Post by Graham B on Jul 10, 2015 21:19:21 GMT 1
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's over 2 months since we got back from Majorca and I should have had this done ages ago, but hey, better late than never. So, I will offer no apologies for the lateness of this report, but I probably should apologise for the length of it. You may want to pull up a comfy chair and make a cuppa before you begin....
OK, so for the benefit of anyone who didn’t see the smug Facebook posts and Strava logs at the time, 21 Dromara CC members (plus one well known Ards CC member and one brave non-cycling spouse) - travelled the well-trodden path to Majorca in April for a week of fun on two wheels. Every year during the months of March and April the island of Majorca is besieged by thousands of amateur cyclists from all over Europe and further afield. They are attracted to the area by a combination of factors conducive to early season cycling; quiet, well surfaced roads, ideal weather conditions & a wide variety of terrain. For us mere mortals who don’t ride bikes for a living, it is a rare chance to take time away from the daily grind and live out the fantasy of having nothing to do for a week but “ride yer bike”!
The specialist cycling company we booked our accommodation through, Stuart Hall Cycling, advertised it as a “Spring Training Camp”. Now April is a definitely spring month, but the accuracy of that title ends there. Our accommodation was markedly more salubrious than a campsite, and any fitness benefit to be gained from the cycling was (for most of us), offset by food and alcohol intake. I think the phrase “Enthusiastic Cycling Holiday” might be a more appropriate title for the trip.
Our adventure began on Sunday with the inevitable early morning budget flight from a dreary Aldergrove airport. Thankfully everything went without a hitch, and after touching down in Palma, a short transfer by luxury coach delivered “Team Dromara” to our base for the week. We were staying in the recently upgraded Hotel Pollensa Park, the only large hotel in the small seaside town of Port de Pollensa. Situated at the North Eastern tip of Majorca, Port de Pollensa sits at one end of a beautiful “C” shaped bay, with the larger and more well-known resort of Alcudia at the other end.
Out of the 22 cyclists in our group, half had elected to hire a bike from the holiday company, with the other 11 deciding to take the risk of bringing their own (mostly carbon, and mostly very expensive) bikes on the plane. On arrival at the hotel, the “hirers” calmly sauntered down to the bike room to pick up their rental machines, whilst the “bring your own” camp anxiously rushed off to find out if their pride and joy had survived the trip, and to spend the next 30 minutes trying to remember how to build them back together (they have to be partially disassembled to fit in the bike boxes for travel). Thankfully all the bikes had arrived intact, and once everyone had a set of wheels vaguely attached to something resembling a bike frame, the keen ones headed out for a “shakedown ride” into Alcudia. The less keen ones chose instead to go for a walk or find a sunbed and a cold drink. The one who had forgotten to charge the battery on his fancy Di2 gear system had his choice made for him.
Dinner at the Pollensa Park was a self-service affair offering a wide choice of freshly cooked meats, vegetables and salads. Whilst the large dining room could be busy and noisy at times, the food was great, and queues were minimal. The initial excitement of seeing self-service beer & wine taps soon turned to bitter disappointment when we were informed by a rather rude waiter that alcoholic drinks were not (as we had previously thought) included with our “all inclusive package”. Step in Eddie Doyle, who knows everyone and can talk his way around practically any situation in the known universe, and by the next morning we were all in possession of the sought-after wristband to entitle us to unlimited house drinks during dinnertime. At that point my personal fitness aims for the week were downgraded a notch or two… thanks Eddie!
Monday arrived with wall to wall sunshine, the promise of 23 deg C, and beautiful blue skies. After a hearty breakfast we donned our club kit and congregated outside the front of the hotel to meet the Stuart Hall daily ride leaders. Each day there were 3 or 4 different guided routes on offer; ranging from the “coffee stop run” (which offered 40-50 miles on flat roads, an easy pace and two coffee stops), through to more challenging, faster & longer rides.
