Mallorca training 3

Bad weather again today. A heavy grey sky and the mountain tops covered in cloud. I didn't bring enough warm clothing and my 2 layers just were not enough as I went up 'my' climb, the Coll de Femenia. I should have brought overshoes because my toes have already gone a bit numb.

The climb felt a little tougher than on my first day and maybe that was showing in my face: a car overtook me slowly and then when I rounded a bend it was parked on the side. As I passed it I heard it pull out behind me and then again come alongside. As the window wound down I thought, "I know what's going to happen here. It's a drink thrown over me (I had this in Deptford in London) or a foot is going to come out and kick me over the side of the mountain". Instead a female face appeared and said in a thick Scouse accent, "Get a gel down yer lad". So that's what I did.

I made my way to Sa Colobra which from the photos I'd seen looks like Alpe d'Huez. It didn't disappoint. Martin Amis would swing for me for this one but it really was breathtakingly beautiful. There is a shortish climb and then a descent which must be one of the world's finest. It is very technical with switchback after switchback and I'm glad I had got out early so there were few cars and coaches headed up towards me as I tried to master the cornering.

I didn't stop to take photos (couldn't!) so I've pinched this one from the web (apologies to whoever owns it for the copy breach and although it is a great photo nothing could show the scale and beauty of this place). Do click on it to get the full picture.

When I reached the sea it was a bit of an anti-climax because although it's a pretty cove there was some building work going on which kind of ruined things.

The one thing I did realise coming down was that there was no option but to come back up again. This pretty much took me to the limit and I would have liked a couple of extra gears to fall back on. It's about a 10km climb and about 700m elevation and it just seemed to go on and on. It was pretty incredible to be climbing so long and then look up and see a coach two to three hundred meters above snaking it's way down the hairpins. The sense of achievement getting to the top wasn't that great; to be honest, I was just glad it was over (looking back I'm chuffed to bits but at the time I was knackered!).

The descent down into Pollenca is phenomenal and I got a bit carried away because I veered out too wide on a bend nearly into the path of a car coming up. I braked and the back wheel skidded out but luckily I managed to control it. It must have looked quite impressive to anyone behind me but I knew I'd been a bit of an idiot.

Looking back at the day's stats: just under 4.5 hours of riding, 88km distance with 2100m climbing. HR sitting above 160 coming up Sa Colobra which is pretty cool for my training. Check it out: