With the horrendous weather the Belgium offered at Tour Of Flanders, Suzy & I were looking forwards to a few weeks in the sun in Majorca. After all, it was April and my memories of this island in spring was generally of sunny days with very little adverse weather. Suzy had “trip-advisored” the hell out of this trip – a Training Camp to start, then a move over Alcudia to stay in a nice 4-star hotel for 12 days and another move to an “event hotel” for the 312 before coming home. There was a time when I used to organise my training weeks to Majorca but I’ve got pretty lazy at it and Suzy seems to enjoy creating itineraries for every holiday we go on. Nonetheless, we were in for a few busy but relaxed weeks ahead.
We had travelled to Stanstead Airport on the Friday evening ahead of the Saturday morning flight, it seems the norm these days as Jet2 allow a twilight baggage check-in, meaning we can offload our luggage, including the bikes the night before. And then, in the morning we can just go straight through to security and not miss our flights. Coincidentally Suzy’s friend was on her way out to Morrocco on the Saturday morning and had the same idea of staying over at the airport the night before, so we met up for a drink before getting our heads down for the early start.
Up at 4am and straight into the airport terminal, straight through security and straight into Wetherspoons for a full breakfast to see us right before the flight. Standard right?!!!
The flight was a bit bumpy, I’m probably being oversensitive but I hate flying and I hate turbulence, the pilots must love it and the planes must have an extraordinary amount of tolerance to the wind up in the sky but that doesn’t stop me from having minor panic attacks every 2 seconds when the plane moves around at 600mph. We arrived into Palma airport in good time but unfortunately the Sa Calobra Training Camp van wasn’t picking us up for another 3 hours so we made ourselves comfortable in a cafe and begun “people-watching” whilst waiting for our pick-up.
We were picked up by Marc – a new driver/cameraman for the training camp, previously they had Paul but he decided it wasn’t for him after doing it for a few years. Marc is a really good cyclist and I could tell he was just by his tan lines! Not only on his arms but the strap marks on his head & neck – he’s definitely spent a few hours on the bike!
We arrived at the villa in Pollenca, a few miles inland from the port and introduced ourselves to the other riders – Declan, John, Laurent, Mo, Neel, Poala, Thibaut, Eric, Christophe and of course me & Suzy. Aurelian – the guys who runs the training camp welcomed us all and gave us the low-down and house rules etc. before dinner and gave us our kit for the week. I’d been on this camp before and as such a “bonus” thing for those returning was a jersey with our name on it and a t-shirt with our initials on it. I had ordered a white summer-jersey as well so I received that, and was surprised my name was on that as well. There were also a few riders that were there for a 3rd time so I knew that the week was going to be a little harder than I anticipated!
First day was just over 80k, taking on St Margalida – a short hill outside Inca in the centre of the island, I always called it “Inca Hill” until I climbed it on the camp back in November ’22. Aurelian said to take this one easy but typically we all got carried away and ramped it up there as hard as we could!
Next climb was Batalla – this is my favourite climb on the island as I love the twists & turns and the calmness of the whole thing. This was about to change – as we were to do a FTP test up the climb – a 20-min all-out effort to get our powermeter readings for the week ahead. I went up there like a devil possessed and was hitting numbers I’d never hit before – this soon faded and I was in a whole world of pain by about 15 minutes. So much so I had to ease off and I watched my power numbers drop quite fast! I never learn 🙁
After a regathering at the top we rode down Ferminia and headed home to Pollenca for lunch and a chill out and massage boots and massages, the norm for each day. To my surprise I had PR’d up both climbs and by quite a margin too so silver linings and all that!
Suzy had found her pace quite quickly and was pretty much improving her power numbers every pedal rev as the day went on.
Day 2 was the classic ride to Randa and then to San Salvador – a 4hr ride which included these two iconic climbs. We rode quite fast to the climbs and in between and there were moments when the group splintered into pieces but Aurelian was quite insistent we needed to stick to a pace of some sorts as the bike shuttle was booked at a certain time at the foot of San Salvador so we needed to be there. Again, I Pr’d up Randa and also San Salvador by a matter of minutes and did wonder why I thought I was quite fit back in 2016 when I had set my previous PB’s! After the Salvador climb we all bundled into the minibuses and shuttled across to Pollenca to chill. Aurelian, naturally, rode home to make it a 170k ride!
