Category 1 climbs. And more…

This would be Puig Major – a mere 14km climb that my GPS eventually recorded as a total of 1000m. The road (MA10) was eerily quiet and birdsong, sheep bells and the swish-swish of my tyres were my anthems for the day. And my heavy breathing… But, being on holiday, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and I took it really easy. Because the climb went on forever. I knew there would be a pay-off later in the day when this would be a forever-descent back home… If I was to survive the day.

Day #2 of my Spanish cycling fiesta was always planned to be Puig Major and Coll del Reis (King’s Neck) depending on the weather. Friday turned out to be a nice day ( only 30 degrees or so at midday), and with my bike prepped and ready to go, it was out the door at around 9am. While my bike was prepped and ready, my legs certainly were not. The day began with a category 1 climb out of Soller.

There were tunnels, military areas, lakes and sweeping descents (that would be climbed later) and views that took what breath the road hadn’t already taken away, away. It was hard, but so, SO pleasurable.

And then on to Coll del Reis. It’s also known as Sa Calobra, which is actually the town at the foot of the climb and is nestled in a picturesque bay. Getting there was arduous; it was a lovely warm and sunny day, and the road was filled with coaches and cars. Not the greatest for a cyclist, but I managed to get a decent opportunity to zoom down with little interruption. With each and every turn of the wheels, I knew that I’d be putting in a considerably greater effort on the way back up. Boy! Was I right? But, made it up I did. And then there was more up and up and up, and finally, I made it to Tunel Mirador and from there it was fast and sweeping for kilometre after kilometre, through Fornalutx and home to Soller.