Post by davidp on Oct 29, 2015 16:41:49 GMT
Week 1
Thinking of ways to bore people to death I came up with the idea of a few scribbles on my 5 weeks in Mallorca this season end. The first 3 weeks were working for Sun Velo based at Playa de Muro, on the north east coast right where the 312km annual sportive starts and finishes. After that it was a move to Port Pollenca for a fortninght in an old town house we rented for 6 of us.
I flew out on a very late flight Sunday 13th September, arriving at the 4 star Viva Blue hotel just after 02.00am on the Monday morning! Immediately managed to sleep through my alarm and nearly missed breakfast but I wasn’t needed as a ride leader that day so later on rode out to meet the groups at their lunch stop which was the café at the top of the Col de sa Batalla. This is probably my fave climb on the island, around 10km up the gorge from the town of Selva, through the woods on pristine smooth tarmac, plenty of sweeping bends and hairpins until just over the half way point, where it flattens out for a kilo or so with a stunning rock face on the left and dramatic views into the island to the right. The climb finishes with a slightly steeper section of 6 hairpins to reach the petrol station summit and café. A long, 20km broken descent followed lunch on the road down to Pollenca, fast and smooth with sweeping bends and more hairpins, then into the lanes where I took over as ride leader for a lovely roll back to base and 50mls ticked off. Base after each ride is always the Bike Point café almost next to the hotel and each group, there’s up to 4, meet there to have a drink and chat.
Tuesday I had a small group of 6 and a fairly flat ride of 60mls, lunch in the square of Binissalem, and it was hot and sunny, 29degC. I used mostly the quiet roads and lanes that run parallel and partly into the Serra de Tramuntana mountains on the north west coast going out and came back on pan flat roads that are specifically marked as cycle touring routes.
Wednesday is the day off/recovery ride and I was pencilled in to take this so some 25 riders followed me north through all the little lanes to Pollenca, and coffee stop at the beach café in little Cala de Sant Vincenc. It was also quite a windy day. Just 37 gentle mls in total. Temp reached 30. A note on all the Mallorcan roads and lanes; they are level even if some have the odd pot hole, not like the UK where you get pitched all over the place due to poor construction and hundreds of repairs. There is also no surface dressing, aka sprayed tar and chippings, just proper tarmac, so the bikes just roll along beautifully.
3 deg cooler today, Thursday, and thank goodness as I was moved up to take a faster group into the mountains. We did the long climb up the Col de Femenia (515m) from the coast near Pollenca, then on to Lluc and then 10km later the Orange Man café where the road goes on towards the Puig Major (1,447m at the very top) but we went right and up the steep Col de Reis (723m) making some 31km of climbing from Pollenca. Over the top and the start of the famous road for Sa Calobra where we stopped, the road was very busy with tourist traffic, coaches and other riders, the guys with me were not that keen to go down and then back up so after a long photo session we retraced to Mondays lunch stop and then came down to Selva and home. Some fantastic roads and scenery but it can be wearing stuff. Another 58mls.
Friday came and a small group of us went all the way down to Randa, good tail wind there but hard coming home so I used sheltered roads and lanes where I could for the days 62mls.
It’s Saturday, changover for many so I had a mix of 2 groups. I did some new roads, some hilly, a huge loop really, finishing everyone off with the hard 2.5km climb up to Santa Magdalena (307m) for lunch. The old monastery has been turned, partly, into a café and a posh indoor restaurant which boasts a terrific vista to the south for diners. The sore throat that had been threatening me for a couple of days took hold and the 28deg sunshine and 60km had me rasping by the end. However the views from the top of the climb were fantastic as the air was nice and clear and we came back on a lovely quiet lane through some woodland tucked into a small river valley before skirting the busy town of Sa Pobla. After that it was a head wind grind on the flat straight main road towards home. This goes through the national park of s’Albufera and 6km of tall reeds, around 9 metres high, past the power station and into Alcudia and home.
Lovely sunny Sunday, 10 in the group, good mix of super smooth roads and little lanes, rolling into the square at Petra for lunch. We went out through the back roads into Muro (best cake stop on the island), then Llubi and the hidden lane to Sineu, then coffee at Lloret. Staying on smooth but quiet roads we continued south towards Pina where we turned east to Sant Joan. There is an interesting loop down what was once I guess a private road going through the estate of Es Calderas where visitors now pay to go in, and we used this to bring the group down to Vilafranca de Bonany, avoiding the by pass and taking a small lane I found earlier this year going back north towards Petra. As usual there were literally hundreds of other cyclists in Petra, probably the most popular café/lunch stop on the island. Only downside of todays 58 miler was my by now very sore throat.
