Celebrating the 50th newsletter

La Comuna Cafe, Girona, Catalunya, Spain

When you hit a milestone like 50^th newsletter on substack, it’s clearly time for celebration! While there are several stories which qualify to be featured through my lens for this Golden edition, I picked the one which connects my twin passions of Coffee & Cycling.

This time I take you to Girona, a small town not too far from the more famous Catalan cousin Barcelona & now more famously known as “The “Road Cycling Capital of Europe”

First, Cycling History of Girona:

It’s not that Girona has been popular among (professional) cyclists for all its history. The Catalan city, more than 2000 years old, only got popular among cyclists around the year 1996. It was back then that a number of Lance Armstrong’s American teammates decided that Girona was ‘the place to be’.

Armstrong himself followed his teammates in 2000, when he left Nice for Girona, together with George Hincapie. They settled in the old town, the city’s medieval, Jewish quarter. From that moment and on, the cycling community started growing. Christian Vande Velde, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, and Tyler Hamilton were a few of the professional cyclists creating a home in Girona.

Only slowly, back then. Up till 2009, the number of professional cyclists living in Girona was still small: approximately 25 to 30 pros could call Girona their homes. However, after 2006, Girona really started to become a cycling hotspot.

It was the word of mouth marketing that made more and more professional cyclists come to Girona. In addition, more and more teams required riders to have a base in Europe, and with its quiet roads, good climate, great coffee, amazing cuisine, and nearby airport, Girona was a good place to set up the camp and light the fire.

The cycling community, which grew in size every year, attracted more and more professional cyclists. The pros then, attracted the team staff members, to provide optimal training circumstances at home. Several teams started service courses in and around town, while mechanics and medical specialists saw chances to grow their businesses here.

The professional cycling community inspired wannabe-pros to come over. Together they inspired elite and amateur cyclists to do (pre-season) cycling training camps in Girona. All together they inspired cycling tourists to spend time in G-town.

The introduction of the internet, and the rapid growth of social media afterward, played a huge role in the rapid development of the cycling community in Girona over the last ten years. Not only did cyclists start to be active on Facebook and Instagram, which played a significant role in showcasing cycling in Girona, also the rise of Strava and users like Robert Gesink contributed to the growth of the city as the road cycling capital of Europe.

Currently, Girona hosts more than 180 professional cyclists living here year-round. Countless amateur and recreational cyclists join the community every day, whether it’s for just one ride, several weeks, or the whole season. Every day numerous group rides leave from Girona to explore and train on its quiet roads. And the numbers keep on growing.

La Comuna Café & Apartments:

La Comuna Café was founded by Ironman Triathlon World Champion & legend Jan Frodeno along with his spouse Emma Snowsill. The Specialty Coffee scene was already on the rise thanks to a thriving Cycling community and Jan & Emma wanted to tie in that story with a fabulous café along with lovely apartments giving the feeling of ‘Home away from Home’.

Culture Club of La Comuna Cafe

La Comuna is more than just a Coffee Place or a Café. It’s a central meeting point for creating connection between cyclists (athletes at large), coffee & food. The place also has a lovely Yoga & Pilates Studio – Exhalar run by Kate.

How it all began!

Before Jan’s love of coffee came to fruition, he tended to be most comfortable speeding through the day; maximizing efficiency, energy, and speed at every corner. As such, the simplicity of slowing down was lost on him. That was until the Affogato. The iconic combination of vanilla ice cream and a shot of espresso. Over time, the amount of ice cream decreased while the value of the espresso increased. It was a Frenchman, Stephan Poulet, who taught Jan how to truly enjoy an espresso at a cafe in Mexico.

After the 2008 Olympics, the then marketing manager at SRAM, Dirk Belling had the idea of creating coffee for fans. It quickly turned into a passion project. Interactions with fans were over espresso shots and genuine conversation rather than quickly-moving lines with signing cards. Many espressos were enjoyed, many stories were told, and many laughs were had. Many coffees and much travelling the world later, Jan’s passion for coffee has expanded. For him, espresso is an ever-evolving journey that changes with the times. Just as we do.

Now it’s a daily ritual

Nowadays, La Comuna’s coffee is simply a reflection of Jan’s favorite daily ritual and where his taste buds have ended up over the years. They are proud to show us why coffee is such an important part of our lives. Why they will only serve what we love: well prepared, espresso-based drinks that give you the 5 minutes in the day that are yours and your alone. At whatever speed you choose. Vamos!!

It has a small shop space in showroom format where sports lovers can find all kinds of equipment, especially that specialized in triathlon -practice performed by Jan & Emma.

Café Design

Interior courtyard : The main tasting area occupies the central nave of the cafeteria space and also has access to an interior patio. The courtyard highlights the vertical garden.

Visual gameplay : The play of visuals between the warehouses / spaces of the cafeteria is one of the interesting aesthetic points that characterizes the place.

Ceramic lattice : In one of the other warehouses, customers have visual contact with the kitchen, separated from the tasting area by a semipermeable ceramic lattice wall.

Earth tones : Natural and Mediterranean materials have been used where the range of colors in earth tones play a clear leading role providing a fresh and cozy aesthetic.

If you want to give a word extra zing add.. -issimo to the end. The Italian suffix creates stupendous superlatives.

Bellissimo in Italian means “very beautiful”

Verissimo means “very true”

And this is “Frodissimo”..