Vuelta a Mallorca

The Vuelta a Mallorca bike race rolled through the island February 9-12.  The race is a over 4 days but with no real overall winner, just 4 individual winners.  The weather is great here this time of the year so we got to see many of cycling's stars on the island.  At the race were Vuelta a Espana winner Chris Horner, new World Champ Rui Costa, Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins, and a whole host of other cyclist getting their legs ready for the upcoming season.

Kelly and I arrived back from Barcelona on Sunday morning, just in time to head down to the waterfront and watch the Trofeo Palma, the first race.  It was a short, criterium style, race that gave the spectators plenty to see with several laps along the Paseo Maritimo, the main waterfront road in Palma.

We watched most of the race from and 'Irish' Pub along the road.  There is no better way to watch a race than sitting in a chair, in the sun, with a cold Guiness in hand.  As the race was winding down we wandered toward the finish where we saw Sacha Moldenado win, despite another guy raising his hands thinking he had won, whoops.

We missed Monday and Tuesday's stages in the mountains (ugh, work) but were able to take the train up to the winery filled town of Binissalem to catch part of the final stage.  We found a bench in the sun and waited for the peleton to arrive.  We were about 30km from the finish of the race which had split up in the mountains near the beginning.  A large group was off the front, followed by the peleton, followed by several stragglers.  25 minutes on the train each way for a solid 3 minutes of race watching, Id say that math works out...

Video highlights of the races

A Good Day for a Ride

Ride Report - Palma-Soller-Valldemosa

I left Palma under sunny January skies with the temperature in the 50s, heading toward the 60s.  I was off to ride the old road to Soller, a small town on the other side of the Tramuntana Mountains.  The ride north, out of the city, is a nice false flat road that continuously climbs (just a little) as it heads toward the mountains.

Mountains ahead

The tunnel that now takes road traffic from Palma to Soller was completed in the late 90's and cuts 7 miles and many, many turns off the old road over the top.  Bicycles, however, are not allowed in the tunnel so cyclists get to (or have to) take the old road over the top.

 The climb itself is a beautiful with a consistent gradient and tons of switchbacks.  There is almost zero traffic since most people pay the toll and take the tunnel, and the way the climb is built give plenty of opportunity to look back from whence you came.

 Excellent signage

 Look at that road...  With a better camera, you would be able to

see Palma and the Med through the 'V' on the left.

The road on the backside of the climb has plenty of switchbacks as well, but it is in a tighter valley with less straights and steeper drops.  This leads to something you see frequently on the mountain roads here in Mallorca during the 'rainy season', moss.  Many of the roads are so tight, and have so much tree cover that moss grows on the roads, mostly on the edges, but occasionally in the middle too.  This makes descending switchbacks a slower, more cautious affair than it would usually be.

 moss

 Looking down at Soller over an orange grove.

After dropping into Soller, the road starts to climb again almost immediately heading south along the coast toward Deia.  The entire road runs immediately along the coast so that you have the Med on one side, and the island on the other.  There are many small 'towns' along the road that would be hard to find on map.

 Town, Village, Hamlet...?

Narrow roads

After plenty of time getting to know the coast, the road heads inland again at Valldemossa for a long fast downhill run back to Palma.  A beautiful and climb-y ride that makes for a great day.

The New Bike!

After a couple months of trying to get my bike shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, Kelly gave up on me being around the house and bought me my 'engagement bike'.  Its like an engagement ring for guys, but waaaay better.  After scouting out some shops we ended up heading out to S'Arenal aka the Myrtle Beach of Mallorca.  It is a super touristy beach area but its popular with foreign cyclists and they have lots of used bikes.

 So we picked up this beauty for a steal of a deal.  Its a KTM, like the motorcycles, they sell bike shere in Europe too.  Its full carbon (actually my first full carbon road bike) with full Campy Record 10 speed.  It also has a Selle Italia SLR saddle, which is my foavorite and was a big selling point.

 When I bought the bike they also offered me a really good deal on some flyweight Campy Neutron wheels, which I took and have been glad I did on the long climbs here in the Tramuntana Mountains in Mallorca.