Davy & Jim’s leisure crew chose the coffee stop run, and the rest of us opted for a reasonably sensible run on flat back-roads through the middle of the island to the sleepy village of Sineu. Our guide for the day, Dave, was a retired racer from the north of England, who spends 6-8 weeks in Majorca every spring (and sometimes autumn) “working” for Stuart Hall, and still competes regularly in the World Masters Cycling Championship all over the globe, despite being in his sixties. Not a bad way to spend one’s retirement. Dave’s route to Sineu was ideal for a first day ”loosener”; no significant hills and a steady, though brisk pace. We had an early lunch – outside of course – at a charming little café with an equally charming, if a bit mad, host. Club newbie, Mervyn, had underestimated how much food and water he needed to consume during the ride to stave off the effects of the Majorcan sunshine, and duly “bonked” on the way home, almost getting detached from the group after missing a turning. Thankfully with the help of a few emergency gels he made it back and a first day disaster was averted. Back at the Pollensa Park we met up with the coffee stop crew at the poolside to discuss the first day’s adventures over a well-earned beer.
Tuesday was more or less a carbon copy of the previous day, albeit with a few more miles added in. Once again, we were spoiled with wall to wall sunshine all day. The “faster” group took some main roads to Algaida, returning back in true “leisure crew style” with a second coffee stop in the picturesque foothills around Selva. But by now some of the group were champing at the bit to get into the proper hills….
On Wednesday those who were looking to challenge themselves in the hills got what they wished for. Six brave souls from the coffee stop crew (Jim, Davy, Ruth , Beverley, Peter and Brendan) decided to venture out on their own and take on the most famous climb in Majorca, the Col de Reis, or “Sa Calobra” as it is more commonly known. I’ll not go into too much of the detail on the Sa Calobra (you can read about it here www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/majorcas-sa-calobra-cyclings-perfect-climb-164457), but suffice to say it should be on the bucket list of every keen cyclist. That these 6 leisure cyclists, four of whom haven’t tackled anything remotely on the same scale as this before, completed the challenge as part of a 65 mile round trip and came back with huge grins on their faces, deserves a lot of kudos!
The “faster” group joined a large guided run with Dave and a couple of the other Stuart Hall guides. The route took us via some flat main roads down the east of the mountains, to a quick first stop in the centre of Santa Maria. At this supposedly brief coffee stop, team Dromara were frowned upon by some Rapha-clad boyos for supplementing our caffeine hit with a big slab of cake each. Apparently this was not good form, tut, tut. However we were glad of the extra energy when shortly afterward we hit the testing first climb over to the picturesque town of Soller. Funnily enough the Rapha boys were nowhere to be seen. After lunch it was the main event, up the highest & longest climb on the island, to the mountain tunnel at “Puig Major”. Starting at 80ft above sea level and finishing 10 miles later at 3000ft, despite “only” being a category 2 climb this is one tough challenge. Chris Magowan, in fine form after a tough winter of training, was first to the top. The rest of us took it at our own pace, although Lisa and Stephen decided to take their minds off the task at hand by indulging in some psychological torture of a couple of unsuspecting foreign cyclists… The descent on the other side down to Lluc was ample reward for all our efforts; sweeping wide roads take you down past a series of mountain lakes at breakneck speed. Needless to say we all slept well that night!
On Thursday all 22 of the Dromara crew headed off as one big club group to ride perhaps the most scenic route of the week; the short but picturesque road to the lighthouse at the most northerly point on the island, Cap Formentor. The road had been recently resurfaced, and with the wide variety of terrain (green leafy forest passes, fast descents, tunnels, cliff edges and sea views), this has got to rank as one of the best cycling roads anywhere.
A relatively early return from Formentor was followed by a relatively late night out in one of the local bars, which for some continued into the wee small hours back in the Pollensa Park. I could go into details, but the legal ramifications just wouldn’t be worth it. What goes on tour… etc, etc.
Friday was therefore destined to be a recovery day. A couple of folk quite wisely decided to take a break from two wheels and enjoy a day off. The rest of us headed along the coast to Alcudia where we split into two groups. The keener ones turned inland for a spin along back roads to Petra for lunch. The lazier ones stopped at Can Picafort for an ultra-long coffee stop at the beach and a barely-deserved but massively-enjoyed lazy lunch in the old town in Alcudia. The weather was once again impeccable, not a cloud in the sky and 23 deg temperatures. The only drama of the day was when Peter B momentarily forgot how to ride his bike and made a brief but memorable acquaintance with the Mallorcan tarmac. I’m told his Assos bib-shorts were irrepairable afterwards, which, if truth be told, is no bad thing for the rest of the cycling community.
