Adventure in Majorca

Last September, I put my name down on the Unite website (here), as I had done for the previous few months.  How surprised was I when I received an email saying that I had won an absolute shed-load of stuff.  There was a Landrover experience, gym membership with Fitness First, Cycling holiday with Stephen Roche, Nite ICON IC6 watch, Osprey bag, Olympus camera, tickets to the ski and snowboard event in London, Powermonkey Solar adventurer and a years subscription to Mens Fitness magazine.  This post is about the cycling trip to Majorca.

Tuesday 4th April myself and my brother-in-law Stephen Dilley flew out of East Midlands Airport at about 7am.  Everything went smoothly, no luggage was missing and there was a bloke with a sign with my name on it.  A short bus ride later and we were at the Ponent Mar in Majorca, our base of operations for the next few days.  We were met by Patricia from Stephen Roche who sorted us out with everything, then we unpacked and went for an explore while we waited for the mechanic to get back to fit our bikes.

We returned just in time to meet the group returning from their ride and had a chat - somehow Steve managed to set up a ride for the next day, as Wednesdays are rest days.  This was with none other than Hot Chillee Ride Captain Rachel Przybylski.  At this point I started getting a little bit concerned - Stephen does a bit of cycling, as he is a triathlete.  Last time my backside touched my bike seat was...2 years previous.  We got our bikes set up, then went out for a run.  Very warm.  Much warmer than the 0 degrees England was experiencing!

Dinner time.  Buffet.  There were tables reserved for the people in the Stephen Roche group.  We were in first and sat down (feeling a bit fraudulent as we hadn't cycled anywhere yet!).  Everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming, and were all competent cyclists.  Eeek.  To take my mind off that, I managed 5 courses (soup, salad, main, dessert, dessert).

Wednesday.  Buffet breakfast.  I have been trying out a high-fat low-carb breakfast for a few weeks, and this fitted in nicely.  We then suited up and met Rachel for our ride, which was only going to be 45km (only!) with a decent climb in the middle to Galilea, with a cafe on the top, and a small climb on the way back.  Thankfully, Rachel was having a rest day so didn't grind us into the dust.  Happily, I also found out the stupid amount of running training I do translates well into fitness on a bike, and especially the climb up to Galilea.

View from most of the way up the climb

View from the cafe

View looking the other way

Stephen stretching

 Excellent coffee at the cafe, then followed the descent.  This was where you could really tell I'm not a cyclist.  No technique, and relatively slow, but I had loads of fun.  Brilliant ride back, the last small climb was only 3km(!) long.  Also got up to 70kph on the descent into Palma Nova.

Then followed an afternoon of relaxation, followed by a gentle run to Magaluf and back.  Dinner with the rest of the group, then early bed with tired legs and aching belly.

Thursday.  Decision time.  The first official ride with the crew, 85km (nearly twice as far as I had ever ridden before.  The furthest was the previous day...) taking in the Col d'Orient - a 5.5km km climb.  There were 4 groups - group 1 being the really fit cyclists, group 4 being more relaxed.  We opted for group 3, which set a fairly good pace along the flattish bits.  I was in non-competitive mode as I didn't want to injure myself, which lasted until someone passed me on the climb.  Pushed hard all the way to the top, and was feeling pretty good about myself.

Stephen at the top

Me at the top

I promptly got put in my place by being hammered downhill, then it was a stop for coffee and cake.  A brisk ride home after that, then another afternoon of relaxing, but no run tonight.  Quads were starting to let me know I was using them in ways they were not used to.  Another 5 course meal, and early bed again.

Friday.  Usual breakfast, then it was off on the Corniche circuit.  This involved going North for a bit, then cutting over to the coast and following that before heading back to Palma Nova.  Me and Steve were going to set out with group 3 again, but 2 and 3 were grouped together for this ride, which I didn't mind at all.  Nice easy ride up, then there was a climb followed by a descent back to the coast.  Sadly, group 1 caught us   at the bottom of the climb, and my competitive instinct took over.  Managed to beat all but one of them to the top, but I was pretty whacked by the time I got there, and still with 50km to go!  On the coast, then the views were spectacular. 

Me :)

We stopped for coffee and cake, then straight in to a big climb.  My legs hated me.  More so because I misheard the call and went out with group 1.  So I pushed hard all of the way up, was in front of most of them, then came the down,where I ended up behind most of them.  Getting better at the downs, but still not a patch on the good guys.

Brief stop in Andraxt while we re-sorted groups, then off up another (!) climb.  Stupidly, I was right on the wheel of the group leader who kept getting faster and faster.  So instead of letting him go, I tried keeping up.  Nearly kept with him to the top but lost it in the last 100m.  Then an easy ride back to Palma Nova.  Afternoon of relaxation, followed by no run (quads shattered).  Also, the eating was catching up on me, only managed 3 courses (although I did manage a massive plate of dessert!).

Saturday. Leaving day, but still enough time for one last ride.  It was the same circuit that we did on Wednesday, except the other way around.  Still fantastic.  

Back to the hotel, grab bags and things, make our goodbyes then back home to freezing cold England - this time with a slight hitch.  I forgot my permanent resident card, so I ended up being that guy sat in the chair by passport control while they checked out my credentials.  Then out to see my wife and 2 daughters and home for a well deserved rest.

The holiday was absolutely brilliant, and the Stephen Roche crew were fantastic - extremely friendly, made us feel welcome and the rides were very well organised.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in cycling.

tl;dr Went on holiday to Majorca courtesy of a Unite/Nite Watches competition to a Stephen Roche cycling camp.  Was brilliant, recommend highly.