Day 3 was the Queen Stage. Previously we would be shuttled across to Andratx on the other side of the island and we would ride back across the mountains to get home, This time we rode the whole route but didn’t go as far as Andratx. We rode through to Orient (Majorca’s best kept secret climb), then up Soller Pass, then over the biggest climb – Puig Major, a 14k climb out of Soller at see level to 900m high where the tunnel is – this is my “Eleanor” if you’ve ever seen Gone In Sixty Seconds. This is my fabled creature that I’ve never been able to capture! I’ve always suffered on this climb and had to stop on several occasions and mentally this has always beaten me…not today! I set out on a conservative pace whilst watching others go up the road ahead of me at a decent pace – they disappeared round the corners of this twisting climb and never to be seen again and this, in a good way, helped me concentrate on my own climb instead of theirs. I sat a near-FTP power and hauled myself to the top in under an hour – I didn’t know this until I got back to the villa and downloaded my ride but to say I was chuffed was an understatement. My previous PB was 75 minutes so that was one hell of a chunk of improvement. Suzy also beat my previous PB so I was really chuffed that she had conquered this biggest climb of the island.
Day 4 was a cafe ride – to Cycling Planet – a cafe in Alaro at the foot of the Orient climb. The road to Alaro was still hilly and the group splintered into pieces several times. I found myself dropping back and pacing the slower riders back to the faster group. Again Aurelian was on a schedule as he had booked the table for a certain time at the cafe and we needed to get there. After our stop where large coffees were consumed and plenty of cake (standard) we headed back to Pollenca – this time on the flat roads where we also had a bit of a tailwind so things got a bit spicy and we were rolling quite easily at 40kph+. I remember this route being part of Day 1 on my previous camp and stayed away from going toe-to-toe with Aurelian as I knew he was going to push it a bit. Declan had this problem this time round as he averaged almost his FTP number all the way home!!!!
Day 5 was the “Lighthouse” ride. High winds put paid to Suzy’s ride pretty early and after 20 minutes or so the buffeting crosswinds saw her riding shotgun in the van with Marc and taking extra pictures and videos. Soon after a few other riders were in the van due to the winds – the strongest winds seen for quite a few years apparently. We never made it to the lighthouse – we stopped about 1km short as the drop down to it was pretty much impossible. Not happy with the wind Aurelian decided to ditch the last climb – Victoria – and we all had the 2nd cafe stop of the camp at Pollenca at the top of the steps – I guess IYKYK there’s a road that takes you to the cafe and chapel at the top so we hit that one pretty hard.
This is where I had to throw a curveball into the holiday! I had dentist appointment before we came out to the island and they said a few of my teeth needed attention but “as there was no pain I was ok”. Typically I got tooth pain right in the middle of this holiday! I tried to manage it by brushing my teeth more – using quite a bit of mouthwash and dental floss to at least see me through to the end of the holiday so it could get seen to once I was home – no such luck. The pain became quite intense as the day went on and eventually this saw Suzy & I wandering around Pollenca to try & find a dentist that would see us as an emergency. In the meantime I was dosed up on Paracetamol and Ibuprofen to deal with the ever-increasing pain in my mouth. In the end we gave up as no-one was taking emergencies – instead we found one online, but this was in Santa Ponca on the other side of the island and they couldn’t see us until the next day in the afternoon. My “cycling brain” kicked in as I knew the Sa Calobra TT (this is what the training camp is named after all) was the next day so I though I’d ride the TT, come back to the villa, get changed and then go get my teeth sorted! So that’s what we did!
Day 6 (last riding day of camp) was the infamous Sa Calobra TT. We had together up Ferminia first and half of Puig Major from the East side to get to the “Col Del Reis” – the top of the climb before descending to the port to start our return up the climb to get home. Aurelian gave us strict power numbers up Ferminia so we didn’t take it too easy or too hard to give us all a level playing field for the TT. Weirdly enough, this guarded pace gave me a PB up this climb too! We all started one-by-one in a handicapped order (fastest last) up the climb and soon I realised this wasn’t my day. I caught quite a few riders who were out for the day but I only caught two camp riders so I knew I wasn’t going to get a podium as there were still 4 riders ahead of me. Near the end Aurelian came past me like I was stood still – he PB’d that climb that day. Nonetheless, I still managed to PB the climb by another minute despite being filled with painkillers and nursing an ever-increasing toothache, probably not helped by throwing sugary drinks and energy bars down my throat! We rode back to the villa and Suzy & I had to forgo our massages as we booked a taxi across the island to the dentists. After taking pictures and a x-ray of my affected teeth it was clear I had an infection and also broken tooth. A double extraction. I wasn’t best pleased with my UK dentists not noticing this and it was decided they had to come out there & then. To be brutally honest I didn’t feel a thing and post-extraction there were no complications. I was back to eating normally within a couple of hours – in fact, Aurelian had got me(us) a birthday cake as it was my birthday in two days’ time and I definitely wasn’t going to miss having that! I think, in future, I’ll go this dentists if I need any dentistry done. Having a stay in Majorca as a bonus whilst getting my teeth done 🙂
The taxi driver actually stayed and waited for us and got us back to Pollenca, she also capped the fare and turned the fare counter off before returning us to the villa. More expense I guess but at least I wasn’t;t in pain anymore. We got back just in time for Suzy to get her massage in.
