Right folks. Its time to plan my roadie boot camp for May.
I fancy Mallorca, but I’m open to suggestions on resorts and hotel recommendations.

At the moment I’m considering Hotel Duva in Puerto Pollensa.

Any recommendations for anywhere else?
Any central Palma options worth considering?

Ta

geoff – do you just fly out and ride yourself or is this some sort training camp you do?

Just me on my own. I’m too slow for most roadie group riding, but I do like to try and put the miles in on my own. I went in March this year and loved it and as Mrs J has approved a pass for this year, it would be rude not to.

I’m going for 10 days at the end of feb with these guys http://stuarthallcycling.co.uk/

Rorschach that looks good – do you know the name of the luxury option hotel being offered?

Palma’s lovely but you’re a bit of a hike from the best riding – plus you’ve got some traffic to negotiate. I’d go for Port de Pollenca and you’re then close to the MA-10 for the Tramuntana and the Formentor route, plus flat stuff if you head east / south east. I’ve stayed there in recent years and had a top time of it for road riding. For MTB you’re better being situated nearer Soller / Fornaultx for immediate access to the best off road trails. Sky are in Alcudia at the moment which is only just down the road…

I’d recommend Pro Cycle Hire in the Port for renting a nice road bike, and they have produced a very impressive map which grades roads on the amount of traffic – so it’s ideal for planning a route. Have a great time!

We rented a four story mill with a pool in Fornalutx through Simply Travel.

I cant see a listing for it just now.

It was a last minute booking and we got the place for something like £400 for the two of us inclusive of the flights and a hire car. There were great cafes and restaurants within walking distance. Fornalutx is a really quiet wee town on a hillside above Soller.

Might be worth going with a few friends and splitting the costs.

We stayed at Apartments Diana? in Puerto Pollensa which was very cheap but fine. PP is a bit limited in routes. Last year we hired cars so we could do rides all over the island without being stuck using the same routes every day to reach more interesting stuff. This worked well but watch out for the hire car scam where they give you the car full and tell you to take it back empty and charge an exorbitant rate for the fuel. Ours cost more than the car hire by a margin!

Last time I went we stayed in Magalluf which actually wasn’t as bad as it sounds – too early for the lager lads season so we had the place pretty much to ourselves and the hotel was fantastic, HUGE all you can eat buffet breakfast and dinner. 🙂

Most places are OK, just avoid Palma as it’s all motorway and ring roads round there.

Personally though I think there’s better places for road riding than Mallorca. Sardinia and south of Spain are my preferred options.

Sardinia and south of Spain are my preferred options.

Tell me more. I’ve stayed in Santa Teresa for a couple of holidays, but not considered it as a biking destination.

I’ve stayed in Santa Teresa for a couple of holidays, but not considered it as a biking destination.

I’ve never been that far north, we stayed in Alghero. Great for road riding although I believe most of the MTBing is further south. There’s a guy posts on here occasionally who’s just written a guidebook for Sardinia MTBing have a look at this thread: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sardinia-mountain-bike-guide-published.

Road riding though is great. Flat if you head north to Stintino, quite mountainous if you go inland and the 40km coast road between Alghero and Bosa is just brilliant. Basically with road riding we just looked at a road map and went – yep, that looks good, go for it!

Mmmmm Alghero could work.

Ryanair fly to Alghero.
EasyJet fly to Olbia and Cagliari.

We stopped going to Alghero when the thieving bastards at Ryanair put the price of bike bags up…

Sky/GB use the Hotel Vanity Golf at Port D’Alcudia. We stayed there at the same time as the Motorpoint team last March and it was superb. It’s a bit pricier than some, but worth the extra. We’ll be going back this year at some stage.

Road riding though is great. Flat if you head north to Stintino, quite mountainous if you go inland and the 40km coast road between Alghero and Bosa is just brilliant. Basically with road riding we just looked at a road map and went – yep, that looks good, go for it!

For a roadie trip you could do a lot worst than simply repeat the routes of the Giro of Sardinia stage race. In 2012 in Orosei on E coast, see http://www.girosardegna.it/ in English If nothing else get some route ideas! We have done this 7-day stage race when it was based in Alghero and then another year in Santa Teresa and also when it was based in Orosei. The N of the island has lots of undulating hills, for longer “Alpine” climbs and Scottish-like scenery where we live on E coast 1:15 S of Orosei is better (the hills rise to 1300 m just 20 km from the coast). In general the island’s main hills are in the centre and S of the island – that’s where the rides in our MTB guide are, on sale in the UK from Cordee here.

bmc are at Marriot near Denia again this winter, 22 degrees today in the sun, bit chilly tonight though

Cadel Evans, winner of the Tour de France, planned the 2012 season in DeniaCadel Evans, ganador del Tour de Francia, planifica la temporada 2012 en Dénia