I Raced The World’s FASTEST Cyclists Up One of Spain's HARDEST Climbs

Post-script: A few days after the release of this episode, one of my subscribers contacted me with an updated version of my ride file. He'd been able to edit the ride so the segment time was correct. I've put a link to it below. A big thank you to Felipe for doing this!
Original description: Rocacorba, a brutally steep and unrelenting climb located 15 kilometres north of Girona, is one of the premiere training climbs for pro cyclists who live in Europe. When I first came to Spain, it was a climb that pushed me to my absolute limit. In this episode I do a deep-dive into my attempt to race the world's best cyclists up it. Because what good is the view, without the journey?
See the original ride on Strava: / strava
Updated ride with correct segment time: / strava
Follow me on Instagram: / tristantakephoto
View my photography: tristantakephoto.com
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00:00 Intro
02:13 Why THIS climb?
05:53 Which pro cyclists?
10:52 Coaching advice
14:30 Bike setup
21:41 Day of the climb
24:35 Attempting the climb
26:42 The result
29:15 Chat with Paul Double - KOM winner
32:35 Outro
This training and riding footage was all filmed in Girona, Catalunya, Spain. A cycling destination quickly becoming popular with professional cyclists as well as amateur cyclists wanting a perfect cycling holiday. Girona has been home to many professional cyclists including Ben O'Connor, Jack Haig, Esteban Chaves, Ryan Mullen, George Bennett, James Knox, Dorian Godon, Jay Vine, and at one point George Hincappie, Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton. Girona is used for training for races such as the Tour de France, Volta Catalunya, Vuelta Espana, Paris-Nice, Giro d'Italia and more. Teams such as INEOS-Grenadiers, Israel-Premier Tech Pro Cycling, Human Powered Health, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, UAE Team Emirates and others use Girona for team training camps and rider testing.

[@mrwhiteshorts]

The thing to do is Tristan, Go and find whoever created the segment, and tell them to take 3 yards ( the u turn) off of the segment they made. job done.

[@tristantakevideo]

Post-script: A few days after the release of this episode, one of my subscribers named Felipe contacted me with an updated version of my ride file. He'd been able to edit the ride so the segment time was correct, and the actual time was even faster than the time listed in the video. I've put a link to the updated ride in the description. A big thank you to Felipe for doing this!

[@mrs3lfd3s7ruc7]

So, happened - it has. 😅

[@johnnyjoseph5922]

Great video. Keep them coming.

[@antoniocasablancasvilanova2207]

Awesome project, video and story. Never mind STRAVA. I'm glad that Phil is the one that ignited the thing up for you. I enjoy his videos and books! Worst retirement ever is really entertaining as well. Would be great to see the 2 of you going for a KOM together.

[@RiseNShine681]

It's funny how Paul said he had "no expectations" going into the climb, but then absolutely slaughtered it. That reminds me of something my dad told me that I often think about. When he was young and training for a local TT, he had just gotten over a terrible flu and hadn't been on the bike much. He initially thought he wasn't going to do very well and had "low expectations" given the circumstances, but ended up doing the best TT that he has ever done. It's crazy how powerful your mind can be. Anyway, awesome work Tristan!!! Fuck anyone that says "if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen". You know what you did and how fast you went up that climb, so that is all that matters! Keep grindin my g!!

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks mate. Yeah it's interesting...I guess the low stress Paul had really helped him. I actually wonder if my own anxiety hindered me a bit. Either way, I was glad to see the time below 30 minutes!

[@GrouEEf]

So glad that your channel is growing as fast as it is. You really deserve the praise and attention. Great stuff.

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks so much 🙏🏼

[@andyheath264]

Another great video. I love the coach’s sense of humour and to get the pro interview at the end. Keep up the great work.