Day 7 was departure day. We were out of the villa pretty early, having no breakfast, I decided to ride to the new hotel and Suzy took the van option, taking our empty bike bags and luggage with her bike on the van’s roof to “Viba Sunrise” in Alcudia, where Danny & Michelle, our friends were waiting for us as they had flown in the day before. They had come over to celebrate my birthday. The hotel were amazing and they checked us in before lunch and after something to eat Danny & Michelle found a bike hire place for a few days’ rent and we went off for a short route round the surrounding area of Alcudia before coming back and having a few drinks. I was on antibiotics so I was on Coke Zero for most of my stay but it didn’t stop me from having fun.
My birthday was all about heading out to Planet Cycling and having coffee & cake and taking the flat route back to Alcudia. The last time we had all intended to do this was last October when I broke my ankle so we had to do this by car and I was on crutches, so today was a very special day where we actually got to ride there. We rode back on “Cami De Muro” now one of my favourite roads as it’s pretty much dead straight to the heart of the island where there are so many options to then go into the hills or just have a fairly long day in the saddle with no major climbs.
The next day we took a day off our cycling antics and took a taxi to Palma where we took the train to Soller through the tunnel as we had done a few years previously. We had lunch in Port Soller and then the guys went to hide their Geocache trinket in the hills whilst I sat in the port before we all returned to Alcudia via a bus going up the Puig Major climb and back the route I/we would normally ride back – this was one of the most amazing bus journeys I’ve been on as it was really nice to take in the view without having to breath heavily sat astride a bike!
Danny & Michelle went home on the Wednesday and this left Suzy & me at the hotel for the next 8 days before we had to move hotel for the 312 event. The Wifi was super-fast so Suzy worked out of the hotel room, coming down for lunch and then after work we would go for a ride or go for a swim in Alcudia bay. There were a few days where the weather was quite bad – wind & rain, so I resorted to going to the gym sometimes but all in all I got a few good rides in including the 167 route of the 312 event just to see what it as like. I also did the last 100k of the 312 course just so see but it was a very wet day and I really wish I hadn’t as it was very slow and quite cold in the end.
On the final Thursday we left Viba Sunrise and headed to Lagotel near the 312 start and checked into our new hotel. What a contrast! The hotel room was very basic. Wifi was non existent so Suzy had to go to the rented office space she used in October just to get a good connection. The staff were quite lazy, “no” seemed to be their favourite word and everything seemed to be an inconvenience. Food selection was limited so it wasn’t the best experience for the next 4 days but we knew it would only be for a few days.
312…
WE had registered the evening before, received our numbers and goodie bags, I had the privilege of meeting Alberto Contador at one of the stands and got my picture with him and we got back to the hotel to sort our bike & nutrition out before trying to get a few hours sleep before getting up at 4am for breakfast.
The hotel had opened the restaurant early to cater for the riders in their hotel. Again, limited options and at one point no breakfast bowls, but it’s something I guess.
Once fuelled up we headed to the start and whilst under the darkness of the morning we got into our Green Pen to wait for the start. 6 o’clock came and went and not long after seeing the first riders start we were on our way ourselves. The agreement was never to ride together but upon reflection I would ride with Suzy if she wanted to do this event…just to take it all in.
I headed off into a river of riders heading towards Alcudia centre, then to Puerto Pollensa, and then onto the long road to the foot of Ferminia – the first climb where everything got a bit blocked up. I knew pretty much immediately I wasn’t feeling great but was happy to just ride within myself up this first climb and just get to the relevant feed station before the time cuts, which were quite strict. I had heard stories of the best of riders in previous editions getting caught out and not being able to ride the full event so I was keen to get past these checkpoints so I could just enjoy the rest of the day.
Ferminia – done. Puig Major – done. Descent into Soller – done. Deia & Valdemossa – done. Bastida feed station, 1st cut off – done. Now I could relax. I had forgotten how tough the Bastida – Andratx road was in that direction – in fairness I hadn’t ridden it for nearly 10 years so it was easy to forget. But the memories soon came flooding back as I tackled each & every little climb before dropping like a stone into Andratx. Then a sharp left and onto 3 climbs back-to-back, taking on another 1800m elevation with two hours before hitting another feed station at La Granja.
