Thinking of going March/April 2020. Thinking about hiring road bikes and hiring an apartment/villa or Airbnb (but not bunkhouse type accommodation). Probably a 4 day trip. Any tips?
Good time of year? (Want spring sunshine not rain/snow).
Any good places to hire decent bikes (105 equipped alu emonda level)
Good places to stay? (Walking distance from plenty of authentic Spanish bars and restaurants, not “Brits abroad” pie and mash joints, no offence)
DIY rather than arranged package.

Good time of year? (Want spring sunshine not rain/snow).

You could get 25+ °C or you could get sleet and rain. In fact you could have both in the same week…

Thanks Crazy-legs. I was thinking that may be the case. I’m guessing April’s a safer bet?

Bike Island Mallorca in Puerto Pollença have the aluminium Giant Contend SL1 with 105. I used them in May and highly recommend them. They even sorted a 165mm chainset for me.

Be prepared for very busy, buses, cars and cyclists. Used to go every year For warm weather training.
Went to Girona this year instead. Much more pleasant place to ride. Not as famous as Sa Calobra or as iconic. But I found the place to be a lot more pleasant with a lot more interesting rides. Sa calobra is an amazing climb though and has to be done. The downside being that it can be very busy in the spring.
And don’t follow someone faster than you down the descent, leave them to it. Go at your own speed. You may get some people who know the descent well and will be absolutely railing the corners, best to leave them to it.

Just to add, I always take my own bike. But when I’ve hired in the past I’ve taken my own tyres. Don’t rely on the bike hire mini pumps and pack your own repair kit and mini pump you know works.

I have used Arrivo cycling for hire bikes a couple of times recently, brand new Giants and faultless customer service. The bike blew over whilst I was having a coffee and bent the mech hanger along with a few scratches, they fixed it with no quibbles.

Port do Soller is where I’d stay. Lovely place and a bit less Brits abroad than Port de Pollenca.

The bike shop in the town (Tramuntana Tours) does excellent bike hire, all levels of Treks from alu ones up to top end Madones.

From there the ride is over Puig Major (a long climb but very steady) to get to the top of Sa Calobra.

Port do Soller is lovely , however , the ride over the Puig , and then across to Sa Colobra , down Sa Colobra , back up sa Colbra and back to Port do Soller is a big day out.
I am no racing whippet but that is nearly 2hr of granny gear climbing .( for me, maybe 1 1/2 if your quick)
There are no soft options / short cuts .
Definatly go , the riding is amazing and the weather usualy great in April. The coast road out to Andratx is stunning and well worth riding . As is the decent from The Repsol garage to Port De Pollensa , 10k of undulating smooth tarmac with enough gradient to stay well over 30mph for long stretches

Also , a pre breakfast run out to the Lighthouse at Cap Fermentor is essntial.
It gets stupily busy with bikes , busses and cars during the day. Going early means a clear run out and back. Its not long , an hour or so each way but has some great features and rolls through woodland and up round the headlands . The tarmac at the lighthouse is diabolical but thats only the last 200mtr. and the cafe doesnt open till 10.30 , but the return is hillarious

I think most things have been covered. Of course you will know that you descend to a dead end – and unless you willing to wait a long time to get served or get a seat – then it’s back up the same way straight after.
It’s a fantastic descent & climb .. but would have been better with something in between.

The suggestion of the mainland over Majorca is a good one. Roads quieter – Majorca can look like Ride London during April.

That’s a really popular climb but well worth it with a suggestion. Dawn! We set off from our hotel at 6.30 and got to the top by 7.30. The return we in disturbed by coaches full of grumbling pensioners we had 1 vehicle pass us in the way back up it was perfect. Got to the cafe at the top to find piles of cyclists ready to head down. Ours was a great day out.

Col de Soller is a nice little climb, ~6.2Km, it’s on the Virtugo turbo app. Cap de Formentor is on the RGT turbo app, currently in free open beta. Just need a power meter on the bike or turbo.