So Saturday arrived, along with last-day mixed emotions. Davy, Jim and the coffee stop group headed off for a pleasant spin to Petra again, making the most of the wall to wall sunshine and quiet roads. Peter, Stephen, Kevin, Marty, Chris, Lisa, Michael & myself set off to “scratch the Sa Calobra itch”. We agreed on a route that took us out via the now familiar back roads out to Selva, where we turned right and headed up the spectacular Selva Gorge climb, stopping for lunch at the “Garage”. After a quick bite, the undulating forest roads took us over to the viaduct at Lluc, where the Sa Calobra experience begins. Again, I won’t bore you all with the detail, but it’s an awesome road, and the sense of achievement on reaching the top is tremendous. On the twisting descent back into Pollensa, the lads got the chance to test their bike handling skills, and for those who were fast enough to keep up (i.e. not me!), the day finished in the traditional sprint for the 30’s coming into the town. All in all, a perfect day to round off a perfect week on the bike.
The theme for our trip could easily have been “Cycling for all ages and abilities”, given the wide and varied range of ages and cycling proficiencies amongst the group. The youngest of the group, “Party” Marty claimed to be 27 years of age at the time of the trip, although some of us suspect he is actually a 16 year old trapped in an older, wiser man’s body. The oldest, probably wisest, but most definitely not slowest member of the group, Raymund M, celebrated his 71st birthday whilst we were in Pollensa, putting many younger riders to shame with his enthusiasm and abilities on 2 wheels. In between these two extremes were a broad mixture of ages and backgrounds. Some have been cycling for 30 years or more, others are new to the sport. We had club racers, open racers & leisure cyclists, but at the end of the day we were all just cyclists and everyone got on really well. It is difficult to think of another sport in which such a diverse range of age, gender, and ability could come together to enjoy their sport in such an inclusive manner. From a personal point of view I thought it was a great way to get away from it all for a week, and I would heartily recommend it to any keen cyclists. So here's hoping the next Dromara CC "training camp" is even bigger and better next time!
P.S. I've done a wee video montage from some Go-pro footage and stills. If you've got 40 minutes to kill, you can watch it on Youtube here!
MAJORCA 2015
OK, so for the benefit of anyone who didn’t see the smug Facebook posts and Strava logs at the time, 21 Dromara CC members (plus one well known Ards CC member and one brave non-cycling spouse) - travelled the well-trodden path to Majorca in April for a week of fun on two wheels. Every year during the months of March and April the island of Majorca is besieged by thousands of amateur cyclists from all over Europe and further afield. They are attracted to the area by a combination of factors conducive to early season cycling; quiet, well surfaced roads, ideal weather conditions & a wide variety of terrain. For us mere mortals who don’t ride bikes for a living, it is a rare chance to take time away from the daily grind and live out the fantasy of having nothing to do for a week but “ride yer bike”!
The specialist cycling company we booked our accommodation through, Stuart Hall Cycling, advertised it as a “Spring Training Camp”. Now April is a definitely spring month, but the accuracy of that title ends there. Our accommodation was markedly more salubrious than a campsite, and any fitness benefit to be gained from the cycling was (for most of us), offset by food and alcohol intake. I think the phrase “Enthusiastic Cycling Holiday” might be a more appropriate title for the trip.
Our adventure began on Sunday with the inevitable early morning budget flight from a dreary Aldergrove airport. Thankfully everything went without a hitch, and after touching down in Palma, a short transfer by luxury coach delivered “Team Dromara” to our base for the week. We were staying in the recently upgraded Hotel Pollensa Park, the only large hotel in the small seaside town of Port de Pollensa. Situated at the North Eastern tip of Majorca, Port de Pollensa sits at one end of a beautiful “C” shaped bay, with the larger and more well-known resort of Alcudia at the other end.
