We're pleased to have received an account of a short cycling holiday in Mallorca from one of our customers, Dan Hawes. He's a keen cyclist from Worthing, who cycles with Brighton Excelsior as well as going on jaunts on his own wherever he happens to be.
If you're off somewhere this Spring or Summer, do make a few notes, take some snaps and send them our way. We'd love to feature you!
Over to you Dan...
272 miles cycled over 4 days in beautiful Mallorca
FRIDAY
It was the day of my flight to Mallorca and it was a lovely sunny, dry and warm day. I didn't think I would have an opportunity to cycle much beforehand and had been spinning in the gym for the last six months, so when I saw the conditions were right I thought I would get a quick ride round Preston Park track on my lunch break before catching the train to Gatwick.
The trip had been planned with seven friends (a combination of members of Brighton Excelsior, my brother Liam and some other hanger-ons!) to take in the best bits of Mallorca over four days.
We all arrived at Gatwick for our flight to Palma and two hours later we had touched down. After a short transit to our four-star hotel in Porto Pollenca we all retired to our rooms, looking forward to picking up our hire bikes early the following morning. We’d organised our trip through Love Velo who provided a good value package (I have no affiliation with them!).
SATURDAY
We took a 10 minute walk to the bike hire shop, where we picked up eight road bikes. We had prepared some routes beforehand (which we’d saved in our Garmins) and so set off on route number one. Despite the route planners, we quickly got lost. Of course, the advantage to this is discovering something new so it's not necessarily a bad thing!
We decided to do another route up to the Lighthouse at Formentor; a well known cycling route. It was quite chilly heading up there so I was definitely grateful of the extra layer my BTR high viz jacket provided.
SUNDAY
Today was the big one! The idea was to cycle the 50 miles to Port Soller, have lunch and then get the ferry 45 minutes round the coast. We could then disembark at Sa Calobra and make the famous climb. That plan, however, did not happen as a member of our group, Jim, came off his bike coming downhill into Port Soller and fractured their shoulder. Ouch! He got escorted to the hospital in Palma whilst we carried on with our route reaching a total of 85 miles upon our return to the hotel.
Jim was discharged from hospital after a few hours and returned via taxi. He was dazed, bruised and in pain and, of course, he could not cycle the remaining two days. By this point, a few others were experiencing saddle sores as well, so trips to the pharmacy had to be made. This is perhaps one of the downsides of hiring bikes rather than taking your own; saddles aren’t worn in as you’d like them to be, or not to your shape anyway!
MONDAY
The four intact members of the group, myself, Richard, Duncan and another Richard headed out on a 61 mile loop to Sant Joan and back. Luckily the predicted rain held off and it was just a little cloudy. We enjoyed a typical Mallorcan lunch at a lovely restaurant in Alcudia and headed back.
TUESDAY
This was the final day of our short trip. Again the healthy four set out on a trip, this time slightly shorter (42 miles) and in glorious sunshine to Buger and back - the best day so far! Those who were suffering stayed back at the hotel and made use of the spa facilities.
Other than the injuries, the trip was great fun, with some fantastic routes and beautiful scenery. We are now looking to book again for the same time next year in Girona, Spain.
All routes have been uploaded to Strava so any feedback is welcome. Please add your feedback (or suggestions for our trip to Girona) in the comments below.
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