Bit of advice for a first time in Mallorca?

[BGarside]

Would avoid the mountains in the wet as the roads are slippery as f*ck and you don't want to come a cropper on the descents. Try the climb through Orient from the south and the 'petrol station climb' up from Selva, returning back to Puerto Pollenca via the Ma10 through the mountains.

[citizenmtb]

I’m heading up there today so fingers crossed it’s not too bad. The weather is forecast to be pretty warm, 17 in Alcudia and 11 in the mountains.

So far done the lighthouse route twice. Once with a massive hanger a mover and a do over to set a proper time 😂 3rd on the PH strava group!

[BMWBen]

fromage said:

citizenmtb said:

This suites me well, I'm not a morning person. Rarely ride before midday.

So far have routes planned for Sa Colabra, Lighthouse and Puig Lakes. All of which look stunning.

I still have some concerns on the descending side of things. More around what if it rains while out. Carbon wheelset on the Propel are downright scary descending hills in the wet with next to zero braking efficiency. Admittedly, compounded most recently by being a single track lane on gravel and mud, but wet alone still isn't much fun. I presume they will dry out once up to temp and not so bad if the road isn't greasy/muddy/gravel?

I'm probably worry over nothing on that front, I'm hardly inexperienced and I've had the Propel over a year, but this article st me up a bit yesterday.

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/my-b...

The roads out there are very slippery when wet/damp very different to our roads so be careful. Most of the roads up in the mountains (600 Meters +) were soaking wet when I was there last week even though it didn't rain in the 9 days I was there as the winter sun rarely gets high enough to dry certain roads.

I think it must be the same across most of spain - I did some rides in the low hills around Barcelona and the slightest bit of dampness on the road had me sliding around like I was riding on ice!

Dry spec tarmac I expect...

[carreauchompeur]

Spain is a nightmare for low grip surfaces... cities all look pretty with acres of shiny tiles but it's kethal in wet!

[Stuart Davidson]

I've been in Majorca the last two summers (mid August) and really enjoyed the cycling. I've not suffered with wet roads but, when you're anywhere slightly mountainous, those damned long pine needles that collect on corners are really offputting.... like cornering on ball-bearings! That's tended to keep me at reasonable speeds as well as fear of rental car / rental quad bike riders coming the other way, filming the drive on their phones whilst they snake across the central white lines!

Staying in the southwest of the island (can highly recommend LibertySport in Illetas/Bendinat for rental bikes) we did Sa Calobra by driving up to Inca, parking up in a side street and setting off from there. Strava tells me we set off at 7am from Inca and had leisurely done the 20+ miles to Sa Calobra by 9am. The problem we then had was that everywhere was shut! The idea of coffee and cake was a non-starter. The place was deserted... so we climbed back up the Coll dels Reis and then stopped at one of the cycling cafes at the top. I expected all the climbing to be hard going... but it wasn't. It's long but not as steep as many of our mountainous climbs here in the UK, so it's more a case of just setting a pace and plodding on! Coming back up there were coaches heading down but it wasn't as bad as I expected. Out of season I'd imagine it'd be quiet.

I also do a lovely round trip of around 40 miles via Calvia, Coll de sa Creu, Puigpunyent, Galilea and through the Tramuntana mountains. And another from Llucmajor up to Randa and the Cura monastery, via Campos and Porreres. Feel free to follow me on Strava for .gpx plots!

[Bobley]

It was snowing and hailing last thursday afternoon. Kind of glad I was walking rather than cycling!

[citizenmtb]

It turned out to be a public holiday on Wednesday so was quite a busy ride. The locals mostly seemed to be in the mountains to build snowmen.

It was pretty hard to regulate body temp as it varied between 17 and 4c. The descent was wet at the top so I took it very steady. Eventually caught the cars that had passed towards the bottom but it was a good if somewhat tiring ride. Coming back up in 45 mins, wished I had a bit more left in the legs to set a better time but the climb out there took a lot out of the legs.

Cruises back and met an English guy who is here for 3 months so considering staying out for a bit longer as I don’t really have any commitments to get back for.