Quite a hard first week with one thing or another (we had loads of punctures in the groups, most unusual), but a total of 385mls, some steady, some brisk. If I take the tourist group (Green) the average is a little below our club runs pace, the sportive (Blue) group goes at club run brisk pace. I don’t do Red group but it is a fairly quick through and off format; the top, Yellow, is just a blast similar to riding all day in a break. It had rained a few days before I flew out after a long dry summer and billions of mosquitoes hatched out, not good when the hotel overlooks the wetlands of S’albufura. Still my tan lines are now looking good.
Week 2
Monday 21st and I began with some medicine from the chemist, 2 lots of stuff, plus some cream to ease the mozzie bites – no Belgian Mix tho! I’ve blitzed the rooms I stay in and there are NO KNOWN SURVIVORS to bite me overnight. It was a repeat of last Monday, so up Selva gorge again with my 8, but I stopped on the way back in Port Pollenca to introduce them to the ‘must have’ delights of the home made ice cream from the kiosk at the town end of the Pine Walk. It also eased my throat, so obviously it was medicinal! 65mls today.
Lovely day today, just 5 of us, coffee in the little café/bakery in Buger, which sits atop a small hill, then through Campanet, also on a hill, then the lanes to Selva, Llosetta, Binnisalem, up and down all the way for lunch, but back home using the long flat quiet lane known as the ‘pipe road’. I say quiet road but it gets full of groups coming south in the mornings and going north back to Port Pollenca (the Brits) and Alcudia and Playa de Muro (the Germans). A pleasant days 50mls with my usual large strawberry milk shake in Bike Point café at the end. We pushed on a bit and missed the rain coming in late afternoon.
Heavy rain all Wednesday which was ok as I spent most of it in bed trying to get rid of the head cold / sore throat plus I was in need of a rest.
Thursday and mountains again! Trimmed the route a bit, 48mls only but my group stayed dry, the only one to do so.
After a cool start to Friday it soon warmed to 26deg again. Zig zagged all round the lanes and off the beaten track of others, inc a bit of off road, to finally roll into Port Pollenca and lunch at Simbads restaurant on the sea front. I had an ulterior motive here as I needed to check some details from the owner Maria about the town house we were renting in a weeks time. Took the lanes home too, 58mls covered.
Saturday 26th September and many roads were closed for the day – it’s the Mallorcan Iron man, not an event for the unprepared! The road stage, (after a 5km swim in the sea) some 100mls, includes the mountains, and a full marathon follows, so one heck of a challenge. Our challenge was how to get our groups out of town, fortunately I knew a lot of the back roads and we joined the groups together whilst I piloted everyone away from the mayhem. As I had both Green (touring) and Blue (Sportive) groups with me it was an interesting ride down to Sineu for lunch. By the time we came home, after 3.30pm, some of the roads were open again so we had no problems getting back to Bike Point and the hotels. 58mls but my legs were getting tired and I was feeling fatigued as I was full of anti bio thingies and fighting off a flipping cold too.
End of my 2nd week, there was actually no one for me to take out and feeling better I decided to meet with the other 2 groups for lunch in Petra. I had a lovely ride down past Can Picafort towards Arta on the ultra flat and smooth main road, which like many has a wide strip each side to ride safely on. I then turned inland towards Manacor and climbed steadily for a number of miles to reach a small lane which drops down to the hidden Bosc valley. It’s so quiet down there and really lovely, I first came across this gem some 9 or 10 yrs ago with Stuart Hall. There is a pretty steep climb out of the southern end to get back up to the Petra road and I struggled a bit, obviously still below par. The others were a bit late coming into Petra so I was leaving as they arrived and able to take a peaceful solo ride home, with another coffee and cake in Muro en route of course, finally covering 48mls. Mary arrived around dinner time, I’d had to shop for a couple of treats and a card as it was our anniversary, good job I had as she turned up herself armed with card etc. So this week the total was down a bit with the rained off day, but still 322mls.
Week 3
Monday. Had to be creative today due to the thunderstorms. Turned my group away from the set ride up to Lluc in the mountains as it appeared very wet, then dodged the showers successfully for our 58mls here and there. Pleased to see all the rest come back in their capes and with tales of woe about the weather and how wet they all got. My people were chuffed we had stayed dry, sure I must have got some brownie points. Important Rule: Never go in the mountains if the weather looks poor.
