Mallorca Road Journal: Part 3

Empty gel wrappers on a mountain road genuinely wind me up.

Mallorca. The Surrey Hills. Richmond Park. Wherever cyclists gather in numbers, wrappers appear. I understand dropping one accidentally: it falls out when you reach for your phone, you only notice when you get home and empty your pockets. That is forgivable.

Ignorance is not. There is no clean-up crew here. This is our playground. You do not behave this way in your own house.

I put my empties in my shorts or in a designated pocket. When I have 20 Veloforte wrappers collected, I post them for free to Veloforte Freepost. They go to TerraCycle and come back as watering cans, bins, playground surfaces.

Not perfect. But it is something.

On synthetic gels: the reason I converted to Veloforte was the ingredients list. Conventional gels deliver glucose but damage gut health over sustained use. Real food digests properly. Veloforte gels are made from natural ingredients, taste like actual food, and deliver the same performance without the gut penalty. I have been known to pour the TEMPO gel on pancakes.

Veloforte Primo Beetroot & Lemon Gel

Rant over.

Day 6

One week of Mallorca roads makes a measurable difference. My cornering was tighter. My descending was lower and more confident. My climbing legs had found their rhythm.

Breakfast of champions.

After the ride, I stopped at Pro Cycle Hire Mallorca to drink coffee with Bruce and steal his track pump. Bruce has a bike museum inside his shop, a proper fleet of well-maintained hire bikes and the best service vehicle I have seen. When I hire a bike in Mallorca, it is always from Bruce. He also runs weekly shop rides if you want company.

The best ice cream on the island: Ca’n Noble, Pollenca.

I committed to the full menu research for the good of this journal. Started with chocolate and pistachio. A gelateria that cannot deliver on those classics is already in trouble. Ca’n Noble delivered completely and converted us from our usual spot around the corner. We went back each day for a different flavour.

Their house special: rosemary and honey. A sensation. The black sesame seed is also worth seeking out if you are serious about these things.

Day 7

Turning at the junction for Sa Calobra, someone shouted my name.

Lars. An old riding friend from eight years ago who moved back to Sweden. Heading from Soller to Formentor. I see more people I know in Mallorca than on my home roads. I could not convince him to turn toward Sa Calobra instead, so we agreed to meet for coffee later to talk about the old days.

I had to say goodbye properly. Sa Calobra is one of my favourite places on this planet.

Time to channel Jan Ullrich.

Full gas to the top, motor-paced by the gas man.

The trick in the early morning is the shadows. The mountain blocks the sun for longer on the climbing side. You can hide in the cool air until the road bends and the sun finds you. I do not know how anyone climbs this in the midday heat. I am Winter by name and winter by preference.

I did not want to reach the top. Reaching the top meant going home. But Becky was waiting at the villa and we had a day of sea, sand and squid ink paella planned. Some things are worth descending for.

Veloforte Fresco Energy Chews

When something is ending, you notice every detail. A week of riding in the legs, the blowout already done, sitting up and letting the island pass at its own pace on the way back. The best kind of final ride.

Formentor beach for the last afternoon. I read some Murakami and Stevo Cummings’ “The Break.” The Cummings book is brilliant: honest, raw, insider. Recommended without reservation.

The final dinner: La Font del Gall. Authentic paella. The squid ink version is dense, dark, smokey and tastes exactly like the sea. The right note to close a babymoon.

My white shirt survived.

We landed home on the day the travel chaos started. Delayed flights, cancellations, headlines. We timed it well.

Seven weeks until the baby. The turbo trainer is charged. The journey, not the destination. The hunt, not the kill.

Next time we fly to Mallorca, we will be three. Baby seat on the back for the climbs, or Becky on the beach? I have not decided yet.

G.