Obviously not as good as doing the real climbs, but they will give you an idea of what to expect, especially RGT because you can play with your overall bike weight including water bottles.

My m8 goes over a few times a year and has perfected this.

Airbnb apartment in Puerto Pollensa close to beach for missus/kids

He uses the pinarelo experience for bike hire and goes out early to the main rides before the tourists buses are all over it.

Early seems to be the key to enjoyment then crash rest of day on beach/cafe.

Or cock up the booking and go to Mojacar instead and have amazing roads and climbs that the pros also ride without the hassle 🙂

Brilliant suggestions. Thanks very much for contributing to this thread. Bookmarked.

I went out there with my lass in May. We stayed at a small villa outside Port du Pollença, found on Airbnb, for <£400 for the week. Had a nice garden, pool, veranda etc.

I’d recommend staying out of town, cycling in for food and beer. The town of Pollenca (slightly inland) was much nicer to go out in than the seaside version.

We rented a large car (x trail) that would take two bike boxes comfortably. It cost ~£120 for the week but made transfers and food shopping easy, and meant we could go out for a walk or two in the afternoons.

The number of pro kit doodahs put me off in the end – so much so I sold my road bike when I got home! Someone needs to tell all the middle aged fat men they’re not on “training camps”, they’re on holiday with their mates on bikes.

The number of pro kit doodahs put me off in the end – so much so I sold my road bike when I got home! Someone needs to tell all the middle aged fat men they’re not on “training camps”, they’re on holiday with their mates on bikes.

Wow. cut Nose off to spite face much ?

We were out there in April. Yes there were big groups but they caused me no harm. I certainly didn’t feel like selling my road bike afterwards.

Great condition roads ,minimal hassle from the car crowd and mostly like-minded people to chill with out riding.

Heading out in October for 5 days.
Hiring bikes from Berganti bikes think they are too end Ridley’s
Not been before but some of the group go over a lot.

Stayed in Alcudia, rented from a bike shop opposite the Aldi(Lidl?) on the roundabout heading towards Pollença who let us take the bikes the night before. Early start as others have said best to be heading back up Sa Calobra before midday as that’s when the coaches start heading down.
Went in late August early September and it was warm.

We have been twice as our group of fat middle aged men in pro kit on a training camp….

Nice villa just outside Port Pollenca, pool, wif waf table etc. Out the way and quite, near supermarket as well. Good riding all around – up to the Cap, Sa Colabra and we also used the bike bus one day down to Andtratx and rode back via coast and over Puig Major which was a nice day out. We did a couple of days on the flatlands and did the multiple monastry challenge. It was May, warm enough and not overly busy. Echo Sa Colabra, we did an out and back – along to the climb up to LLuc monastry and then down Sa Colabra, we started to climb back at 08:30 and it was quiet on the way up. However, by the time we got to the top it was v busy with cyclists. So early or late is best. PM riding was nice too – i rode up to the Cap at about 7pm and was nice light.

Would definitely recommend it, I’ve done it twice

Soller – Puig Major – Sa Calobra – Puig Major – Soller

and

Soller – Puig Major – Sa Calobra – Lluc – Selva – Orient – Col de Soller – Soller

The first route was fine, take Puig Major easy if you want to save your legs for the Sa Calobra.

The second route was a bit brutal, especially in the late-May heat (not helped my me chasing a PB up Sa Calobra early in the ride, silly!).

We used Rad International for bike hire, mostly Canyons or Cubes. They’re based on the West of the island, Peguera or Santa Ponza, we liked both but were staying all inclusive as we had a two year old, so not the best recommendation. Would certainly recommend Andtrax or Soller as places to stay.

The Sa Calobra climb is definitely one of my favourite climbs, the scenery, the engineering of the road and even the busy-ness make it a bit of an event, feels like you’re part of something big even if you’re just pootling up the road. I didn’t find the buses or cars too annoying, just be clever about where you are in relation to the buses, if you’re chasing a time on the way up it can be frustrating to be stuck behind a bus negotiating a hairpin! Almost worth putting in a dig to get round the hairpin before the bus, then recovering to let the bus past. I’d say we were passed by max ten buses on the busiest day we were there.