It’s Tuesday and after a sunny start a repeat of the previous days weather. Again I modified our routes ‘on the move’ and we just managed to keep clear of the wet stuff, coming home after 47mls just 5 mins before the skies opened. The other ride leaders are not speaking to me much now as they all got drenched again. The wet weather set in by late afternoon and continued into the night.
Some of the heaviest rain I’ve seen on the island, all night, all day, and into the night again, over 4 inches fell in parts (to put that into perspective it’s like having 4 to 5 feet of snow fall). The flooding, and northerly gale made Spains national news, it was really bad on some parts of the island. Mary and I just chilled out for the day, went to the hotel Spa, had a few beers and coffee, forced a cake down, relaxing time for us. Obviously no riding this Wednesday, the main road was well under water anyway.
Thursday. A cool fresh north wind, the gales from the day before had dismantled the beach in the north and dumped most of it in the town at Port Pollenca, together with a couple of large boats and hundreds of sun beds! It was back up the Col de Femenia today, coffee and cake in the monastic grounds of Lluc, then over the Col de sa Batalla and fast descent to Caimari. Mary rode the climb ok and surprisingly followed me close coming down, caped up due to the cool air, at quite a rate off the mountains. Then it was a lovely little lane cutting across to Campanet where we stopped for some lunch in the pretty square, some welcome warm sun as we sat outside the café. Finished with 48mls today.
It’s my last ‘working’ day, weather gradually improving, 55mls with the Blue group which everyone seems to have migrated to, so I helped Roger out there.
Saturday and after breakfast we put the luggage, bike boxes and Marys bike ready for the taxi to take them and her up to Port Pollenca. I rode up on my bike as it was too much of a faff to strip it down and put in the box only to reverse the work half an hour later. The old finca of Marias is great, 2 double bedrooms and a twin, there’s also a pull out sofa bed in the lounge, 2 balconies, 2 bathrooms with showers, kitchen, etc, great location and only 500 euro’s a week this year. Later in the day friends Bernie Batley and Jen’ arrived and we all went down to Simbads to eat – roast suckling piggy of course. Mary began with a pint of G & T, or so it looked, and the evening passed in good form. My eldest son Matthew, and girlfriend Rochelle had a long delay before leaving Gatwick so it was around midnight when they arrived. I’d arranged the transfers myself through 2Go Cycling which is in town and will take them and us back to the airport when we leave.
Sunday 4th October. Well it was a hot sunny day, 30deg and after a leisurely breakfast and bike builds 5 of us went out, taking the lanes down past Campanet and a coffee stop at a new place in the valley, then down from Selva, through the large town of Inca, and into the little lanes to our lunch stop in Sineu – ‘bloody marvelous’ as the café owner says (he’s famous for it). We had a fast ride back with a fresh tail wind out of the south, 56 mls, wore the girls out. So my 3rd week finished on 281mls. My cold had gone, body a bit fatigued, but generally feeling good.
Week 4
Yippee, I’m on holiday now, the sun is shining and it has hit 33deg this Monday. Saw a group of Bromsgrove Olympique riders leaving town as we had breakfast on the balcony, then about 40 riders coming up with Stuart Hall from Alcudia to meet with his other groups that were still in Port Pollenca. It’ll be chaos in those big groups to start with, no doubt, as apparently there were nearly 90 leaving the town en-masse.
We all had a great weeks riding whilst Matthew and Rochelle were with us and the weather was hot and sunny too. Ended the week by riding down to join the Sun Velo groups, Mary clocking up 73mls, a record for her, whilst Bernie and I joined the fast group (Red) and totalled 90mls, bringing the weeks mileage to 320.
Week 5
Cycled all but Sunday when we left for home. Amongst the highlights was an evening at Stay restaurant on the marina with Andy and Julie Overton and 4 others joining us. Bernie and myself also had a good 82ml jaunt into the mountains going over the stunning climb to Orient. The undulating route there first goes over the Coll de Tofla (260m), then the super smooth and wide road climb to Orient (492m) where we had a really great coffee, down and across the high valley and up the Coll d’Honor (520m) with it’s old style super tight hairpins and a long 8km drop to Bunyola. We passed straight through and went on down to Santa Maria for further refreshment then on to the Pipe road for home, latching on to a nice German train for several km before they turned off. This final week was 262mls. So 5 weeks and 1,570mls of varied riding, mainly super roads, not a single angry motorist or near miss, sunshine, good food, etc and only 1 puncture, and even then I noticed the tyre was only flat at the bottom.
