I'd heard, of course, just how popular Mallorca is with cyclists these days but, having last visited more than 15 years ago, I hadn't witnessed it. The first clue was when - two weeks before heading over - I was totally unable to rent a road bike on the island (all sold out), so had to book my own bike on the plane. Not too much of a bother.
| As soon as we arrived, we saw cyclists everywhere. It was fantastic. We'd rented an AirBnB apartment on the east coast, near to Cala Millor. While the rest of our group headed to the supermarket and spent a couple of hours relaxing after our early starts (we'd left Amsterdam and Berlin on pre-7am flights), I put the bike together and hit the road for a 2.5hr loop towards the north. It was one of my best rides ever - although we weren't staying close to the really mountainous area in the west, the terrain was super varied, some nice climbs, perfect weather, decent surfaces and the drivers really give cyclists some space. In fact, we spotted road signs telling drivers to give bikes at least 1.5m when passing. Awesome stuff. I headed up along the coast to Arta, then towards Alcudia (main hub for Ironman 70.3 Mallorca next weekend and Ironman Mallorca later in the year) and then cut back through the countryside. Just a steady ride with no real goals other than to get 2.5hrs in the legs. |
| On Saturday, my friend Ian and I headed off with a German company and 7 other riders to do a full-day MTB tour. Starting on the peninsular between Cala Millor and S'illot, tackling some fun little trails, we progressed to some nearby hills and pretty damn gnarly climbs and downhills. To be honest, the level was a little higher than we'd anticipated (billed as a beginner-intermediate ride) but we managed to just about keep up. Ian showed a natural flair for bike handling as he descended like a champ. I managed to catch up on the climbs where my fitness showed. Obviously, it's a bit stop-start when riding with a group like that, but we spent a good 5 hours on the bikes before all descending like starving vultures on a lovely restaurant in the pretty nearby village of Son Servera. A tough but fun day. |
On Sunday, I headed up to Arta and a decent climb behind that pretty walled town; I climbed once, descended, climbed again, then headed for home - less than 2 hours in total with 4 x 10m intervals at up near my FTP.
The legs were feeling it a little by Monday, so I opted for a run and some sightseeing instead.
On Tuesday, we spent the day in Palma, lapping up the beautiful architecture, charming streets and (yep, you guessed it) local food and drink on offer. Palma was around 65km from our apartment in Cala Millor, so I came armed with the bike in the back of the car. As we left Palma, I donned my cycle gear and put the bike together, then rode back east, with a diversion north to make the ride a little longer. There was a pure headwind most the way, which was excellent as this 3h ride was focused on strength, with 4 x 10m big gear intervals, spinning at around 60rpm. This was a great ride and, by now, I could tell that I was riding pretty well.
| Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Wednesday was the final day of the mini-cation and, while Wifey dropped our friends at the airport for their early flight, I decided to try a loop south into Manacor and Felanitx and back along the coast through Porto Colom and Porto Cristo. The first half of the 3h ride wasn't too fun - the roads were a little more industrial and heavy with traffic from trucks and lorries - but the second half along the small coast roads was awesome. The roads here followed the dunes and dramatic coastline, making some short but very steep climbs. And fun downhills, of course. If you've not been, I would highly recommend an early-season cycling vacation on Mallorca and definitely plan to head back myself. I barely scratched the surface of routes - the east has some truly awesome climbs, and I'd like to try the route over the top from Alcudia to Formantor and back. The roads are good. There are bike shops in every town. Motorists give you space. But, most of all, there's plenty for the whole family to enjoy and cycling can be folded into a broader holiday. As for me, I'm definitely riding pretty well. Anecdotally, I can see that even on steady endurance rides, I'm averaging a good 20W more than I was at this time last year. It's now time to answer some questions:
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