I am going to Mallorca for ten days to ride around with my partner. However, since we’ll be riding at their pace, I would like to get my LV workouts in in the morning. In the past when doing outside workouts on roads I have struggled finding a good stretch of road, particularly one where one can do Sweetspot intervals that are up to 20 minutes long.
Any chance someone can think of a good stretch of road near Pollença?
There’s a good long stretch of main road heading out of Pollenca that’s almost flat, the Ma2200 towards Port de Pollenca, the first part of the Ma10 towards Lluc is an extension of this. The coast road between Port de Pollenca and Alcudia is also OK if a little busy. The Ma2200 heading south is a little hillier but not excessively so.
The road, Ma10, up to the Col de Femenia, could be used as well. It’s not steep, maybe 4% max.
It’s a few years since I’ve been but the foot of Femenia to Port de Pollenca is probably 20mins at a decent pace.
Mallorca is great for cycling!
Is this your first time riding in Mallorca?
When you say “their pace” is this lower or higher than you are used to? Are your W/KG matched?
What type of riding will you be doing generally, will you be riding a lot? (10-15h+ a week, so maybe 20-25hrs for the 10 days?
Got lots of good tips for coffee stops, and rides out of Pollenca!
Here are some of my favourite routes: Ride with GPS | Bike Route Planner and Cycling Navigation App
One thing with Mallorca when you live in Pollenca is that rides tend to be quite far if you want to get to some other climbs than Sa Batalla.
The route called " Mallorca - Coll de Femenia + Sa Batalla loop" is probably my favourite.
There is a coffee shop at the bottom of Sa Batalla that is called Sa Ruta Verda that is in Caimari (little town at the bottom of the climb). Its one of the best places on the island if you ask me. Norwegian guy owns it, so really really good coffee and quality food. Not that standard shitty cake and friend crap that you get everywhere else where they cater to the British (sorry all you Brits…). They have fantastic lemonade as well, so dont miss that 
And regarding your riding when you’re there, focus on having fun and getting lots of hours on the bike, do high zone 2 on the climbs if you can and dont worry about doing sweet spot intervals.
When you are riding abroad you usually put in so many hours that it trumps anything that has to do with your LV plan otherwise.
Just the TSS from volume itself will be enough
Straight up the Coll de Femenia (MA-10), it’s about as perfect as outside can be for sweet spot. Quiet roads and a nice, consistent gradient. You can just do repeats if you need longer.
I prefer the Sa Batella - Femenia loop in the opposite direction, i.e. clockwise, the Sa Batella climb is near perfect.
One hidden gem on Majorca is the climb up to Puig de Randa not far from Palma (there’s a radar for Palma airport on top). One of the twistiest roads around and closed to most cars. On some “straights” you might get three pedal strokes in! Quite a way from Pollenca but it’s virtually flat to get there. There’s a restaurant in the monastery at the top.
Yeah, that look counter clockwise is terribly boring since you are climbing on a long and busy road, instead of the calm Sa Batella. Its also nice to have a not too steep descent to keep the speed up 
MA-10 from Pollenca is dead boring, so best to keep that one for the downhills.
Almost all routes into the mountains are best done clockwise.
When we were last there we got a bus to Andtrax in the South then came back to Pollenca via Soller and Lux monastery. The coast road on the cliffs between Andtrax and Soller is absolutely spectacular. One of the best stretches of road I have ever been on. The same however cannot be said of the slog up Pug Major out of Soller… Enjoy your trip
The last time I was on Mallorca we did that loop as a quick afternoon warmup after arriving from the UK. Descending from Lluc to Pollenca the road is open and fast apart from the first bend at the top of Col de Femenia which is a pretty sharp right hander.
I am heading towards it when I see my best man in the middle of the road waving his arms for me to slow down. There’d been an accident. My best man and another of our group had passed a rider who decided to stick with them. Now my mate isn’t the best descender so they can’t have being going that fast but this other rider lost it on the bend. He’d side slipped all the way across the road and left the road broad side whereupon he passed between two trees but the bike didn’t 
Front and rear wheel caught the trees and the bike promptly folded in half!
The guy was a bit shaken and bruised but otherwise unhurt. A couple of German tourists offered him a lift back to Pollenca (he was staying in the same hotel as us), we just folded his bike up and put it in the boot (trunk) 
Unfortunately for him it was a hire bike and he hadn’t taken out insurance.
Ouuuuf, yeah there is no need to go bananas on the descents, but the descent from Lluc to Pollenca is nice and flowy.
I am guessing that you’re talking about this one right here. Its one of my favourite bends haha, but you better not come in too hot… Better to come into it and let the bike accelerate throughout the curve!
And also, people need to be more wary of tire pressure and what not, 28mm @ 5.5 bar is a good start.
That’s the one!
There’s a bit of a crest just before it and then the road begins to steepen as it approaches that bend so quite easy to pick up speed if you aren’t aware of what’s coming.
When the weather was cr@p (fortunately a rarity in Mallorca) I looped round from Peurta Pollenca along the coast a bit (towards Alcudia) then up to Pollenca and back to PP. Something like this Port Loop - A bike ride in Pollença, Illes Balears .Perhaps a variation on this would work for you @cyclhist
Do you have a gps file/strava route/whatever for this? This sounds nice!
Thanks so much for these, we did Formentor yesterday and the Coll de Femenia + Sa Batalla loop today. They’re both stunning. Unfortunately, Sa Ruta Verda doesn’t open until March 1st, so I might have to come back.
Not sure if direct links are allowed but this is the website of a cycle shuttle provider in Mallorca I used last time I was there (not in any way affiliated) https://www.mallorcacycleshuttle.co.uk/
They have a lot of different routes and variations of the ride which is described by OP (The best cycle routes in Mallorca including GPX downloads.)
Be sure to book your tickets in advance.
Oh no! Didn’t know that they were only open during summer seasons, sorry about that!
Happy to hear that you did enjoy the Sa Batalla loop
This is the one. We went on a coach shuttle to the start from Pollenca and just rode back.
I’m not sure how to attach a file on here so if you want the gpu just PM me.