Thinking of ways to bore people to death I came up with the idea of a few scribbles on my 5 weeks in Mallorca this season end. The first 3 weeks were working for Sun Velo based at Playa de Muro, on the north east coast right where the 312km annual sportive starts and finishes. After that it was a move to Port Pollenca for a fortninght in an old town house we rented for 6 of us.
I flew out on a very late flight Sunday 13th September, arriving at the 4 star Viva Blue hotel just after 02.00am on the Monday morning! Immediately managed to sleep through my alarm and nearly missed breakfast but I wasn’t needed as a ride leader that day so later on rode out to meet the groups at their lunch stop which was the café at the top of the Col de sa Batalla. This is probably my fave climb on the island, around 10km up the gorge from the town of Selva, through the woods on pristine smooth tarmac, plenty of sweeping bends and hairpins until just over the half way point, where it flattens out for a kilo or so with a stunning rock face on the left and dramatic views into the island to the right. The climb finishes with a slightly steeper section of 6 hairpins to reach the petrol station summit and café. A long, 20km broken descent followed lunch on the road down to Pollenca, fast and smooth with sweeping bends and more hairpins, then into the lanes where I took over as ride leader for a lovely roll back to base and 50mls ticked off. Base after each ride is always the Bike Point café almost next to the hotel and each group, there’s up to 4, meet there to have a drink and chat.
Tuesday I had a small group of 6 and a fairly flat ride of 60mls, lunch in the square of Binissalem, and it was hot and sunny, 29degC. I used mostly the quiet roads and lanes that run parallel and partly into the Serra de Tramuntana mountains on the north west coast going out and came back on pan flat roads that are specifically marked as cycle touring routes.
Wednesday is the day off/recovery ride and I was pencilled in to take this so some 25 riders followed me north through all the little lanes to Pollenca, and coffee stop at the beach café in little Cala de Sant Vincenc. It was also quite a windy day. Just 37 gentle mls in total. Temp reached 30. A note on all the Mallorcan roads and lanes; they are level even if some have the odd pot hole, not like the UK where you get pitched all over the place due to poor construction and hundreds of repairs. There is also no surface dressing, aka sprayed tar and chippings, just proper tarmac, so the bikes just roll along beautifully.
3 deg cooler today, Thursday, and thank goodness as I was moved up to take a faster group into the mountains. We did the long climb up the Col de Femenia (515m) from the coast near Pollenca, then on to Lluc and then 10km later the Orange Man café where the road goes on towards the Puig Major (1,447m at the very top) but we went right and up the steep Col de Reis (723m) making some 31km of climbing from Pollenca. Over the top and the start of the famous road for Sa Calobra where we stopped, the road was very busy with tourist traffic, coaches and other riders, the guys with me were not that keen to go down and then back up so after a long photo session we retraced to Mondays lunch stop and then came down to Selva and home. Some fantastic roads and scenery but it can be wearing stuff. Another 58mls.
Friday came and a small group of us went all the way down to Randa, good tail wind there but hard coming home so I used sheltered roads and lanes where I could for the days 62mls.
It’s Saturday, changover for many so I had a mix of 2 groups. I did some new roads, some hilly, a huge loop really, finishing everyone off with the hard 2.5km climb up to Santa Magdalena (307m) for lunch. The old monastery has been turned, partly, into a café and a posh indoor restaurant which boasts a terrific vista to the south for diners. The sore throat that had been threatening me for a couple of days took hold and the 28deg sunshine and 60km had me rasping by the end. However the views from the top of the climb were fantastic as the air was nice and clear and we came back on a lovely quiet lane through some woodland tucked into a small river valley before skirting the busy town of Sa Pobla. After that it was a head wind grind on the flat straight main road towards home. This goes through the national park of s’Albufera and 6km of tall reeds, around 9 metres high, past the power station and into Alcudia and home.
Lovely sunny Sunday, 10 in the group, good mix of super smooth roads and little lanes, rolling into the square at Petra for lunch. We went out through the back roads into Muro (best cake stop on the island), then Llubi and the hidden lane to Sineu, then coffee at Lloret. Staying on smooth but quiet roads we continued south towards Pina where we turned east to Sant Joan. There is an interesting loop down what was once I guess a private road going through the estate of Es Calderas where visitors now pay to go in, and we used this to bring the group down to Vilafranca de Bonany, avoiding the by pass and taking a small lane I found earlier this year going back north towards Petra. As usual there were literally hundreds of other cyclists in Petra, probably the most popular café/lunch stop on the island. Only downside of todays 58 miler was my by now very sore throat.
