Training goes continental

The weekend saw my training regime go continental, with a weekend in Majorca. Getting up early on Friday morning after the farewell party the night before was no easy task, but at 7 o'clock we took off from City airport en route to the sunshine island of Majorca. Unfortunately the sun was not coming out to play on Friday, but a short taxi ride later, we made it to the well appointed luxury of Reads hotel and met fellow slammer Malcolm (stage 4), whose family owns the hotel. He set us up with two road bikes, and very soon we were on our way for an 80km jaunt across the island. Annoyingly the Garmin was up to its usual tricks and the first few kilometres could only be described as a bit of unplanned offroad action. A new plan was called for, and before long we were enjoying the quiet country lanes of the island. I had promised Jill a flat ride, but to her dismay what we got was the best part of 800m of climbing. The rain held off and before we knew it, we were back at the hotel enjoying a generous slice of almond cake and a well earned beer. The evening meal was excellent, and there were some wonderful wines at very attractive prices to wash it all down.

Saturday morning came, and it was the day of the big ride for the weekend. I had planned a 110km route and this time we set off in the right direction. Nothing, however, is easy and on leaving Santa Maria to cross the motorway we were confronted by two members of the local constabulary who requested that we stop. A little bit of arm waving and it soon became apparent that there had been an accident, and the road ahead was covered in glass. A detour was called for, but we managed to accomplish this without any drama, and soon we were winding our way through very quiet country lanes en route to Alcudia. Turning inland from the coast we headed to Pollenca, we we stopped for a pizza, but the weather was starting to turn and against a headwind and in the rain we made our way back to the hotel. Job done, and after her sterling efforts over the last couple of weekends, Jill is showing good form for cycleslam 2014!

Sunday was always intended to be a rest day, but I was getting interested by the possibility of attempting a climb over the Coll de Soller. Unfortunately Sunday brought rain, and lots of it, and deciding that I did not wished to get drenched, or indeed negotiate what undoubtingly would be a treacherous descent down to the coast,  I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and opted for a long lunch and the Sunday Times on the iPad!

Never mind, I achieved what I set out to do that weekend, and that was another two days of back to back distance riding, and to enjoy some different countryside. For those of you who are looking for somewhere to put in a bit of winter/spring training, I can thoroughly recommend the location and the package offered by Malcolm and the team at Reads.

Not long to go now, and next weekend will see a ride out west into Berkshire, with a ride down to Brighton with the Bigfoot cycle club from Bromley on the bank holiday weekend. However, if anybody has any interest in joining me on a training ride between now and when I drop my bike off on May 9, please get in touch