This is a blog in photos as I managed to take quite a few during the day to remind me of what went on. In fact it all started the day before the event when Sabin and myself had a long relaxing lunch, with a couple of his Mallorcan cycling friends who had driven up from Palma and were getting ready to ride the event too. These guys had ridden last years event and were planning to improve their times from 13hrs to under 12hr. The
Mallorca 312 event had a 14hr limit so this was definatley a sportive and no audax where 300km events are given a 20hr limit. We sat around eating a large paella and having a few glasses of wine with their wives and children. It was a very pleasent way to spend the afternoon.
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| Pre ride carb loading, Mallorcan style |
On the morning I had to ride 45minutes to the start and luckily my room mate for the week Richard French had brought along some lights that he lent me, which was just as well, as there was quite a few police driving around and the last thing I wanted to do was to get stopped riding in the dark. Here I am at 6am outside our hotel in Port de Pollenca kitted up as if it was a summers day back in England.
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| Lights and suncream at 6am |
On the ride to Alcudia I passed the hotel were the Sky pro cycling team stay. Perhaps we could get a similar banner for us, for next years Blobby Tour?
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| Wiggins residence |
I arrived and there were masses of people getting ready, lots getting their bikes out of cars and pumping up tyres. I thought it best to get as near the front of the crowd as possible but stopped to chat to some other Brits who were doing the shorter 150km event. The music was blearing out of the PA and we were told 800 riders had signed on for this the 3rd edition of the event. Yes this was definitely a sportive, no saddlebags to be seen anywhere. I had been given a route sheet which told me where the feed stations were and I had planned to stop to refuel at the 90km station near Valldemossa.
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| Riders from all over Europe were on the start line |
At 7am, the lead vehicles and motorbikes headed out with 800 rider riding over the timing mats and were away. It was a bit dodgy with some riders taking to the opposite side of the road in an effort to get closer to the front. I played safe and knew that the first half of the event was over the hilly west side of the island and there would be plenty of time to pick up time. The route meant that I was returning on the same road I had ridden only an hour before as we headed back along the coast to Port de Pollenca, but at this time of the morning the only people around were those walking their dogs.
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| Entering Port de Pollenca |
As we set about riding up past Pollenca and the flat road to the first climb it was getting more orderly and as well as marshalls on scooters there were half a dozen local riders managing the bunch and stopping riders from crossing the white line. This is a great idea as cyclist tend to respect another cyclist telling them what to do. Any volunteers to do this in the May Flyer next week would be most welcome.
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| Cyclist marshall |
It was too long after this on the climb upto Lluc that my two new Spanish friend caught me up. They were both in good spirits and didn't seem to be worried about pacing themselves. Miguel was in the Cliff Dent mould. I can't remember if Cliff has any tattoos?
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| 397. Miguel |
While Jose was a really good climber and had been 2nd finisher when he rode the short course a couple of years ago. Both rode for the Bicicletas Caldentey cycling team. Their shorts and jerseys said "no very guud racing team" but I think this was a bit of a joke as they were pulling the groups along when ever I saw them.
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| 118. Jose |
I tend to take a lot of these type of photo from the back of the group, just in case I was to fall I would not bring anyone else off.
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| Large groups climb up to the viaduct |
The groups stayed together as far as the tunnel at the top of the Puig Major but on the long fast descent the group fragmented and as no one was hanging around, we started the climb upto Deia in a slightly smaller group. This was the same story for the rest of the climbing section down to Palma. Riding the climbs at your own pace and getting together with a few others in between. It was into a stiff head wind along here too which ment concentration on not being blown off your bike as well as keeping the speed up.
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| Last section up the Puig Major |
Eventually we reached the feed station at Valldemossa at 90km and time to fill my bottles up. I have not ridden many sportive for a few years now so wasn't used the fight to get some food and drink. I think I was the only rider to hang their bike up and walk back to the tables to see what was on offer. I shoved a cake in my mouth and filled my bottles and headed off trying to catch some other riders who were just ahead of me.
