Me, Mrs Goldie and the little one have just got back from a week in Majorca. Mrs Goldie arranged the holiday, so it wasn't planned as a sun kissed excursion to a cycling nirvana, but that's kind of how it turned out...
We stayed between Port de Pollensa and Alcudia, which are at opposite ends of a wide and beautiful bay at the top right hand corner of the island, with the mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana sticking up behind Pollensa. I went to Majorca back in the mid 1980's, and we hired bikes back then. I'd seen a couple pictures of professional teams getting some winter training in on the island too, so I was sort of vaguely aware that there might be a bit of biking going on. But I have honestly never seen so many bikes in my whole life.
The coast road ran past the hotel, and all day long a constant stream of bikes ranging from hub geared city bikes to top end Cervelos zipped past. There was a Max Hurzeler hire point and store http://www.bicycle-holidays.com/ in the hotel, so I borrowed an aluminium framed Cube hybrid for a few days. Here it is on my first ride, in Pollensa:
The roads were pretty much perfect - either quiet enough not to worry to much about traffic or with wide cycle lanes. The short ride from the hotel to Pollensa was a little gem, crossing salt marshes, lush farmland and a low range of hills as it wound inland towards the town.
In spite of the bikes everywhere, there wasn't a great deal that would have tickled the fancy of retrobikers - most of the older stuff was small wheeled shoppers or loop framed utility bikes.
I loved this rusty shooper next to the see in Port de Pollensa:
A short while later, a Spanish gentleman wearing his dressing gown and flat cap launched a small boat and rowed sedately past, so neatly embodying the relaxed spirit of Pollensa that he got his own photograph.
The boss of the Max Hurzeler store did however have a very beautiful titanium framed Colnago, kept in absolutely perfect condition.
Here's the twin down tube:
Going north east from Pollensa, the road kicks up over the mountains, climbing through switchbacks and hairpin bends to a pass where it drops down again to Formentor. There is a dizzying drop here into the sea on the north coast of the Island, and on my last day with the bike I completely surprised myself by getting the bike all the way to the top, where a couple of coachloads of French tourists had more sensibly taken the coach.
The road split at the pass, with the main road descending towards Formentor and a narrow road climbing higher towards the top of the mountain, where I took this:
A very nervous descent, drafting a Peugeot 207 down the hill, followed, with me cursing the "are these working at all?" nature of the Sora brakes on the bike all the way down.
I loved having the bike, and the island's set up perfectly to support cycling. The terrain is so varied that even modest rides pay you back in spades in scenic terms. There are plenty of bike shops and many of the hotels - like the one the Goldies stayed at - have well equipped hire points with workshops.You'd have to fly your retro bike out there to get your hit, but there were plenty of people who'd done just that with their carbon bikes for the Thomas Cook Ironman the weekend we arrived.
We stayed between Port de Pollensa and Alcudia, which are at opposite ends of a wide and beautiful bay at the top right hand corner of the island, with the mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana sticking up behind Pollensa. I went to Majorca back in the mid 1980's, and we hired bikes back then. I'd seen a couple pictures of professional teams getting some winter training in on the island too, so I was sort of vaguely aware that there might be a bit of biking going on. But I have honestly never seen so many bikes in my whole life.
The coast road ran past the hotel, and all day long a constant stream of bikes ranging from hub geared city bikes to top end Cervelos zipped past. There was a Max Hurzeler hire point and store http://www.bicycle-holidays.com/ in the hotel, so I borrowed an aluminium framed Cube hybrid for a few days. Here it is on my first ride, in Pollensa:
The roads were pretty much perfect - either quiet enough not to worry to much about traffic or with wide cycle lanes. The short ride from the hotel to Pollensa was a little gem, crossing salt marshes, lush farmland and a low range of hills as it wound inland towards the town.
In spite of the bikes everywhere, there wasn't a great deal that would have tickled the fancy of retrobikers - most of the older stuff was small wheeled shoppers or loop framed utility bikes.
I loved this rusty shooper next to the see in Port de Pollensa:
A short while later, a Spanish gentleman wearing his dressing gown and flat cap launched a small boat and rowed sedately past, so neatly embodying the relaxed spirit of Pollensa that he got his own photograph.
The boss of the Max Hurzeler store did however have a very beautiful titanium framed Colnago, kept in absolutely perfect condition.
Here's the twin down tube:
Going north east from Pollensa, the road kicks up over the mountains, climbing through switchbacks and hairpin bends to a pass where it drops down again to Formentor. There is a dizzying drop here into the sea on the north coast of the Island, and on my last day with the bike I completely surprised myself by getting the bike all the way to the top, where a couple of coachloads of French tourists had more sensibly taken the coach.
The road split at the pass, with the main road descending towards Formentor and a narrow road climbing higher towards the top of the mountain, where I took this:
A very nervous descent, drafting a Peugeot 207 down the hill, followed, with me cursing the "are these working at all?" nature of the Sora brakes on the bike all the way down.
I loved having the bike, and the island's set up perfectly to support cycling. The terrain is so varied that even modest rides pay you back in spades in scenic terms. There are plenty of bike shops and many of the hotels - like the one the Goldies stayed at - have well equipped hire points with workshops.You'd have to fly your retro bike out there to get your hit, but there were plenty of people who'd done just that with their carbon bikes for the Thomas Cook Ironman the weekend we arrived.