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks Andy 🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@maniastrat]

No worries Mate we don't need no stinkin Strava confirmation to see what you did! 😉 That was awesome & thanks so much for taking us along for the build up & the actual ride! I thought it was so impressive& interesting. Even after riding for decades I love to watch something like this Thanks! 👋

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks so much - so glad you enjoyed the entire video. It's a "what good is the view without the journey" kind of situation...I enjoyed making it a lot.

[@occyman]

Good job mate ..I still see your name on some of the Sydney Northern Beaches segments.

[@jav_f]

Thanks for cracking stories and honest videos!

[@carlo2timesc221]

Awesome videos mate, always gets me in a different mindset to ride!! You absolutely smashed it! Cotto forza!!!

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks Carlo!

[@bigaln1393]

It makes me feel good when you say it gets steep at 10%, climbs in my area that I ride(very slowly as I weigh 115kg) reach over 20%

[@edlaverack]

Interesting the coach doesn't advocate looking at the watts. But in this situation where you aren't in a race (although there are one off hill climb race ofc) but purely doing a one off effort here (especially uphill and especially a long effort) then power is the gold standard for making sure you get the most out of yourself in this situation. Love the content T, great storytelling and appreciate the effort that's gone in to this one ON and OFF the bike. Shoutout to Paul, great to see him at the level he is now, well earned.

[@neilmckenna236]

Great video and really well put together 👍 great time btw 👏

[@stevanmusulin9457]

Awesome vid mate. Love it.

[@andyking8464]

Brilliant video, Tristan! Strava hoodoos strike again - grrrrrr. Can't wait to see you crack this one (cuz I know you want let this one go). All the best.

[@alanhughes1662]

Really enjoyed this video! Great effort!!

[@thegoodwheel]

Congratulations on your work and result Tristan. As always you smash it with the quality of content👍🏾

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks mate!

[@andrewy5251]

Awesome video mate, I was happy just to make it to the top of this climb when I did it! Loving the coaching/training content as well as the sneaky pro cameo...

[@tristantakevideo]

Cheers Andrew!

[@melbguy23]

His back 🙌

[@CGA22]

Great stuff!!! Go get ‘em T!

[@benjaminjuzwin2657]

Absolute beast effort, love your work mate!

[@tristantakevideo]

Cheers my dude!

[@gorgosvk12]

Love that intro, great job!

[@iann23]

Chuffing epic. I got on my bike and went up my local climb (35m over 0.25km. I got 27th on Strava, well pleased.

[@sohlbergk]

This is a seriously good video. Very entertaining. Nice pacing. Very informative. Great cinematography. It may earn that pro contract - for content creation.

[@tristantakevideo]

Thank you 🙏🏼 Really glad you enjoyed it.

[@kjellb8820]

Lets go!

[@yetogoicolea586]

mega video brother, and the bike looks amazing on her shallow wheels... BTMFD

[@chrisfoz1948]

"I still haven't gone under 30 minutes" - Uh, yes you have. We saw it, you saw it. Your camera is more accurate than strava. Great effort, and great video.

[@timpattydaechsel5988]

Really enjoyed this video, the combination of technical aspects and the story telling is awesome, you actually got me a bit nervous for you on this attempt😂. One part that has me a curious, on a climb like this where are flatish sections, where the speed starts to ramp up to a point where wind resistance becomes the major speed deterrent…..is it better back off the wattage and save the “matches” for the steep sections? My thinking is, because of air resistance doubling exponentially there is less time gained with the effort invested ? …. Any thoughts on this Tristan? ….love your videos and I’m subscribed 😀

[@MysticMac000]

Solid effort Tristan! At least its on video, so you have proof :)

[@mlafleurhua]

Congratulations are reaching your goal with a great effort. I suggest you try again when the conditions are cooler and overcast. You will go at least 20 seconds faster. In terms of the video, it was really entertaining. Really good to see your history on the climb and your build-up to this effort. One aspect to discuss with your coach is the part of the video from <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1305">21:45</a> to <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1425">23:45</a>. That part reveals your insecurities and mental blockers. Some work on these could unblock even more progress in your cycling. Best of luck, you are having a fabulous season on the bike and in the videos.

