With last year’s Mallorca cycling week still clearly on our minds, our suitcases were packed with all the necessary accessories usually reserved for a polar expedition. However, it turned out that for most of the week we had perfect cycling weather and we enjoyed plenty of café stops along the 600 km we managed during six days. After acquiring an impressive “tattoo” on my leg, courtesy of a slippage on a wet road on the first day, we had the necessary ‘street cred’ to compete with an endless stream of German cyclists on Cube bikes.
One odd thing about the Mallorcan landscape is that it is dotted with so-called “Eremitages”. For the ordinary tourists this translates into “monastery” or “nice views”, for cyclists it means “bloody-steep-climb-in-the middle-of-a-long-ride”.
Speaking of climbing, on one ride up to the monastery (see above) of Lluc I was overtaken by a rider (of Teutonic origin, of course) at the start of the climb. Obviously, that was a big no-no, so I did a Pete F-S impersonation and took a few minutes (well, seconds) off him to the top. Chatting to him (“You didn’t do too badly either (loser!)”) he mentioned that he did a 200 km ride the day before and the legs were a bit tired (Yeah, well,… and I am just recovering from lung cancer).
Highlight of the week was the 135 km grand traverse of the Tramuntana mountain range from Andratx to Puerto Pollenca. Our cycle hire shop owner gave us and five young lads from Folkstone a lift to the other end of the island and from there we made our way back along what must surely be one of the most beautiful cycling roads in Europe (if not the Universe). Not a cloud in the sky all day and good legs. What more do you want. The youngsters caught up with us towards the end of the ride, but in best Hutton-Cranswick-to-Beverley VCB manner Darren and I showed them what a good finish is.
An excellent week, hopefully to be repeated next year.
Klaus