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| Valldemossa feed station |
The climbing continues until you reach the 110km milepost just outside Andratx, which is 110km from Pollensa, the other end of the island. Then the route turns inland for a bit and the climbs are more drags. The group I was with became bigger as we tried to get the kms in before the feed station just before Palma. I arrived with a dozen other riders but while I hung my bike up on the rack provided all the others grabbed what they could and disappeared while I was still working out whether I wanted a ham and cheese sandwich or just ham. I must have only been there 3-4 minutes but had lost all the riders I was with and there were other riders coming along, taking something and heading off before me. It had taken me 5hrs 18 minutes to this point to do a hilly 140km.
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| Feed station before Palma (Calvia) with timing mats. |
Leaving on my own was no big deal. I was feeling good, I was nearly half way and well ahead of my 13hr schedule that I had set myself at the start of the day. I had filled up my pockets with some food and a can of coke as there was no energy drink unless I bought some. Riding into Palma I bumped into Sabin's wife Meg who was out for a run along the pavement so I stopped for a minute to say hello. Then a group came along and I jumped back on the bike and caught on the back of them. there was eleven of us. We were stopped at a busy junction just before the city centre by the police but when we were allowed to move off we were accompanied by a police motorcyclist and what turned out to be the highlight of the event for me anyway. Something that would never happen in this country but we all lined out behind this cop and went through the centre of Palma as if we were riding the Tour of Spain. Yes, Us, a bunch riders from who know where were lead through all the traffic lights, whether they were red or green as if we were royalty. It was fantastic. Past the massive yachts moored in the harbour and then past the huge Cathedral. As we got through Palma and into the smaller roads the cop used his siren to warn oncoming drivers to pull over allowing us to have a clear passageway down the middle of the road. I loved it, and it went on and on, through all the liitle resorts to the east until after about 45minutes the cop had done his job and we all waved him a cheery thankyou.
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| Red light, what red light |
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| Lineout behind the moterbike |
The second half of most events I ride tend to become a case of survival and my photo taking rate plummets. Consequently I don't have any for this bit of the blog. The roads became wide and hot and we were all trying our best to keep the group going. the first section eastward was hard, into the wind, and there wasn't much tree cover. We nearly missed the next drinks station we were concentrating so much, but we all stocked up and charged off, well I did now I had got into the mindset of a sportive rider. You don't want to be trying to get back onto the back of a group and fight a head wind at the same time. I made sure I had another coke in my back pocket and away I went. Another problem with some riders is that they just dispose used gel wrappers and coke cans by the side of the roads I mean how hard is it to shove it up your jersey until you get to the next feed station and a bin. I caught Miguel and Jose's group at the Ses Salines 224km feed station which double our group size to 24 riders and made things a bit easier with more riders able to do their pulls on the front. This is what happens when you put your camera, in my case my i-phone in a sweaty jersey pocket and not on it's waterproof bag. All the other photos look like this, it wasn't foggy or anything, but you get the idea of a big group heading towards the finish at quite a lick.
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| Believe me it was not foggy just dam hot |
We all sped through the last feed station at Arta (285km) with less than a hour to go it was full gas as we now had the wind behind us, it was GO..GO..GO. There was a fantastic down hill section that we bombed along, the roads were smooth and the finish was in sight. We were hitting traffic in Can Picafort and a handful of us got clear of the others and it was a full on TT to the finish. I came in with German just in front of Miguel an Jose in a new record time for me for a 300km - 10hrs 38 minutes and 34th from 300 riders. That's an average of 29kph or 18mph which I think is good for an event with 4000m of climbing.
RESULT
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| Miguel, Parky and Jose at the finish |
I will be doing this again next year if it coincides with our week here on the island. Here is the route. A anticlockwise lap of the island. I lost a few Km's of the route when my Garmin froze but you get the idea.