This is where I checked where Suzy was and I saw that she was 20 miles away in Selva, she was actually ahead of me on the route so I knew that she had turned left at the “167” option. After trying to replace as much energy expended as I could I got in a fairly sizeable group on the flat(ish) roads back to Sa Pobla which is near Alcudia, this is where riders decided to turn left and get home (the 225 option) or go straight ahead to complete the 312 option. I decided to go straight ahead thinking “I don’t wanna look back and think I should’ve carried on” if I turned for home. With a persistent headwind for much of the next 50k this was pretty hard and energy levels were at an all-time low so I was in a bad place and was being overtaken by a lot of riders in this stretch. My fuelling strategy had been thrown completely out of the window and at the next feed stop I tried to get as much energy in as possible. The next hilly route that took me to the final feed stop at Arta wasn’t a pleasant experience and not one I’d want to do anytime soon but at least I had a bit of a tailwind and more riders to keep me company. Into Arta and there was a party atmosphere which made you feel you had finished. Beer, loud music, plenty of locals out and about cheering you on. In fact, some riders had seriously thought they had finished as the “finish line experience” was definitely there in this town!
Looking at my watch I knew I had a few hours to get back to Alcudia so chilled out a bit in this town and amongst the celebrations and I managed to find a bit of energy to get me home in quite a fast-moving group, taking on that last stretch of 30k in just over 40 mins! It must’ve been a tailwind 😉
I arrived at the finish line in under 11:45hrs and Suzy was there cheering me on and meeting me with her supportive style…as she always does. It’s safe to say this was the hardest bike ride I had done for a long time – if not the hardest ever.
After Suzy fetched me my post-ride pasta meal and beer we headed to Burger King (of course) to get some salty chips and chill out a bit before getting back to the hotel to have a well-deserved rest. Suzy told me of her day where she was turned at the Bastida feed station as she had missed the cut off, she said she didn’t mind as she enjoyed her day and was riding really strong all the way through and had passed a lot of riders throughout the day. She did say she had got worried about me as the tracker had stopped working and it seemed that I had stopped for quite a long time before the tracker eventually updated, as she thought I had crashed or something. Considering my history I’d say that was a fair point!
The next day we just went for a walk, it was raining in-part so bike riding wasn’t on the cards, not like it was ever going to be after yesterday but it was a nice walk to Alcudia port. A coffee stop at our new-found favourite coffee shop and something to eat before getting our bikes packed for the following days’ travelling back to home. I can’t rally remember much about us travelling home, except the plane was late arriving so we were delayed by a few hours. We had booked the VIP lounge at Palma airport so we just ate & drank our way throughout this time before being called to board the plane! Typically, I bumped into an old friend who I had ridden with on cycling holidays several years ago – of all the places in the world I bumped into “Costa Dave” named because he owns (or did own?) a few Costa franchises up north. A great guy and after a good chat his flight was called and he was on his way.
We got home about 7pm and set to dismantling our bike bags and sorting out washing etc. A good three weeks done I’d say. Good to be home but also a bit of a comedown considering the great time we had.
Back home and back to the normal shenanigans!
As soon I was back it was back into the old swim & gym & bike routines. Suzy was back into her working week and things were getting back to the normal that we kinda know.
We’ve both got events coming up and this ultra-endurance and high volume past few weeks now needs to be changed into some kind of speed.
I’ve ridden a couple of short 10-mile TT’s since coming back and times of 22:59 & 23:51 were posted on varying terrains so I’m happy it’s kinda there. Suzy’s also posted a time exactly the same as the last race of last season so I think she’s pretty impressed …and pretty annoyed at the same time I guess.
There is a small issue of the consultations I’ve had since coming back and the complications they might pose in the next few months, years even, but I’ve yet to mentally process those before typing my thoughts on this keyboard so I’ll leave this blog there I think! I met with my counsellor yesterday and she’s given me an “action plan” or sorts to mentally deal with various potential outcomes so once me & Suzy sit down and discuss that I can then write it down on a blog.
In the meantime, we have Outlaw Nottingham Half this weekend, it’s not “Team Esser” anymore, as it has been over the last two years. Suzy has her own team where she’s doing the swim, Michelle is doing the bike and Cheryl – her mum is doing the half marathon. I’m in my own team where Danny is doing the swim, I’m biking and Ben is doing the run. It’s going to be a fun weekend if nothing else and a little bit of competition here & there
Onwards……!
