a single ride. They produced a baselayer for the occasion containing the names of all those climbs, which participants had to cross out one at a time.
Over the past few years, it has become the yearly incentive that Girona locals needed to push their boundaries, but it was time to innovate and look for new climbs to conquer. Deep in the heart of the Pyrenees, Cerdanya is one of the few places that offers the possibility of plotting a loop featuring a handful of climbs with an accumulated elevation of almost 5,000 meters in less than 200 kilometers. As soon as Tactic announced the details of the 2025 edition, we convinced our friends and headed there for a weekend in the mountains.
On June 14, 80 cyclists gathered in front of the Pertot store in Puigcerdà to start the Baselayer Challenge. Among them, many members of the Cerdanya Cycling Culture collective, other local cyclists, and foreigners like us, persuaded by the beauty of the area. There were two official routes: the Ultimate featuring five climbs, and the Essence, which reduced the number of climbs to the two toughest ones. Beyond these non-marked routes, everyone was free to add or subtract ascents based on their physical conditions. One way or another, pizzas were waiting for us back in the store.
An entire day in the mountains
We were aware of the forecasted temperatures, but hoped that being constantly above 1,000 meters of elevation would protect us from extreme heat. The start was at 8 AM, and as soon as we left the first part of Puigmal behind, we were at the mercy of the sun and finding our own pace to reach the top of the first climb, with a summit at 2,228 meters above sea level.
The group took over the Puigmal, with riders still on their way to the top and others already descending down the same road before taking a left turn that would bring us to the first feed station and then to the second climb, Collada de Toses.
55 km in, we arrived at Basecamps Cerdanya, where we refilled and took a glance at their facilities. The cakes they prepared for us were so tasty that we spent too much time there, and the group we wanted to follow left. This meant that for the entire Collada de Toses we were in no man’s land, hoping to catch a group with which to tackle the remaining climbs.
This second ascent was long but easy, with 600 meters of elevation over 22 kilometers. We descended from the side that the riders at the Volta a Catalunya climbed earlier this year, and then linked several secondary roads to reach Bellver de Cerdanya, which marked the start of the third climb. Talltendre was a 5-kilometer-long out-and-back with an average gradient just below 10%. There was a second feed station 1 km in, which we took advantage of both on the way up and down.
Knowing that we had already done three out of the five climbs was good for the morale, but we were quickly suffering again under the heat on the early slopes on the way to the Malniu refuge. We were alerted that there was an off-road stretch. “It is not like the gravel in Girona”, they mentioned during the briefing, and even with that in mind, it was rougher than expected. We couldn’t believe we made it to the other side without any puncture, and reached the paved road that would bring us to the top. There we found everything we had been craving for hours: fresh watermelon, rice, pasta, and more.
Malniu was the last climb for most of the participants, but we were determined to reach the top of Guils Fontanera, despite our tired legs and salty jersey. We didn’t want to leave with any unfinished business and were curious about a climb we had never heard about, so we turned left when we were barely five kilometres from Puigcerdà and started the 11 km climb at a constant 7% gradient. We had to trick our minds to continue moving forward, setting a constant speed to maintain to reach the top before 4 pm. By then, we were beyond the seven hours of moving time.
If we had known that the road leading to the ski station was so monotonous, we may have reconsidered our choice, but we made it to the top, and our Hammerhead was showing zero meters of elevation gain left, so we were relieved. During the fast way down, we encouraged the participants who were still climbing, and once back in Pertot, we quickly took shelter in a shadow and cursed everything related to bikes and mountains.
Kickstarting the summer season
A couple of days later, we can only think about the good moments we shared with a group of like-minded cyclists and how privileged we are to ride our bikes in such stunning environments. The Baselayer Challenge by Tactic allowed us to discover new roads and spend time in nature, which makes us eager for more. There is a summer full of comparable cycling adventures around the corner, and we cannot wait to share these experiences with you.
