How realistic is indoor cycling? Climbing the Sa Calobra virtually vs outdoors

Brad tried to break 30 minutes on Mallorca’s signature climb and Dave just tried not to break himself on the turbo…

by dave atkinson

Thu, May 05, 2022 13:50

Add as a preferred source on Google

Just how realistic is indoor cycling? Whilst Brad was out in Mallorca recently he wanted another crack at going under the half hour on the island’s most famous climb, Sa Calobra.

Starting from the north shore of Mallorca in the tiny port of Sa Calobra, the road to Coll dels Reis is 9.4km long and 7% average gradient. Here’s the climb on komoot:

You can also ride the climb on a number of cycling platforms, including RGT which has recently become part of the Wahoo family. But how comparable are the two efforts? Is it easier doing it inside, or in real life? We set the climb up as a challenge on RGT, and over 200 people completed it, which gave us lots of data to work with. And how do the two efforts compare? You’ll have to watch the vid to find out!

Thanks to our sponsors for this video:

Bont, Cannondale, Mallorca, Named Sport, Sa Calobra, Saris

dave atkinson

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He’s won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

No Comments

Latest Comments

miffed 27 minutes ago

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head- mountain bikes are now mainstream, with brands relying on their sales volume for the profit of the company as a whole and consumers knowing what they want. We also expect more from our bikes and constant failures would be unacceptable, I remember when head tubes snapping was a semi regular occurrence to hear about. We have had incremental improvement- geometries are longer and slacker, suspension is more responsive, tubeless tyres are great, disc brakes work, derailleurs don’t break and gear ratios are now appropriate for application. I wouldn’t drop £6k on an out there bike that might not last and might not work well, and I don’t think many people would or could. It’s the price of mountain biking being many stream. If you want something wacky buy a tt bike

in: Mountain bikes have become little stale, so we need more bikes like Canyon’s sci-fi Lux Era

Secret_squirrel 1 hour ago

Not to be a negative Nelly but is swapping between a Road and TT bike in the spirit of this ride?

in: “My husband said I made it look too easy. But I was having a great time”: North Coast 500 record breaker Caroline Livesey on Scottish downpours, rescue rice puddings, and the joy of cycling

captain_slog 1 hour ago

It’s American English. Nice-looking bike, a shame about the harsh ride.

in: Sunpeed Invincible Expert

wtjs 5 hours ago

who don’t want disc brakes or tubeless tyres I DO want disc brakes because they're better, and I DON'T want tubeless tyres because they're a right faff.

in: Mountain bikes have become little stale, so we need more bikes like Canyon’s sci-fi Lux Era

Miller 8 hours ago

Very pleasant to read such a positive article. A rare treat here.

in: “My husband said I made it look too easy. But I was having a great time”: North Coast 500 record breaker Caroline Livesey on Scottish downpours, rescue rice puddings, and the joy of cycling

Vo2Maxi 9 hours ago

Regardless of whether such a test would be workable, Carera's remarks are stupid and naive. Of course there might be doping. That spectre will never go away. Some of Pogaçar's performances are just insane, they beggar belief. Is he doping? I don't think so. Can I be 100% sure? Of course not.

in: Visma-Lease a Bike taking part in anti-doping power data trial that Tadej Pogačar’s agent claimed would “only create problems”, testing agency confirms

andyk 11 hours ago

I'm predominantly a roadie, and I might be wrong so please don't shoot me down, but I think the article is as much about innovation and creativity in the bike industry (plus the debate about, if it ain't broke, stop trying to fix it!). I'm sure innovations in road have crossed to MTB but in recent decades a lot of innovations in MTB appear to have made there way to Road - disc brakes, tubeless tyres, groupset & derailleur designs including bigger cassette ratios etc. - which again I appreciate there's plenty of road purists out there who don't want disc brakes or tubeless tyres, but love them or hate them, these features are now the standard when you buy a road bike. Cheers, Andy

in: Mountain bikes have become little stale, so we need more bikes like Canyon’s sci-fi Lux Era

captain_slog 12 hours ago

Caravaggio let you use his picture? If not then be careful as from what I’ve heard he’s got quite a temper.

in: “And they’ll still use the bus lanes”: Locals struggle to grasp new segregated cycle lane and its impact on using other roads; Review begins into cycle lanes blasted by Rupert Lowe as “central planning lunacy” + more on the live blog

GrantT 22 hours ago

How dare you road.cc. Now I'm back to "0 days without seeing a MTB" and my Friday evening biscuit is a total write-off.

in: Mountain bikes have become little stale, so we need more bikes like Canyon’s sci-fi Lux Era

Freddy56 23 hours ago

Amazing value for 30 bucks. Add a few stars there rockafella

in: Halfords Advanced Waterproof Pannier Bag