Spanish Holiday: Day 3

 Day 3: Cycling Mallorca

We woke today to a threat of thundershowers, but much cooler temps (mid 80°s),  

The morning ride without the heat (and only a few sprinkles) was beautiful, but the hills were exhausting; the final climb was about 1,000 feet in only 4 miles.  To add to the difficulty of the climb to our lunch spot, we had to climb another 200 feet on a very narrow road/path with very sharp switchbacks and  7%-11% grades. The scenery along the route, though, was pretty spectacular, riding through groves of olives, almonds, a figs, past old windmills, and terraced farms (a technique introduced by the Moors when they occupied Spain).

After a well deserved lunch we started back out on the road for another ride to our hotel for the next 2 nights. The ride started with yet another climb with multiple switchbacks (code for STEEP) followed by an 8 mile descent with what seemed to be 100 hairpin turns.  Riding down was almost as tiring as riding up!

The last 4 miles of the afternoon ride were straight up and with the sun back out and the humidity  up again, Jeri was bordering on heat exhaustion (and I was bordering on plain old exhaustion) and I convinced her that there was no shame in not completing the ride. We were going to have  one of the guides, Selu, drive us to the hotel, but the van he had didn't accommodate the tandem.  So, instead of having them have to bring another vehicle, I suggested that perhaps Carlos, our guide, may want to ride it back with me.  He had never been on a tandem and thought it might be fun.  He found out that it was a lot more work than it looked.  We climbed the 4 mile hill with some exertion, and then turned into the road to the hotel.  All these hotels are situated at the top of mountains and the Valldemossa is no exception.  We started climbing and got about 3/4 of the way up, and my body gave out.  I decided to abort the mission and get a ride up the rest of the way.  Carlos was ecstatic.  He said that riding the tandem was in his top 5 hardest things he has done with Backroads!  I'm sure he told me this to assuage my machismo, but it worked.

Once the van brought us up the hill, the hotel entrance was still a 4-story climb on legs that felt like jelly. A dip in the pool was a perfect end. 

The hotel is gorgeous, and the views spectacular. The hotel is in the highest town in Mallorca, Valldemossa, at around 1500'. It is surrounded by terraced olive orchards.

Tonight we have a Spanish guitar concert followed by dinner under the stars.