Not much to add to the above other than there’s lots of places away from the mountains if you don’t want to spend the whole time climbing and have enough time to vary it up a bit – or at least have smaller climbs nearby that you can take in prior to cafe stop (Felanitx/Sant Salavador, Llucmajor/Randa, Petra etc)

We usually go early March, mostly around 14°c and breezy but have also had it far warmer. Odd shower here and there but never missed a days riding, main climbs are reasonably quiet also (no coaches etc).

Amazing climb. We went in mid March, weather was between 15 and 24 degrees all week. Didn’t pass or be passed by a bus either up or down the climb, and that was around mid day.

Stayed in alcudia, which was a great wee town. Getting out to the climbs took a while and I’ve never seen so many cyclists in my life but it never felt too busy, and whilst there were cyclists of all standards it didn’t impact on my rides in any way.

This thread has got me itching to go back out. Was planning next March, but sorely tempted with an Oct trip. If you like road biking then that part of the world is truly amazingly good. I still wonder how they manage to make the tarmac quite so smooth. I saw 2 potholes in 400 miles of riding.

still wonder how they manage to make the tarmac quite so smooth. I saw 2 potholes in 400 miles of riding.

Yes plus the fact there were so many groups meant the cars were very bike aware. I only had one incident all week which was an English driver in a hire car reversing out from behind a wall onto a main road and just about wiped out the wife.

I know he was english because we exchanged words over the matter and he fair clammed up when he was told he nearly sent a pregnant woman across the road. – it was on the road out to the light house as well.

Wife hired an ebike in alcudia. A haibike sduro. Was impressed by its range. We got 130k out of it over SA colabra with me and the bro in law leading her out. She left 15 minutes before us from SA colabra and we did the corkscrew seconds apart.

Bro in law hired a bike in Porto polensa for about 130 quid for the week. Ultegra equipped with caliper brakes.

I took my propel in a box for 90 euro and transported it to polensa in a seat Ibiza with room for a second to my surprise – although not sure the gutless 1.2 engine would have coped.

I still wonder how they manage to make the tarmac quite so smooth. I saw 2 potholes in 400 miles of riding.

…and yet the hire places insist upon 130psi in the tyres! I asked them to lower it but they wouldn’t, I wonder if it’s maybe something to do with longevity of the tyre casing and hire places trying to save money on replacement tyres (didn’t help, my mate spent most of the week locking up his rear wheel due to cheap nasty tyres and backwards brakes, it was a write off by the end of the week)

13thflorrmonk
Is there a way to get out of Sóller South wards without using the main road before the tunnel.
I loved the climb once the mandatory cycling route had branched off. I then went up the Orient climb and then flat landed it back to port Pollença

Some fantastic advice here. Thanks v much indeed, chaps. I’m starting to think about taking my own tyres for a cheeky swap around. I’m erring towards Soller base and planning an early morning ride in April. Sounds like I’ll need to start booking early i.e. before Christmas for next April? I had no idea it would be that popular (but I can see why).
I remember driving past a cyclist along the Deia to Valdemossa road a few years ago as the sun was setting and have an urge to do that too (although not the same day!)

I’d echo all that has been said – get to Sa Colabra early & try to be back up before middday-ish as that’s when it really gets busy with coaches. It’s a real pain going down & being stuck behind a coach stopping to take photos on every switchback! It’s almost best to go down & pretty much back up again.

My club go twice a year in April & October & when I first went there I thought I’d arrived in cycling heaven. And just for the record they are all ages and pretty fit – and certainly not fat!

We go with Stuart Hall Cycling (not that Stuart Hall) at pretty reasonable rates at about £500 for a week in a 4* Hotel with half board & led rides. You can hire a bike from them or take your own.

Got caught in a heavy shower going down Sa Calbora last October….hairy !!

Quick espresso and cake at the bottom and straight back up. Came over from Porte Pollenca via LLuc and was about 60miles.

Really good riding out there for sure.