Mallorca – Part 2

“It’s only a hill….get over it!”

Day 2 of training camp was all about effort and reward! Our goal was to conquer two of Mallorca’s epic climbs; Puig Major and Sa Calobra. If you dabble in the cycling world I’m pretty sure you will have heard of the latter one at least. Puig Major was first up though and we’d barely turned the pedals before we hit the start of the climb. Following the Ma-10 road from Soller to Tunel Monnaber which marks the top, it measures 14 km/8.7 miles long and has an elevation of 830 m/2723 ft. It takes you to the highest, paved point on the island and certainly is a beast of a climb. However, the steady 6% average gradient was consistent enough to be able to get into a rhythm and we comfortably made it to the top in an hour or so. The lower slopes were covered in pine forests that provided welcome shade from the already hot sun and the carpet of pine needles at the edge of the road added a lovely scent to the air. The trees soon gave way to rocks, boulders and other-worldly rock formations and in parts the road seemed to slice through red, volcanic stone as if ushering us up the mountain. The amount of elevation we’d gained soon became apparent by the breath taking views that could be glimpsed through openings in the foliage. Being still quite early on Easter Sunday morning we were fortunate to not have too many vehicles to contend with and those we did see were considerate. We made it to the top feeling quite good and were rewarded with a three mile descent past a trio of lakes that were already busy with walkers and families setting up for their Easter Sunday picnics.

We then left the Ma-10 and turned on to the aptly named Sa Calobra (snake) road. This climb is iconic. It’s a mecca of the bike world and is unique for several reasons. Firstly, it’s a road to nowhere. The only reason to go down, is to come back up again. Secondly, it has a 270 degree turn, where the road loops round and passes back underneath itself, known as the ‘bow tie’. This was so the road could lose the necessary height without running out of space or having to use tunnels. The road’s designer was the Spanish-Italian engineer Antonio Parietti who unbelievably had the road built by hand in 1932 and used donkeys to determine the path down to the sea. The soul purpose for the road was to increase tourism and make some of the beautiful, remote parts of the island more accessible. Boy, am I grateful to Antonio! At approximately 10 km/6 miles long you have to descend first, before turning round and cycling the 670 m/2,198 ft back up. The descent was great fun, a myriad of twists and turns, winding in and out of rocky outcrops and swooping down hairpins. It was over all too quickly though. We had a very average snack lunch at one of the canteen style restaurants at the very pretty harbour at the bottom. (Someone’s missing a trick there, a proper cycling cafe would go down a storm!) Then we summoned up the energy to start the slog back up. At an average of 7% it was slightly steeper than the earlier climb and with a variation of pitch it was harder to get in to the swing of things. It was much easier to take in the stunning vistas though which definitely distracted from the pain! It was also quite entertaining seeing the smiles on people’s faces as they came the other way. You just couldn’t help but smile. In fact, Mr BND took it one step further and was apparently giggling like an excited little girl all the way down, now that would have been entertaining to see! As the elevation increased, the tree cover reduced and there were some quite exposed parts where the road wound itself through scenes that should be in Jurassic Park. Also, I’m not sure if it was delirium setting in but about a third of the way from the top I could hear a duck quacking, which then followed me for a good mile or so, it’s constant quacking seemingly mocking my insanity. After stopping at the ‘bow tie’ to snap my cycling partner passing underneath (disclaimer: he’d like it known he stopped to take photographs, it’s not the case that I was faster than him!) we only had a short push to the top where the sweet relief of not having to turn the pedals and coast down hill to the main road was oh so welcome.

With three more miles of climbing to go, back past the lakes to the top of Puig Major, the end couldn’t come soon enough. The legs were heavy and morale was waning. (Not helped by the wafts of BBQ-ing food coming from local’s picnics!) However, that all changed! The descent back down to Soller was just absolutely incredible! It was my turn to clock some strange looks due to the Cheshire-cat grin plastered on my face but I just couldn’t help it. The road surface was perfect, the bends were sweeping and flowing without a tight corner or hair pin in sight and there were next to no cars. As someone who isn’t normally a big fan of descending, this particular descent has blown my mind! It was nearly worth turning around and heading straight back up….nearly!

Links:

Mallorca Day 2 Strava Route – Click here.

Just Giving Page – Click here.