Distance: 74.7 miles / 120.2 km
Elevation: 7,992 feet / 2,436 m
Colls: Coll de sa Gramola (360m); Coll des Pi (240m); Coll de sa Bastida (298m); Coll d’en Claret (498m); Can Costa (424m); Can Bleda (224m); Puig Major (875m)
Mallorca Cycle Shuttle
The Mallorca Cycle Shuttle (MLS) is a service which transports you and your bike around the island. This allows you to reach destinations you would otherwise struggle to get to within a day. From each drop off point, their website has various route files you can download to your GPS unit. The most popular destination is Andratx, to the west of the island. The website gives you the option of seven routes back to Port de Pollença from here, with distances between 115km and 162km.
I must thank the owner, Gary, for taking me to Andratx this morning despite being the only person on the bus. In non-Covid times, places often sell out fast.
The only way is up
I chose to cycle the vanilla route today, which is ~115km and ~2500m climbing. Whilst that’s the shortest option, I’m planning to ride the roads I pass up on subsequent days. It will still be the most climbing I’ve completed in a day so far, so will still have its challenges.
The route is actually quite simple – it’s the full ma-10 coast road end to end.
The skies were really cloudy today, and it did rain on a couple of occasions.
The first 19 miles of the ride were roads I had ridden on day 7 but in reverse. Despite taking in three colls in this segment of the ride, I opted to skip the selfies this time. Most only have one sign at the summit, so they would have been identical to pictures I’ve already shared. All three took just under an hour to ascend in total.
No protesters were seen on any of the climbs today.
Sóller revisited
As I approached Sóller, I took a slight detour in to the centre for some food. I am a bit of a burger fiend, as you’ve probably guessed, and I was not perturbed by the disappointment of yesterday. This burger breaks the record for mini tomato usage and taste by a long way. I’m not really a fan of chips in miniature rubbish bins, but I had no problems eating them all.
The top of the church is sort of blocky and might have been made in Lego before construction began.
Only 1.5km from Sóller, the Puig Major climb begins. This is the biggest climb on the island; 13.9km in length with 6.2% average gradient. Initially the climb was really uncomfortable – the burger had really filled me up – and I was quite a slouch. About three quarters of the way up, I started to feel quite strong and happy I’d eaten. I managed the climb in 82 minutes and 42 seconds, which was about 7 minutes faster than my previous best. You can see my early meat sweats in the selfie.
The road back home
Reaching this summit is a massive boost because from here it’s mostly downhill and much faster. At 875m the road is the highest on the island, and Port de Pollença is at sea level. Overall there’s roughly 20 miles of descent and just five ascent. What had taken me over 3 hours of climbing in reverse took just over 90 minutes – I seemed to be back in no time.
As it was still relatively early, I popped in to the Pro Cycle Cafe for some liquid refreshment. After two days with little drinking, I excelled tonight and managed six pints. This did do me in a bit, but the weather looks atrocious tomorrow.
If there’s some availability, I really recommend the MCS to Andratx!
