Vets in Majorca 2007.

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Lune vets made two trips to Majorca in March and October this year.
The background: We flew both Ryan Air and Easyjet, Liverpool – Palma and stayed at S’Arenal which is about 15 minutes east of the airport. The hotel is 3 star and one block from the sea front. We went with Doug Petty’s set up which provides enormous flexibility; you can go out on any day and stay as long or as short a time as you wish. Some riders leave a spare bike there and come out for long week - ends throughout the autumn and spring. The hotel is very committed to cyclists and has just installed a large secure bike room. Food is half board and on a buffet ‘as much as you can eat system’ and we did! All rooms are en suite with a maid cleaning them daily. For slightly more each day you can have a 3 roomed apartment, bedroom, living room and small kitchen. Doug books the hotel and bikes if required, plus organises the airport pickups.

We hired superb bikes, Pinarellos in March and Colnagos in October; the latter were brand new with compact carbon chain sets.
 The rides; those of you who have been know that the island offers a good variety of terrain with plenty of quiet roads. From S’Arenal to the north east is flattish but there are a number of monasteries on big rock outcrops which provide what we call the ‘Three Monasteries Ride’. Each of these climbs is like a mini Alp d’Huez with some great views at the top. Riding all three, which we did in March,  provides an excellent 75 – 80 miles. My favourite is the Cura monastery near Randa. This October the three of us, Geoff, Mick Howson and me found a new lane which went up the side of it and was actually traffic free. At the top is that vital building : a café with a terrace.

To the south east there are some good lanes to take you around the coast. For a pottering run we did Sa Rapita which has a choice of two cafes en route for that restorative ‘café con leche’, or in Mike’s case ‘café Americano con leche separado’. San Rapita, a pleasant sea side resort with a variety of restaurants where you can eat outside looking at the view across to the Cabrera islands. This October trip was after all titled : ‘A wind down week’.
To the north west the terrain becomes more elevated as the Serra de Tramunitana is approached. We guessed many a Lune training camp would have ridden these roads. In March, again with three Lunies, Jim, Mike Howson and myself, we had a superb day in the company of some other vets. First stop was the pretty village of Valdermmossa which at about 1,300 feet gave a taste of things to come! Then it was the climb up to the road which runs along the coastal ridge, with the sea far down to the right and the mountain peaks on the right. We enjoyed some awesome descents into Deia and on to Soller for lunch. With café legs we then tackled the Col de Soller which takes one through the heart of the mountain range. Road surfaces were excellent and the gradient not over steep, its just that it’s a 7 mile climb up from almost sea level at Soller to 1700 feet. After a bit there is a road tunnel which most of the traffic takes (bikes not allowed) this then leaves the rest of the climb to the top of the col almost traffic free, as is much of the descent. From the top it is a fast run down the col to Bunyola followed by gentle downhill back to the hotel – an exhilarating 80 odd miles. 

Another ride in that direction we call the ‘Orient ride’ which is in the foothills of the mountains proper. This runs from Bunyola, north east and over the Col de Honor, through the village of Orient before dropping down a valley full of orange and lemon groves to Alaro which has a lovely little square with cafes.
Our discovery last October was to use Sunday (when the towns were quieter) to take the cycle path from the hotel which runs right along the sea front to the west side of Palma. We continued on to Palanova then picked up a road which took us inland to Calvia. There, attracted by the racing jerseys hanging on display in and outside of the restaurant we stopped for a lunch snack. Judging by the Ferrari (which Geoff photographed and we drooled over) which pulled up this was not a cheap spot. Ordering the cheapest thing on the menu in my Spanish ended up with us getting the second cheapest [ sorry guys], but it was beautifully served!  After lunch, on beautifully quiet roads we explored the area and climbed the Col de Sa Creu. With plenty of stops for photo opportunities it was not too tough. From the top we had a fantastic descent straight through Palma and down to the sea shore where we picked up the cycle path back to S’Arenal.
General Points. For those who have not ridden on the island – the road surfaces are generally pretty good, most impressive is the courtesy the drivers show. Majorca had nearly 90,000 cyclists coming to the island  last year, some of the pro teams are based there for long training camps. I think the sheer number of groups makes drivers very’ bike aware’. (Unless they are Brits with hire cars!) It also means there are some very good bike shops on the island The authorities are putting money into cycling facilities eg. the new Palma velodrome which hosted the World Track Champs in March 2007, there are also some impressive cycle paths, a new one out of S’arenal  ‘the red road’ is a new build route i.e. not an existing footpath/railway line renamed a ‘cycle path’, a la Lancaster. There are also quite well signposted lanes which are aimed at cyclists with low speed limits for vehicles. There are lots of cafes, usually we could sit outside in the sun in shorts and s/s top. Prices for virtually everything are a bit lower than the U.K. with hotel prices being a lot cheaper for their equivalent.

Only real downside we found was the problem of using maps which were out of date. There has been quite a lot of road building over the last 10 years so some roads were not shown. The other problem is not knowing which lanes were well surfaced and which were still unsurfaced tracks, or worse still started off surfaced then eventually totally disintegrated frustratingly close to ones destination. I am trying to overcome this by firstly sourcing better maps and secondly marking viable lanes on a spare map so we build up our own routes.
Us vets had a great two weeks there this year, hopefully more will want to come out in 2008.  Adios John.
Article by John Butler, photos Geoff Rushforth.   
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