Quite a hard first week with one thing or another (we had loads of punctures in the groups, most unusual), but a total of 385mls, some steady, some brisk. If I take the tourist group (Green) the average is a little below our club runs pace, the sportive (Blue) group goes at club run brisk pace. I don’t do Red group but it is a fairly quick through and off format; the top, Yellow, is just a blast similar to riding all day in a break. It had rained a few days before I flew out after a long dry summer and billions of mosquitoes hatched out, not good when the hotel overlooks the wetlands of S’albufura. Still my tan lines are now looking good.
Week 2
Monday 21st and I began with some medicine from the chemist, 2 lots of stuff, plus some cream to ease the mozzie bites – no Belgian Mix tho! I’ve blitzed the rooms I stay in and there are NO KNOWN SURVIVORS to bite me overnight. It was a repeat of last Monday, so up Selva gorge again with my 8, but I stopped on the way back in Port Pollenca to introduce them to the ‘must have’ delights of the home made ice cream from the kiosk at the town end of the Pine Walk. It also eased my throat, so obviously it was medicinal! 65mls today.
Lovely day today, just 5 of us, coffee in the little café/bakery in Buger, which sits atop a small hill, then through Campanet, also on a hill, then the lanes to Selva, Llosetta, Binnisalem, up and down all the way for lunch, but back home using the long flat quiet lane known as the ‘pipe road’. I say quiet road but it gets full of groups coming south in the mornings and going north back to Port Pollenca (the Brits) and Alcudia and Playa de Muro (the Germans). A pleasant days 50mls with my usual large strawberry milk shake in Bike Point café at the end. We pushed on a bit and missed the rain coming in late afternoon.
Heavy rain all Wednesday which was ok as I spent most of it in bed trying to get rid of the head cold / sore throat plus I was in need of a rest.
Thursday and mountains again! Trimmed the route a bit, 48mls only but my group stayed dry, the only one to do so.
After a cool start to Friday it soon warmed to 26deg again. Zig zagged all round the lanes and off the beaten track of others, inc a bit of off road, to finally roll into Port Pollenca and lunch at Simbads restaurant on the sea front. I had an ulterior motive here as I needed to check some details from the owner Maria about the town house we were renting in a weeks time. Took the lanes home too, 58mls covered.
Saturday 26th September and many roads were closed for the day – it’s the Mallorcan Iron man, not an event for the unprepared! The road stage, (after a 5km swim in the sea) some 100mls, includes the mountains, and a full marathon follows, so one heck of a challenge. Our challenge was how to get our groups out of town, fortunately I knew a lot of the back roads and we joined the groups together whilst I piloted everyone away from the mayhem. As I had both Green (touring) and Blue (Sportive) groups with me it was an interesting ride down to Sineu for lunch. By the time we came home, after 3.30pm, some of the roads were open again so we had no problems getting back to Bike Point and the hotels. 58mls but my legs were getting tired and I was feeling fatigued as I was full of anti bio thingies and fighting off a flipping cold too.
End of my 2nd week, there was actually no one for me to take out and feeling better I decided to meet with the other 2 groups for lunch in Petra. I had a lovely ride down past Can Picafort towards Arta on the ultra flat and smooth main road, which like many has a wide strip each side to ride safely on. I then turned inland towards Manacor and climbed steadily for a number of miles to reach a small lane which drops down to the hidden Bosc valley. It’s so quiet down there and really lovely, I first came across this gem some 9 or 10 yrs ago with Stuart Hall. There is a pretty steep climb out of the southern end to get back up to the Petra road and I struggled a bit, obviously still below par. The others were a bit late coming into Petra so I was leaving as they arrived and able to take a peaceful solo ride home, with another coffee and cake in Muro en route of course, finally covering 48mls. Mary arrived around dinner time, I’d had to shop for a couple of treats and a card as it was our anniversary, good job I had as she turned up herself armed with card etc. So this week the total was down a bit with the rained off day, but still 322mls.
Week 3
Monday. Had to be creative today due to the thunderstorms. Turned my group away from the set ride up to Lluc in the mountains as it appeared very wet, then dodged the showers successfully for our 58mls here and there. Pleased to see all the rest come back in their capes and with tales of woe about the weather and how wet they all got. My people were chuffed we had stayed dry, sure I must have got some brownie points. Important Rule: Never go in the mountains if the weather looks poor.
