My last 2 metric centuries
My last 2 metric centuries were done in Majorca, so were very warm, windy and beautiful.
Majorca really is a great place to ride a bike. My first ride took me out from Palma (an insanely busy city with so many roads and one ways!), then out over the Coll de Soller with its never ending switchbacks, straight into the climb of the Puig Major (the highest peak on Majorca), the temperature was in the mid-thirties, and I pretty much had the roads to myself once out of Palma. I then came back via Lluc – with it’s stunning monastry – and Inca, before heading back toward Palma.
The second ride, I followed the coast road out of Palma, past the airport, then up to Llucmajor. This was all done into an insane headwind, but for the first time in a long while, I had a headwind on the way out, but instead of my usual UK rides, I got a tailwind on the way back rather than a headwind in both directions.
Llucmajor was beautiful, with another striking monastry; at that point I turned toward Randa to climb the Puig Randa, to reach the Cura monastry that I have riden to so many times on my Tacx Fortius RLV of the tour of Majorca. It was funny to know what gear to take a particular bend in, or be ready for a steep section when on a ride you have never done in real life before. It was surprising quite how accurate the RLV of this ride was!
After an espresso in the monastry, I descended back toward Montiuri, then Algaida, followed by a wide loop to drop me bvack into rush hour Palma for a bit of sprint training, I out paced a few scooters through the centre, which ammused me but annoyed the riders, oh well.
I hired a nice Massi carbon bike with full Dura Ace and Fulcrum Racing 1’s from Pro Bike Hire on the island, who delivered it to my hotel and collected it at the end. This was a joy, no fretting over my beloved Litespeed on the plane etc, and no struggling with it through the airport etc.
I can whole heartedly recommend Majorca as a riding destination, as well as a great place to holiday, I managed to fit in a couple of good rides without encroaching on my supposed non-cycling break with my wife too much.