mallorca 312 Deep section wheels or shallow

cdc02254

Cant make my mind up so I thought id as for some opinions just to confuse me further.

192miles long 4500m climbing
most climbing is in the first half and second half relatively flat.

So what do I use :-
campag bora ultra 2 (50mm deep)
Mavic R-Sys SLR

Only one way to find out.....Fight

No seriously, anyone done an event similar or have any wise words.

bigmat

Not ridden in Mallorca, but I know a lot of these islands can be windy as anything which might be a factor. I would not have wanted deep sections in Tenerife for example.

markhewitt1978

BigMat wrote:

Not ridden in Mallorca, but I know a lot of these islands can be windy as anything which might be a factor. I would not have wanted deep sections in Tenerife for example.

Not massively I would say, there can be wind but IME it's more of a steady persistent wind from a single direction, and quite often there is none.

Rodrego Hernandez

Deep sections will be fine.

cdc02254

Deep it is.

Thanks chaps

bikergirl17

I'm in Mallorca now - and today it was 40 kph wind. It doesn't gust the way it does in the uk - just was annoyingly steadily persistent.

plus it shifts during the day so you can't count on the tail wind home if you have a head wind out. This week the weather showing from 11 kph to close to 40 again in Sunday.

And what are you thinking about cassette? I'm riding standard 12-27 here which is great for the flats as can get a nice gear to fly. I purposefully swapped out the compact to come here as the climbs shallow enough for the 39-27 although I'm not spinning as much as I would like. I'm thinking the 52-36 would be the perfect cassette here.

markhewitt1978

bikergirl17 wrote:

And what are you thinking about cassette? I'm riding standard 12-27 here which is great for the flats as can get a nice gear to fly. I purposefully swapped out the compact to come here as the climbs shallow enough for the 39-27 although I'm not spinning as much as I would like. I'm thinking the 52-36 would be the perfect cassette here.

As long as you're relatively light, with few exceptions the climbs in Mallorca are long rather than steep.

I often think the UK could have similar climbing opportunities had we taken a different approach to road building, prioritising a reasonably shallow grade over our approach of going in a straight line no matter how steep it gets. I blame the Romans myself.

cdc02254

That sounds encoraging.

I've just set the bike up with 50x34-12x29, should cover it although I would have preferred something a bit beefier for the flats I went cautious for the hills.

sloppyschleckonds

I'd go with the Mavics, you'll get more out of the braking efficiency.

bikergirl17

Out today & I think I may have been the only person on his/her own bike on aluminium clinchers - or rather it felt like people parading their best sunday kit. That said the carbon wheels didn't look that deep
(is that the term?) - perhaps zipp 404s at the deep end. That said I am in a very hilly area which doesn't get the tt guys who stay up north - but I have actually seen discs around the Santa Maria area.

the point I'm making is if you feel more confident with the deep profile wheels you won't be in the minority - but they may be more climbing profiles.

Saw lots of signs about the closed roads for your ride next week - the coast bit is cracking & I love the climb up Grau (did it 2x today since was my last day).

cdc02254

Im sticking with the deep rims, done 5 hours of climbing last week on them and they felt comfortable. If it gets windy ill tuck inside a pack....

4kicks

choose the rims that stop best in the wet. gonna be drizzly all day I suspect.

bernithebiker

We were on top of Puig Major at 1200h today. Only 9'C and cloudy.

Tomorrow, race day, forecast cool and wet. Fortunately, I'm not doing it this year!

Take leg and arm warmers, + a good wind jacket. Use wheels that brake well in the wet.

Be VERY careful on the light grey roads if wet, they are super slippy, especially Galilea which is new this year.

Closed roads will help, but I think there'll be lots of tumbles.

Good luck!

itboffin

I wouldn't ride deep rims in Mallorca but if it is wet then its likely not to be as windy but of course you're then riding wet carbon rims on short twisty descents in groups.

I rode my ultegra with Vittoria paves which I was very pleased with because despite the hype a lot of the roads over the south side of the mountains are crap and covered in dusty sand, when it's dry mind.

Oh and the section after the mountains on the long route ain't flat unless you're happy to sit in one of the massive slow moving groups.

Still a great event and a pleasure to have so much roadside support

bernithebiker

itboffin wrote:

Oh and the section after the mountains on the long route ain't flat unless you're happy to sit in one of the massive slow moving groups.

The route has changed for this year and no longer does all that long flat stuff in the East.

Typing this in Palma - it's very grey, dark, cold and wet!

bikergirl17

hope it went well -- and wasn't raining.... definitely not a place on which i would want to do a mass ride in the wet.

itboffin

I just saw the route change what a shame

bernithebiker

I've already heard of 5 crashes and injuries and that's just in one club......

bikergirl17

oh wow. hope they are ok (i spent nearly a week in a mallorcan hospital after a serious crash and don't recommend it) ... no shame in a course change -- the roads in the wet are truly lethal.

4kicks

5,000 German and Brits all shouting "line" and descending in a bunch on a wet road. what could possibly go wrong?

cdc02254

Well I would say deep rims was the perfect selection for the day.
I couldn't have rode a better setup. Excellent up hill and even better down hill.
First major and biggest decent was dry so full throttle but it then got a bit damp so after a back wheel lockup I was a bit more cautious. Excellent event. 12.5 hours..
Spoke to the 1st and 2nd place riders father after the event in the bar and he said the course was a lot harder than the previous course.

cafestopper

My fellow brits were emabarrasing. Deep sectioned Rapha brigade thinking it was a race. Even a few on time trial bikes!! The locals just laughed.

Smart move was to get into a group of spanish lads and then it was easy ozy, steady on the climbs, taking care on the descents and rattling along on the flat.

The new route was a bit of a disappointment, but the trade off was closed roads - as I can't imagine how many more ambulances would've been needed if they had kept them open. Did see a few nasty "offs" on the descents though ... and one came a real cropper at the train track crossing at Soller ... ouch!