[@troycollett8540]

You could always create a new segment and make it slightly shorter and name it something else

[@jonm8423]

Yes, came here to post the same thing.

[@tristantakevideo]

I considered it, but there are already about 20 similar segments that are 'private' where my time is listed, but I wanted to have the time listed on what I consider the 'official' segment given this is the one I was making the video around.

[@michaelsavage3281]

Awesome effort

[@marcelleclerc690]

I'm in pain just watching you, Rocacorba was also one of the hardest climbs I've ever climbed full gas. Amazing job man.

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks mate! It's brutal, isn't it?

[@BobMcKerrell]

Super cool vid man !

[@tristantakevideo]

Cheers Bob!

[@drummerman122]

Great effort

[@richardwhalen4624]

Regardless, I learn more from your channel and for that I appreciate all your efforts. Keep them coming…..

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks Richard, glad to hear mate!

[@kevin-druismerenda9423]

Using the strava edit tool, Split your activity in half at the end of the effort and it’ll show up.

[@marcelsow5817]

It’s on KZbin, it happened

[@Cyclingallthetime]

I guess you'll just have to go and do it again, and earlier in the morning! Top effort though 💪💪💪👍🏻

[@yavorl4147]

@tristantakevideo you can try cutting the ride on strava so it ends with the moving time up, then refresh activity. It may work, it may not, if not, then you can reupload the old activity. Give it a try imo

[@carlosflanders518]

That's worked for me in the past. Just crop out the rest of the ride and only include the effort. Sometimes Strava will be smart enough to fit the effort to the segment. Try leaving in a few seconds before and after as well if that doesn't work.

[@Mr229357]

Well done 😊👍🏻👍🏻

[@Jakiou]

I rode rocacorba first time 2 month Ago. Ive battled cancer for 5 years. An went through 62 surgery’s and a permanent stoma. So I have almost been laying in a bed for 5 years. so Ive started cycling 10 months ago when I was able to do sports again and in january I sat a goal I wanted to climb my first mountain and started training up for it. Sold all my stuff and moved home to my mom as 27 years old. unless my bike so I had money for the journey. I’m from Denmark and have never been on a longer ascent than 20 meters. So I was a very big challenge. And the first day I did get a very big chock because it feels endless and you can’t believe how steep it is before you see it in real life I did my first time on 50 minutes. And the days after I rode the banyoles and the last day I wanted to do Rocacorba again and did it in 47 minutes and I loved it! And hope I ever get the chance to come back there again love Girona!

[@CycoWarriorx]

I wasn’t there but I felt that at the end… even the spitting… 😂🙌🏽🍻

[@indjke]

I’ve ridden Rocacorba once and it’s very tough indeed. That middle part is also bumpy, average ten but changing between 8-9 and 10+… bites your legs huh 😮‍💨

[@tristantakevideo]

It's pretty wild isn't it? Just relentless.

[@jalebkhan]

You should come to the US and try this with some of the other rides Phil Gaimon has KOMs for ;)

[@Amundsen.A]

Beast!!👏

[@tristantakevideo]

Cheers man!

[@MrBillboeing]

Good job mate, I road for the first time Rocacorba, I had a rental bike, which was a bit on the heavier side. My goal was under 60 min and it worked out. Well I am in the mid 40‘s and 20kg heavier then you skinny guys 😂. If I would live there I would do it once a month. It’s just a nice climb up. I enjoyed my vacations around Catalonia.

[@scugno]

Nice attempt mate

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks mate 🙏🏼

[@glennicol1361]

As you have friends who are pro riders... It might be interesting to do another attempt following the wheel of someone like Ben O'connor.

[@alainpfammatter8224]

Oh no man 🙈🙈🙈. Great effort but no its not on Strava. I would change to a newer gps. Well done and amazing effort.

