A small group of our MMC Ride Crew recently returned from a ten day trip to Mallorca, Spain. Mallorca is one of the Balearic Islands off the eastern coast of Spain and is considered one of the top road cycling destinations in the world. We wanted to check it out and were not disappointed. In short, it was amazing!
Our planning for the trip started with booking a private home (villa) through VRBO. We selected a home near the town of Pollença, a perfect location for starting many of the classic rides. Our villa included four bedrooms, three baths, a great kitchen and an even greater outdoor area with gardens, sitting areas and a pool. It even had a garage to store our bikes and was very affordable at less than a hundred dollars per bedroom, per night.
Air travel was pretty straight forward. Helen shopped the best deal at just under $700 and gets the award for “best bargain” on the trip. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid the fact that Mallorca is a long way away and we all spent many hours in airports like Zürich, Munich, Frankfurt and London. But, it was worth the travel time.
Our Trek rental bikes were delivered right on schedule on the morning after we arrived. Trek Emondas and Domanes and they were perfectly maintained. That, plus the fact that they were only about $30 a day to rent which was far less expensive than bringing our own bikes.
The riding was as great as we hoped for, with friendly drivers, nice pavement and amazing routes. We did the iconic switchbacks of Sa Calobra, the spectacular coastal ride to Cap Formentor and many more routes. Some of us rode almost every day and put over 400 miles under our tires. Others rode most days, but explored the coves, beaches, markets and villages on some of the other days. One day, we rode over 30 miles to Cala Mesquida beach, parked our bikes in the sand, swam in the Mediterranean and then rode back to the villa. It was great being on our own and taking advantage of the flexibility of riding as much, as little or even not at all.
“We’re in SPAIN!!!!” was the mantra of our group! It was the perfect sound out for a near perfect trip.
Pedal well, explore, and always have fun along the way!
Harry
P.S. A big congratulations to Zetta for riding her first century on our last day in Mallorca. Even more amazing was that her ride included over 9,000 feet of climbing. Well done, Zetta!
