The normal Friday Fred Rompelberg route was out to the Randa climb, so a loop to the east, north, west and back but the ABRT group had done that on Sunday, and some had already done it a second time. After some Thursday evening discussion with the guides and with Peter (Fred’s 2IC) a new route was negotiated, riding to Deia and Soller and back, with an optional extension for those who chose to do the the Col de Puig Major climb. The non ABRTers in the A group had dissapeared with the exception of Jeroen, the strong Dutch rider.
The Puig Major climb is about 50 minutes long, perhaps slightly less for someone like Scott. It rises from sea level to 880 meters, with the climb starting at the traffic circle just outside of Soller. Last year, the group did this climb on the last day, and the Wheelsucker had had a spectacular – for the Wheelsucker – climb, and had set new high CP20 and CP30 power values, with had the effect of convincing him that he might be improving. So the Wheelsucker was hoping to match or beat those numbers on the same climb.
But the Wheelsucker was concerned about doing this climb and the additional distance, so planned to take it easy on the first part of the ride, not pushing on the earlier climbs and sitting in. But perhaps it was one climb too many for the Wheelsucker. And then the Wheelsucker was a little slow getting organized, and rolled up to the gathering point outside the Taurus hotel about five minutes after ten ... and realized the A group was gone! After wasting 20 seconds confirming that they were gone, the Wheelsucker took off in pursuit mode, as fast as a desparate aging Wheelsucker can pursue, in the direction he thought they had rolled. The Wheelsucker was passing lots of riders, but none of them were from the A group. While pedaling frantically the Wheelsucker considered his options:
He could ride on his own and hope to catch them at the known places they would ride through, particularly Deia and Soller.
He could ride easy on his own.
He had the map with him, but then realized his CO2 cartridge had been used the previous day, so he would probably be riding alone, for an extended distance, without the means to fix a flat.
But then fortune smiled on the Wheelsucker, as after chasing desperately for a few minutes, he saw another group up the road, and some of the jerseys looked familiar, at least at a distance. Unlike every other day, the A group was not going fast (some of the riders may have been deliberately slowing the pace hoping the Wheelsucker would make it) and the Wheelsucker finally made it on at the back. What a GREAT way to start a ride...
The group rode back to the road that runs along the west coast of the island, this time turning north along that road. The rollers were great, and the descent into Deia with Spencer was really fun, at least until Spencer jumped around a car that was slowing him and the Wheelsucker up, while the Wheelsucker never got around and rolled into Deia some distance behind Spencer.
A few more rollers later the group rolled into Soller, which has a wonderful harbor and beachfront where the group enjoyed lunch.
Soller was wonderful
Johan
Thomas and LauraMost of the group was riding back together, with the guides, climbing out of Soller across the western hill/mountain range and then back to Playa di Palma. But the crazies; Scott, Nick, and the Wheelsucker opted for the Puig Major, though the Wheelsucker had serious misgivings.
Knowing what his CP20 and CP30 values from last year were, the Wheelsucker was careful to not go too hard, early. Shortly after going through the circle just outside Soller the climb steepened enough to start. The Wheelsucker hit the interval button on his Joule and went to 320 watts (he had averaged 319 for twenty minutes last year), and he immediately gapped Scott and Nick. At two minutes and thirty seconds he was averaging 322 watts and leading up the climb. But within five minutes the Wheelsucker knew he was in trouble and his average power started to drop. Soon 319 watts was clearly out of reach for twenty minutes, but the Wheelsucker kept going, perhaps hoping for a miracle, and hoping to hold some power for the 30 minutes, but after 20 minutes the power average was 290 watts while at 30 minutes he was down to 282 watts; the Wheelsucker had missed both his best CP20 and CP30 values by 29 and 17 watts watts respectively, and was blown. He was into survival mode to make it up the rest of the climb.
Part way up there were patches of snow by the side of the road. A little further up, the snow was continuous, and there were snow banks left by the snow plows on both sides of the road. At the scenic overlook just before entering the short tunnel there was at least eight inches of snow on the ground.
Scott, Nick and the Wheelsucker took some photographs, and then Jeroen rolled up, having mistakenly left Soller with the other group, realized Scott, Nick and the Wheelsucker were not there, turned around and chased all the way up Puig Major. What a STUD! If he had not caught back up, he would have had a 2-3 hour ride back to Playa di Palma, on his own.
Nick at the scenic overlook just before the tunnel at the top of Puig Major
Shortly after Jeroen rolled up, Kristin Seibert drove up. She followed the group for some time as they returned, occasionally passing them and stopping to take photos. The Wheelsucker SHOULD have asked if he could put the car in the back and jump into the warm car instead of pedaling back.
Much like last year the Wheelsucker was done in by his climbing effort. Even with every bit of clothing on, he was freezing at the top of Puig Major, and the descent down the other side was mostly in the shade, with water frequently on the road. The Wheelsucker thought it was easily cold enough to freeze in the shade, so took it easy on the descent. But it was water each time, not ice.
There were a couple of short stops, one by a nice lake.
Despite having eaten in Soller, and again at the top of Puig Major, the Wheelsucker was having trouble hitting 250 watts, and was being gapped on small bumps. Scott, Nick and Jeroen waited several times for him.
From the height of Puig Major, returning riders come down part way and then ride a rolling route before coming to the top of a climb near Liuc and descending that to Caimari. Despite the very narrow road and tight switchbacks, a full size tourist bus was working its way down. Scott and Jeroen slipped by, but Nick and the Wheelsucker could not get an opening that felt safe enough to pass, so had to follow the very slow -- and frequently stopped -- bus down the descent.
By the time Nick and the Wheelsucker made it into Caimari village at the bottom, Scott had found a cafe, grabbed a table and already ordered coffee, hot chocolate and pizza.
Even with the food and coffee, the Wheelsucker was still feeling like he had almost nothing. Scott encouraged the others by claiming it was all downhill with a tailwind on the way back to Playa di Palma, but this turned out to be a twisted route, with lots of map checking, several incorrect turns and a ludicrous effort to get through and out of Portol. The riders could see Playa di Palma from Portol, but it took at least 20 minutes and doing every short climb in the area, before they found the correct road out. The Wheelsucker had been running on empty for hours, but even Nick was getting tired and then Jeroen bonked, though he revived with some gel.
They made it back to the Jade hotel about 6:30, doing about 108 miles. A VERY long day in the saddle.
The rest of the group had made reservations for dinner at 7:00, so the four showered and changed quickly and headed out for dinner with the group.
Wheelsucker Data:
Ride time: 8:30:04, rolling time: 6:28:16
Distance: 107.86 miles
Work: 4016 Kj
Elevation gain: 7478 feet
Power: 169 watts average, 765 watts max
Temperature: 57 F average, 44 F low (per the Joule, the Wheelsucker thought it was rather colder)
VAM for best 30 minutes: 1026 meters/hour, VAM for best 20 minutes: 1074 meters/hour @ 4 watts/kg
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