[@dannywirjawan4804]

Nice effort, mate... Will strava 'edit elevation' fix your issue?

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks mate. Unfortunately not - I did try initially. Having said that, one of my subscribers contacted me with an edited version of my ride where the segment was still included, with the correct time. So now it's official thankfully, and even quicker than the 29:37 I thought i'd done in the video which is a nice bonus!

[@desmoMarco91]

Hate when this happens on strava...i had a GPS malfunction on my stelvio climb and it missed my PB. Good thing i was wearing my garmin forerunner watch and i used its file instead of my headunit's one

[@tristantakevideo]

Yeah, a backup device is definitely useful for these sorts of full gas efforts!

[@indjke]

I’ve once done an attempt on a climb which is quite far away (and I rarely visit), it was late October, unusually warm day, basically last chance to ride before long winter. And I got a KOM but few hours later (😅) I found that some guy did it 1 second faster, at the same morning, just a few hours before me 🙄

[@Aeroskiii]

Phil got the mega cookies

[@miken5088]

Hey Tristan, do you mind me asking what power meter you use? as I am currently looking to put dual sided power meter onto my bike and am unsure which meter to choose as there are many all claiming to have the same accuracy.

[@ride_bmc]

elite intro 😂

[@woolfel]

the reason is Strava's GPS calculation has a bug and they don't handle GPS drift reliably. Thousands of people have reported this type of bug for years, but Strava support ignores everyone.

[@lachlanninness6910]

Might be able to refresh activity achievements on the activity to see if it will recalibrate it

[@tristantakevideo]

I tried this shortly after I got home to no avail, unfortunately 🥲

[@jaredrose2381]

Strava strike again. Doesn't surprise me.

[@homerj1640]

Just make your own segment from that ride that stops at the wire, like it obviously should have. Who makes a segment that goes that close to a military fence AND includes a u-turn?

[@leewood4825]

You gotta do it again 👌

[@tristantakevideo]

I tried a few days later and failed ☹ I think the fatigue was still too high from the effort a few days earlier.

[@leewood4825]

@@tristantakevideo yer you can’t do an effort that hard straight after. Or can you 🤔 I’m 48 now and really have to wait a few days before going hard again and if I do 3 in a week I really have to watch fatigue. So how in the hell do people like Ben donut for 3 weeks! Even though he is a bit younger granted 😂 but I would never imagine that level of fatigue. Even you are fit and young and you feel fatigue form those short efforts. Interesting.

[@sbellosa]

you've got to send it again. You can go faster. Good luck.

[@honzabe]

I want to go to there.

[@tristantakevideo]

It's worth a visit.

[@The2808erik]

There is a recall going on for these Pirelli TLR tires btw. I would stop riding them.

[@tristantakevideo]

I've had no issues but i'll grab some others next time round.

[@The2808erik]

@@tristantakevideo From what I know, retailers are supposed to hold back stock until the investigation is concluded because of potential catastrophic failure. So I'm not really sure what's going on.

[@neilmckenna236]

Why the fasted ride a couple of days before the attempt? Was that specific to the effort or part of your prescribed training?

[@johnwakefield7942]

It had nothing to do with the specificity to the effort, it was part of his training prescription. These rides trigger the most important molecular switches to create the adaptations to endurance training. The specific key molecular switch in our muscles, which causes adaptation to endurance training, such as increased mitochondrial (energy manufacturers) and blood vessels, is called PGC-1a. As IMTG rides are fasted, your starting glycogen (carbohydrate storage) levels are low. Training with low glycogen is one of the ways to turn on the endurance adaptation switch. Therefore, riding in a fasted state may have, in certain aspects, similar benefits to when performing long 5 hours training rides.

[@neilmckenna236]

@johnwakefield7942 hey John, thank you for the detailed reply, very interesting! Fasted riding is something i did a little of in the past. Looks like something i should Re introduce! How often would this be recommended?