Out of the 22 cyclists in our group, half had elected to hire a bike from the holiday company, with the other 11 deciding to take the risk of bringing their own (mostly carbon, and mostly very expensive) bikes on the plane. On arrival at the hotel, the “hirers” calmly sauntered down to the bike room to pick up their rental machines, whilst the “bring your own” camp anxiously rushed off to find out if their pride and joy had survived the trip, and to spend the next 30 minutes trying to remember how to build them back together (they have to be partially disassembled to fit in the bike boxes for travel). Thankfully all the bikes had arrived intact, and once everyone had a set of wheels vaguely attached to something resembling a bike frame, the keen ones headed out for a “shakedown ride” into Alcudia. The less keen ones chose instead to go for a walk or find a sunbed and a cold drink. The one who had forgotten to charge the battery on his fancy Di2 gear system had his choice made for him.
Dinner at the Pollensa Park was a self-service affair offering a wide choice of freshly cooked meats, vegetables and salads. Whilst the large dining room could be busy and noisy at times, the food was great, and queues were minimal. The initial excitement of seeing self-service beer & wine taps soon turned to bitter disappointment when we were informed by a rather rude waiter that alcoholic drinks were not (as we had previously thought) included with our “all inclusive package”. Step in Eddie Doyle, who knows everyone and can talk his way around practically any situation in the known universe, and by the next morning we were all in possession of the sought-after wristband to entitle us to unlimited house drinks during dinnertime. At that point my personal fitness aims for the week were downgraded a notch or two… thanks Eddie!
Monday arrived with wall to wall sunshine, the promise of 23 deg C, and beautiful blue skies. After a hearty breakfast we donned our club kit and congregated outside the front of the hotel to meet the Stuart Hall daily ride leaders. Each day there were 3 or 4 different guided routes on offer; ranging from the “coffee stop run” (which offered 40-50 miles on flat roads, an easy pace and two coffee stops), through to more challenging, faster & longer rides.
Davy & Jim’s leisure crew chose the coffee stop run, and the rest of us opted for a reasonably sensible run on flat back-roads through the middle of the island to the sleepy village of Sineu. Our guide for the day, Dave, was a retired racer from the north of England, who spends 6-8 weeks in Majorca every spring (and sometimes autumn) “working” for Stuart Hall, and still competes regularly in the World Masters Cycling Championship all over the globe, despite being in his sixties. Not a bad way to spend one’s retirement. Dave’s route to Sineu was ideal for a first day ”loosener”; no significant hills and a steady, though brisk pace. We had an early lunch – outside of course – at a charming little café with an equally charming, if a bit mad, host. Club newbie, Mervyn, had underestimated how much food and water he needed to consume during the ride to stave off the effects of the Majorcan sunshine, and duly “bonked” on the way home, almost getting detached from the group after missing a turning. Thankfully with the help of a few emergency gels he made it back and a first day disaster was averted. Back at the Pollensa Park we met up with the coffee stop crew at the poolside to discuss the first day’s adventures over a well-earned beer.
Tuesday was more or less a carbon copy of the previous day, albeit with a few more miles added in. Once again, we were spoiled with wall to wall sunshine all day. The “faster” group took some main roads to Algaida, returning back in true “leisure crew style” with a second coffee stop in the picturesque foothills around Selva. But by now some of the group were champing at the bit to get into the proper hills….
On Wednesday those who were looking to challenge themselves in the hills got what they wished for. Six brave souls from the coffee stop crew (Jim, Davy, Ruth , Beverley, Peter and Brendan) decided to venture out on their own and take on the most famous climb in Majorca, the Col de Reis, or “Sa Calobra” as it is more commonly known. I’ll not go into too much of the detail on the Sa Calobra (you can read about it here www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/majorcas-sa-calobra-cyclings-perfect-climb-164457), but suffice to say it should be on the bucket list of every keen cyclist. That these 6 leisure cyclists, four of whom haven’t tackled anything remotely on the same scale as this before, completed the challenge as part of a 65 mile round trip and came back with huge grins on their faces, deserves a lot of kudos!