It’s Tuesday and after a sunny start a repeat of the previous days weather. Again I modified our routes ‘on the move’ and we just managed to keep clear of the wet stuff, coming home after 47mls just 5 mins before the skies opened. The other ride leaders are not speaking to me much now as they all got drenched again. The wet weather set in by late afternoon and continued into the night.
Some of the heaviest rain I’ve seen on the island, all night, all day, and into the night again, over 4 inches fell in parts (to put that into perspective it’s like having 4 to 5 feet of snow fall). The flooding, and northerly gale made Spains national news, it was really bad on some parts of the island. Mary and I just chilled out for the day, went to the hotel Spa, had a few beers and coffee, forced a cake down, relaxing time for us. Obviously no riding this Wednesday, the main road was well under water anyway.
Thursday. A cool fresh north wind, the gales from the day before had dismantled the beach in the north and dumped most of it in the town at Port Pollenca, together with a couple of large boats and hundreds of sun beds! It was back up the Col de Femenia today, coffee and cake in the monastic grounds of Lluc, then over the Col de sa Batalla and fast descent to Caimari. Mary rode the climb ok and surprisingly followed me close coming down, caped up due to the cool air, at quite a rate off the mountains. Then it was a lovely little lane cutting across to Campanet where we stopped for some lunch in the pretty square, some welcome warm sun as we sat outside the café. Finished with 48mls today.
It’s my last ‘working’ day, weather gradually improving, 55mls with the Blue group which everyone seems to have migrated to, so I helped Roger out there.
Saturday and after breakfast we put the luggage, bike boxes and Marys bike ready for the taxi to take them and her up to Port Pollenca. I rode up on my bike as it was too much of a faff to strip it down and put in the box only to reverse the work half an hour later. The old finca of Marias is great, 2 double bedrooms and a twin, there’s also a pull out sofa bed in the lounge, 2 balconies, 2 bathrooms with showers, kitchen, etc, great location and only 500 euro’s a week this year. Later in the day friends Bernie Batley and Jen’ arrived and we all went down to Simbads to eat – roast suckling piggy of course. Mary began with a pint of G & T, or so it looked, and the evening passed in good form. My eldest son Matthew, and girlfriend Rochelle had a long delay before leaving Gatwick so it was around midnight when they arrived. I’d arranged the transfers myself through 2Go Cycling which is in town and will take them and us back to the airport when we leave.
Sunday 4th October. Well it was a hot sunny day, 30deg and after a leisurely breakfast and bike builds 5 of us went out, taking the lanes down past Campanet and a coffee stop at a new place in the valley, then down from Selva, through the large town of Inca, and into the little lanes to our lunch stop in Sineu – ‘bloody marvelous’ as the café owner says (he’s famous for it). We had a fast ride back with a fresh tail wind out of the south, 56 mls, wore the girls out. So my 3rd week finished on 281mls. My cold had gone, body a bit fatigued, but generally feeling good.
Week 4
Yippee, I’m on holiday now, the sun is shining and it has hit 33deg this Monday. Saw a group of Bromsgrove Olympique riders leaving town as we had breakfast on the balcony, then about 40 riders coming up with Stuart Hall from Alcudia to meet with his other groups that were still in Port Pollenca. It’ll be chaos in those big groups to start with, no doubt, as apparently there were nearly 90 leaving the town en-masse.
We all had a great weeks riding whilst Matthew and Rochelle were with us and the weather was hot and sunny too. Ended the week by riding down to join the Sun Velo groups, Mary clocking up 73mls, a record for her, whilst Bernie and I joined the fast group (Red) and totalled 90mls, bringing the weeks mileage to 320.
Week 5
Cycled all but Sunday when we left for home. Amongst the highlights was an evening at Stay restaurant on the marina with Andy and Julie Overton and 4 others joining us. Bernie and myself also had a good 82ml jaunt into the mountains going over the stunning climb to Orient. The undulating route there first goes over the Coll de Tofla (260m), then the super smooth and wide road climb to Orient (492m) where we had a really great coffee, down and across the high valley and up the Coll d’Honor (520m) with it’s old style super tight hairpins and a long 8km drop to Bunyola. We passed straight through and went on down to Santa Maria for further refreshment then on to the Pipe road for home, latching on to a nice German train for several km before they turned off. This final week was 262mls. So 5 weeks and 1,570mls of varied riding, mainly super roads, not a single angry motorist or near miss, sunshine, good food, etc and only 1 puncture, and even then I noticed the tyre was only flat at the bottom.