[@johnwakefield7942]

@@neilmckenna236 I would not do more than 2 x a week and also space then out

[@neilmckenna236]

@johnwakefield7942 really appreciate that 🙏

[@Lucas-fd9vk]

you can just play about with cropping and splitting the gpx file

[@troycollett8540]

Strava has you doing the segment in <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1815">30:15</a> which is not correct

[@koreystephens]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="81">1:21</a> This dude named Jonas??? Lol.

[@marcchasse2677]

man 60kg is so light

[@Eirikkinserdal]

Make a new segment 😉

[@jfreck]

sad ending lmao

[@ChanningSmith1]

Efff that’s depressing 😂

[@tylerhaab8742]

ok

[@searnsy]

☠️☠️☠️

[@Gitau_Kenn]

Psychological Gains.. wow.

[@SuperTaylor68]

That was bloody annoying mate 🥵

[@KetzalSterling]

Just make a new segment. Strava 101. That segment is total junk. Proper Strava segments should always end 30-50m before the actual summit to account for GPS issues etc. Simply build a new segment. Call it the Official segment and put that ancient junk segment in the trash where it belongs...

[@stephenchu1115]

It seems reasonable that a non-pro rider is approximately 3 minutes slower than the best WorldTour pro riders in a 30 minute effort. Vingegaard taking 3 minutes out of van Aert in a 30 minute effort is not reasonable. Something does not add up here.

[@amufchooligan]

Why are you doing essentially a fasted ride when your goal event is 30 minutes long? You won’t be using any fats for that length of effort which is what the session is trying to imitate (even though the science out there is not convincing that it even works)

[@johnwakefield7942]

No, it's not trying to imitate that at all. Not sure how you came to that thought pattern? These rides trigger the most important molecular switches to create the adaptations to endurance training. The specific key molecular switch in our muscles, which causes adaptation to endurance training, such as increased mitochondrial (energy manufacturers) and blood vessels, is called PGC-1a. As IMTG rides are fasted, your starting glycogen (carbohydrate storage) levels are low. Training with low glycogen is one of the ways to turn on the endurance adaptation switch. Therefore, riding in a fasted state may have, in certain aspects, similar benefits to when performing long 5 hours training rides. It has nothing to do with his attempt on the climb.

[@amufchooligan]

@@johnwakefield7942 you’ve just confirmed what I’ve said as you said your glycogen is depleted therefore you have to use other sources of energy. Hence why I’m asking what the purpose of this is within the block aiming for a 30 minute effort.

[@johnwakefield7942]

@@amufchooligan You just confirmed you don't read to understand. I am not sure how more clear in my reply I can be unless I copy paste the whole reply again when I have said its not specific to his effort for the 30minutes and what the physiological adaptations are and why one would do that session within training. Thank you.

[@winbrendan]

Good vid but you should not have posted this unless you did it again

[@tristantakevideo]

Why not?

buy garmin😊

[@zaahierstanley955]

Create your own segment and make it public. The segment that was created was obviously incorrect as it roles back ... Just call it "official" segment

[@JFomo]

Pirellis are slow and heavy. You should have put on Vittoria Corsa Pros

[@Terrierized]

Are you trying keto ? Carnivore is great too

[@adamdvorak3483]

tristan has great videos but the cringe involved is just insane.

[@tristantakevideo]

Glad you enjoyed it 👍🏼

[@emiliosanudoortiz]

A bit exaggerated "one of the hardest climbs in Spain". Maybe not even top 150.

[@tristantakevideo]

What do you think is one of the hardest climbs in Spain?

[@jondashun]

Oh that agony when you pressed lap, saw that your time was fast so that you look forward to seeing the time on Strava and the segment is not recognised.🪦 You have to go again which means another great video for your viewers. @tristantakevideo : Do you do group ride with “fans”?😅 I am planning a short trip to Girona later this year with a Rocacorba attempt. Not below 30 minutes though.🙈