The Radavist

More than just a long weekend of some of the finest people, food, and grav grav Europe has to offer, the ENVE and The Service Course GiRodeo is a small bike show hosted by Girona’s best bike shop. Originally made famous by its Gustave Eiffel bridge and later the TV series Game Of Thrones, Girona is arguably being made more famous as a cycling destination today.

If Gustave Eiffel’s Pont de les Peixateries Velles bridge was an architectural warmup, demonstrating the strength of steel before going full Eiffel Tower in Paris, then this year’s Ruben of Madrid-based Rizzo went full Eiffel Tower, with four super interesting bikes of their own. Petor continues his coverage of the 2023 GiRodeo by showcasing the huge leap forward in terms of skills, craftsmanship, and technique from the bikes he saw last year…

Our far-flung international correspondent Petor Georgallou returned to Girona, Spain last October for GiRodeo 2023, The Service Course‘s flagship end-of-season event. It was an action-packed weekend with great riding, wild parties, music, coffee, friends, and loads of beautiful custom and bespoke bicycles on display. In his first report from the event below, Petor details his time as a guiri in the Catalonian region, improvising after only half of his bike showed up, subsequently uber-underbiking for 155 km, attending a wild Correfoc for the second year in a row, and much, much more. And be sure to stay tuned tomorrow for Petor’s overview of eight stunning custom builds from the event!

Traveling overseas to race 360 kilometers in the midst of the demanding schedule of the Lifetime Grand Prix might not sound like the best strategy from a strict performance standpoint. Sarah Sturm writes about what else fed her motivation to line up for Europe’s most popular gravel race and why toeing the line at The Traka in Girona was, actually, exactly what she needed. Read on for Sarah’s reflections, a film by Benjamin Kraushaar and Dylan Stucki, and photos by Alex Roszko from her very long day.

Aside from pristine days of riding, the GiRodeo was also a semi-nomadic bike show. The Service Course has long-term collaborative relationships with a number of builders, working together to pair builders and customers appropriately. I say “semi-nomadic” because the majority of builders rode their bikes, but also because the bikes that were not being ridden magically popped up in restaurants and breweries or wherever else events were held as part of the show. This is a rundown of my favorite bikes, many of which were part of the GiRodeo, and others were part of The Service Course’s furniture.

Four hours into the drive from London to Girona, I began to question my life choices in having decided to drive rather than fly. Eight hours down the road—winding through the mountains with the cruise control set to 140kph with lunatic focus on the pool of tungsten light illuminating a patch of road ahead—I began to see its value. I needed this focus. High beam, dip beam, high beam, dip beam. The solo drive that started off listening to audiobook recommendations from Josh Weinberg had descended into a white knuckle ride against the clock to beat the dawn and shut myself in a dark hotel room to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before my first GiRodeo. It would be, in fact, everyone’s first GiRodeo. The inaugural edition of ENVE and The Service Course’s collaborative framebuilder roundup gravel extravaganza G-Rodeo, but in Girona. The GiRodeo.

This coming Wednesday, June 15th, The Service Course is throwing a film premiere of its latest project, which follows its mechanic Diederik Deelen as he takes on The Traka 360, Girona’s premier gravel race. The screening takes place at Hors Categorie Girona and is free and open to the public. On display at the event will be this custom-painted OPEN bike, fitted with ENVE components and a hydro-dipped paint job, marvelously created by Sergio Vergel Escribano. We got an exclusive first look at this bike and are pleased to share it with you below!