The “faster” group joined a large guided run with Dave and a couple of the other Stuart Hall guides. The route took us via some flat main roads down the east of the mountains, to a quick first stop in the centre of Santa Maria. At this supposedly brief coffee stop, team Dromara were frowned upon by some Rapha-clad boyos for supplementing our caffeine hit with a big slab of cake each. Apparently this was not good form, tut, tut. However we were glad of the extra energy when shortly afterward we hit the testing first climb over to the picturesque town of Soller. Funnily enough the Rapha boys were nowhere to be seen. After lunch it was the main event, up the highest & longest climb on the island, to the mountain tunnel at “Puig Major”. Starting at 80ft above sea level and finishing 10 miles later at 3000ft, despite “only” being a category 2 climb this is one tough challenge. Chris Magowan, in fine form after a tough winter of training, was first to the top. The rest of us took it at our own pace, although Lisa and Stephen decided to take their minds off the task at hand by indulging in some psychological torture of a couple of unsuspecting foreign cyclists… The descent on the other side down to Lluc was ample reward for all our efforts; sweeping wide roads take you down past a series of mountain lakes at breakneck speed. Needless to say we all slept well that night!
On Thursday all 22 of the Dromara crew headed off as one big club group to ride perhaps the most scenic route of the week; the short but picturesque road to the lighthouse at the most northerly point on the island, Cap Formentor. The road had been recently resurfaced, and with the wide variety of terrain (green leafy forest passes, fast descents, tunnels, cliff edges and sea views), this has got to rank as one of the best cycling roads anywhere.
A relatively early return from Formentor was followed by a relatively late night out in one of the local bars, which for some continued into the wee small hours back in the Pollensa Park. I could go into details, but the legal ramifications just wouldn’t be worth it. What goes on tour… etc, etc.
Friday was therefore destined to be a recovery day. A couple of folk quite wisely decided to take a break from two wheels and enjoy a day off. The rest of us headed along the coast to Alcudia where we split into two groups. The keener ones turned inland for a spin along back roads to Petra for lunch. The lazier ones stopped at Can Picafort for an ultra-long coffee stop at the beach and a barely-deserved but massively-enjoyed lazy lunch in the old town in Alcudia. The weather was once again impeccable, not a cloud in the sky and 23 deg temperatures. The only drama of the day was when Peter B momentarily forgot how to ride his bike and made a brief but memorable acquaintance with the Mallorcan tarmac. I’m told his Assos bib-shorts were irrepairable afterwards, which, if truth be told, is no bad thing for the rest of the cycling community.
So Saturday arrived, along with last-day mixed emotions. Davy, Jim and the coffee stop group headed off for a pleasant spin to Petra again, making the most of the wall to wall sunshine and quiet roads. Peter, Stephen, Kevin, Marty, Chris, Lisa, Michael & myself set off to “scratch the Sa Calobra itch”. We agreed on a route that took us out via the now familiar back roads out to Selva, where we turned right and headed up the spectacular Selva Gorge climb, stopping for lunch at the “Garage”. After a quick bite, the undulating forest roads took us over to the viaduct at Lluc, where the Sa Calobra experience begins. Again, I won’t bore you all with the detail, but it’s an awesome road, and the sense of achievement on reaching the top is tremendous. On the twisting descent back into Pollensa, the lads got the chance to test their bike handling skills, and for those who were fast enough to keep up (i.e. not me!), the day finished in the traditional sprint for the 30’s coming into the town. All in all, a perfect day to round off a perfect week on the bike.
The theme for our trip could easily have been “Cycling for all ages and abilities”, given the wide and varied range of ages and cycling proficiencies amongst the group. The youngest of the group, “Party” Marty claimed to be 27 years of age at the time of the trip, although some of us suspect he is actually a 16 year old trapped in an older, wiser man’s body. The oldest, probably wisest, but most definitely not slowest member of the group, Raymund M, celebrated his 71st birthday whilst we were in Pollensa, putting many younger riders to shame with his enthusiasm and abilities on 2 wheels. In between these two extremes were a broad mixture of ages and backgrounds. Some have been cycling for 30 years or more, others are new to the sport. We had club racers, open racers & leisure cyclists, but at the end of the day we were all just cyclists and everyone got on really well. It is difficult to think of another sport in which such a diverse range of age, gender, and ability could come together to enjoy their sport in such an inclusive manner. From a personal point of view I thought it was a great way to get away from it all for a week, and I would heartily recommend it to any keen cyclists. So here's hoping the next Dromara CC "training camp" is even bigger and better next time!
P.S. I've done a wee video montage from some Go-pro footage and stills. If you've got 40 minutes to kill, you can watch it on Youtube here!
