Mallorca 167

Watch out for the climb out of Deia which goes over 10% in a few places. Often underestimated as it's not a 'Col' but it does drag on a bit

Im doing the middle distance this year, after a pause of 3 years, as frankly the 312 isnt the same once they no longer go round the island (cue nostalgic "good old days" rant).

167 is a nice route, and manageable if youve done, say, 6-8 hours training a week, and given it has a later start time this year you wont have too many people blasting though, but the big issue Ive found isnt so much the climb but the first descent from Col de Monnaber (called puig major by tourists even though its not) into Soller. Too many people with too high an option of there own prowess. Which, perhaps, is Mallorcan cycling tourists in a nutshell, for example I was out for a jolly yesterday with a ride guide and the owner of a bike hire company to be yelled at to "get off the racing line" by some English numpty descending on the hoods.

After that, although the dig up to Deia is steep indeed, and basically its just two long climbs. The key change this year for the two bigger distances is they are going from Andratx up to Capdella on what isnt a great quality road, which is, as they say, where the race will be won or lost.

My tip? Come end October.

Mallorca is great for cycling just because you can get into the high mountains but unlike the UK you don't have to grind up 20% climbs to do it, most don't go above 5-6%. Even the famous Sa Calobra is actually quite an easy climb, so as long as you're sensible about your pacing if you can do it, certainly if you regularly ride 50-100 miles in the UK you won't have issue.

So how did it go?

Weather was great - dry, 18C and no wind - so the descents were fantastic. Forgot how horrible the two wee cols straight after the feed stops at Es Capdella were with cold legs and a full stomach, saw one guy heaving his guts out at the top. The surfaces on some of the back roads around Inca were worse than I remembered, made ours look good by comparison. Was drafting one of the support motorbikes at one point when he hit a hole that nearly took him out of the saddle - I just managed to bunny-hop it but the guy beside me blew out his front tyre and cracked his nice deep-section Enve rim. Ouch. Finish line was awesome, but was glad to get off the bike and collapse in a messy heap after 194 miles and 13 and a half hours.

Closed roads are fantastic, but the organisers have still got a lot to learn about managing a big event like this. Feed stops were chaotic, with the food tents set up right after the timing gates, so big queues formed as folks fought (literally!) over dwindling supplies of ham sarnies, cans of coke and bananas. It was like a cross between a fire sale and the Zombie apocalypse at Arta. I rode the Vatternrundan a couple of years ago, and the event was immaculately organised, even though there were nearly four times the number of riders. Experience (and culture) makes all the difference.

A pal texted me afterwards to see how I got on, and wanted to know if I would recommend the long course, and if so, would I do it again? Yes to the first, and an emphatic no to the second!

Anyone want to buy a bike?

The roads on the southern swing of the Rando-312 route are fairly boring aswell tbh. Portocristo looked nice, but we zipped through when we did 'the lap' last year. Getting through Palma is a real time-sink by the way. Plan accordingly.