May 18, 2022
Dave & Anne Went Up the Hill
Remember that song from 1972 by The Fifth Dimension - Last Night, I didn't get to sleep at all? Go ahead, have a listen! Well, it was sort of like that for me as I tossed and turned thinking of the climb we were about to tackle today. It is dubbed as one of the 50 climbs a cyclist needs to ride before he/she pops their clogs. We had only learned of it after we began looking at the cycle routes available to us in Mallorca. And we knew right away that we had to do it at some point in the trip. Here are some of the stats:
Hairpins: 26 Length: 10.1 km Elevation gain: 682m
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The construction of the road, completed in 1933, is quite interesting. You can read about it here. They literally moved a mountain under donkey power to build the road.
We had situated ourselves in PP for its proximity to this and other climbs in the Tramuntana mountains. Note, I said proximity. To get to the climb, we will ride 40km uphill from PP and summit two cols en route and then plunge down 682 exhilarating meters to the sea at Sa Calobra where the climb begins. Then it's back up 682m to the top. After that, we will trace our route back to PP. Altogether, we will cover about 96km and nearly 2000m of elevation gain.
We rode part of the route on our way here from Soller four days ago so I knew what was on the menu before getting to the main course today. And, that's why I tossed and turned last night.
The sage advice, which we chose to ignore, is to start out as early as you can so as to beat the heat. But, we wouldn't get much of anything in the way of food during the ride besides an energy bar so starting with a good breakfast was a priority. As we finished breakfast we chatted with two fellow cyclists who said they had done the ride yesterday and yes, it was hard and hot. I told them I had the jitters and they replied they had the same feelings going in to it. I heard the same from another woman. So, I suppose that's all part of getting primed for a challenge such as this.
The day had started with some light mist over the Pollensa bay which we took as a good sign for tolerable temperatures today. Soon, we were riding through the rural fields behind Pollensa and heading for the hills.
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As we approached the col dels Reis, with David in the lead, I looked up and noticed two huge huge raptors circling overhead. Now, I have seen many eagles, large hawks and vultures before. I've even witnessed Himalayan Griffons... in the Himalaya. So, I had to look this up after the ride and indeed, this griffons have started to populate the Tramuntanas on Mallorca. I can't be 100% sure of which birds I saw but they looked distinctly like the Himalayan ones rather than the Mallorcan griffons which are all black. Whatever they were, it was a moment I will not soon forget. My immediate thought when seeing them was... move on guys, nothing to see here. There's much better prey up ahead on Sa Calobra!
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Once you reach the col dels Reis, you begin the technical descent. It took a mere 17 minutes to reach the bottom, about 10km. My motto for descents like this is - not for wimps. Takes some good bike handling skills; mistakes are not an option, I reminded myself as I rounded the right hairpin turns.
Sa Calobra is a popular destination for the tour bus crowd who can take a ferry to get here from Port de Soller. I am sure there were about 20 full sized coaches lining the roadsides of the port when we arrived. There are lots of restaurants here too, but you won't find many bikers in them for obvious reasons - LOL! The busses can just make it around the hairpin turns of which there are 26. It's not unusual for cars to have to back up so the busses can complete the turn. I don't know about you, but that freaks me out more than being on a bike.
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There were plenty of other cyclist riding the hill with us. The traffic was all respectful towards the cyclists. My rental bike is outfitted with a dinner plate, which we specified when we reserved. No, you can't eat spaghetti off it, it refers to the size of the largest rear cog -- it's so big... it's as big as a dinner plate! This, along with the front chainring, is what makes for a low climbing gear. I found myself checking out the cogs of the young bucks who passed by easily. Most, but not all, were using the largest cogs on board. Impressive to see some of them them climbing with two cogs to spare!
The body heat generated on a climb like this is significant so you have to rely on good health and fitness and then hope for shade and a light breeze. We had shade every so often, provided by rock walls and trees. Cyclists could be found taking a break in many of these spots. As for the breeze, we lucked out and had wisps of air when riding the zigs, followed by calm air on the zags. Those who were carrying extra body weight seemed to have the toughest rides, but overall it was one uber-fit crowd of bikers out there today.Nobody walked and no one was on an e-bike! Hats off to each and every one on the hill today.
We had each easily depleted our two bottles of water by the time we reached the summit, 1 1/2 hrs later. So I headed in to this summit cafe and bought two of the most expensive bottles of water I think I have ever bought. I expected no less and boy, did we enjoy that ice cold drink.
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We pulled in to the Repsol gas station, a classic biker spot on the way down, and shared their second to last piece of carrot cake, with drinks. Then we were off for the final descent.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buprestidae
2 years ago
I spotted some more white cystus on the way down, so stopped for a shot while the baby goats looked on. Dang, they are cute. No photo, but the kidlet stared back at me with a look of... whaaaat???
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2 years ago
The descent was pretty sweet, after summiting the Col de Femenia once again. With a previous descent under my belt, I felt pretty comfy letting the bike do its thing around all the curves and bends. By the time we reached the outskirts of Pollença, we were freight training. We made a bee line for Tolos bar and ordered a couple of well deserved beers and shared a super club sandwich with chips. Later on, we returned for our celebration dinner.
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We shared an appple crumble for dessert but it was vaccumed up before the camera could capture it.
Elevation gain: 4481 metres.
Today's ride: 95 km (59 miles)
Total: 243 km (151 miles)
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2 years ago