The Capitals by PedAlma: Heat, High Mountains, and a Beautifully Designed Route

Read Conor McKenzie's writeup of the 2023 edition of The Capitals by PedAlma. An adventure through the four Catalan capitals, Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona.

You can also sign up for the 2025 race .

The Capitals: Heat, High Mountains, and a Beautifully Designed Route

I signed up for The Capitals by PedAlma in 2023 with no idea what I was getting myself into. I’d never done an ultra before, I just knew I wanted to explore, to get to know this area better, and to push myself in the unique way only an ultra can.

It’s a route that somehow fits everything into 850km: dusty farm roads baked by the afternoon sun, high mountain passes where the air thins and the views open wide, ancient Roman towns, alpine ski villages – and the heat. Woah, the heat. But also water taps. Plenty of water taps. It was beautiful. More in the “I’ve been riding for hours and now everything looks like a painting” sort of way. You pass through what feels like four or five different ecosystems in a single day.

It wasn’t a race, for me

Plenty race it. I didn’t. I wanted to push myself, but mostly I just wanted to survive and enjoy it. And that’s what makes The Capitals so good, you can do it your way. Racers, tourers, snackers… everyone’s welcome.

There’s minimal hike-a-bike, and when it’s there, it earns its keep – especially on the slow, sweaty push beneath Pedraforca. One moment you’re riding, the next you’re off the bike, cursing the gradient, the sun, maybe even the organisers. And then you look up.

Pedraforca doesn’t just appear, it looms. Its twin peaks carve into the sky like a stone crown, so massive and close you feel like you could reach out and touch them. It’s truly breathtaking. For a moment, the fatigue fades. You just stand there, silent, bike in hand, soaking in a view so staggering it makes everything that came before feel worth it. And then comes the drop, a fast, rocky descent to Bagà. Wrists howling, tyres skittering, back to cursing – but from here on, the magic doesn’t let up.

The community

What really stuck with me was the community. The organisers, Oscar and Ramon, are really lovely and have an amazing knack for detail. From the routing to the vibe, it’s all perfectly thought-through. They’ve made something that’s genuinely accessible — plenty to challenge experienced racers, but also a supportive, welcoming first ultra for people like me at the time who hadn’t really done anything like it before.

And when you finish, you sit down and eat with everyone. That was when I properly realised it: these things aren’t just a ride or a race. It’s a bit cliche, but they’re a shared journey. A little pocket of time where everyone’s on the same wavelength, even if they were going at totally different speeds.

It made me want to move here

It changed something. I didn’t just fall in love with ultra-distance riding, I fell in love with Catalonia too. It’s weird how sudden it feels on reflection, but a few months later I handed in my notice, packed up, and moved to Girona. Now I ride many of those same tracks and mountains regularly.

So yeah, The Capitals was my first ultra. It also accidentally changed my life. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Will it change your life? I’m not saying it will, but don’t be surprised if it does.