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Summary: On April 6 to April 16, 2006,
the Wilson family -- Jim age 46, Carolyn 45, Nathan 15 and
Avery 11 -- traveled to Mallorca, Spain, for a week in Stephen
Roche's cycling camp. Stephen won the Tour de France
in 1987, and more. His camp is highly regarded by serious
racers as well as recreational riders. Many members of our
team, the National Capital
Velo Club, attend the camp for early spring training.
The camp is based at the Hotel
Ponent Mar, a stunning facility overlooking the Mediterranean.
Both the camp and lodgings proved extraordinary, in terms
of training/riding experience, elegance, overall family fun
and value.
As to cycling orientation, Nathan and Avery, while young,
are pretty strong Junior racers, and Jim and Carolyn are
fitness-oriented technos who like to ride. In season, Nathan
and Avery ride 100-200 miles a week; Jim about 100 miles/week,
and Carolyn 50 miles/week. Jim coaches the burgeoning NCVC
Juniors (U19) squad. Roche's camp offered the
opportunity to participate in one of five levels of riding
cohort. Nathan ended up with the fairly fast Group 3, while
Jim, Carolyn and Avery mostly hung together in Group 5.
Overall, the camp was priced very well -- about $500 each
for room and half board, training and bike rental. The expensive
bit was plane tickets from the United States (Washington,
DC) to Mallorca. Given the high travel season, we were lucky
to find Internet fares on Iberia for about $700/ticket.
Below are a set of maps that lay out the various routes
regularly offered by the camp, along with our comments on
the routes we rode. Click on a map to download a larger copy.
Click here to view a directory of maps
and images.
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| On Sunday, April 10, Port D'Andratx was
our first day, break-in ride. Nathan blasted off and hung with
the 3 Group. Carolyn, Avery and Jim hauled up the Grao es Capdell
a 3 Km, 4% serpentine up through fragrant evergreens and over
and down to the beautiful port. Carolyn and Ave retired at
the Andratx rest stop, while Jim soldiered home, riding solo
and quickly with the Group 5 guide, Andrei, a Russian-born
veteran of the Saunier Duval pro team. |
Monday's ride took us over to Alaro. Jim
started the ride with Nathan's 3 group, and finished with Carolyn
and Avery, meeting them at a half-way point near Establiments.
This ride, like most Roche camp rides, begins with a 5 km,
3.2% trot over the Col des Tords -- something challenging to
wake-up riders. |
Carolyn took Tuesday off to tour Palma
and relax. Jim and Avery rode stoically over some challenging
climbs -- the 5 Km, 6.4% Col de Galilea, and our old friend
Col des Tords. Avery was incredible. We rode up beautiful serpentines,
through olive trees and sharp-smelling evergreen forests; cruised
cobblestones in centuries old villages; and rode alongside
freshly-tilled Mediterranean farms. |
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| Following Wednesday's rest day, Corniche
was the ride of a lifetime, the Mediterranean seaside. We were
at a loss to describe its stunning beauty -- cliffs meet sea,
ancient towns and farms, blue sky. Pure and clean, with some
challenging hills to make sure you knew you weren't dreaming.
Nathan rode the full 53 mile loop, up and over several challenging
mountains and ridges. Carolyn, Ave and Jim rode the gentler
path, starting after a nasty climb. (A Roche van drove us to
the start.) After the ride, after Mallorca in general, the
old W&OD bike trail (in Northern Virginia) won't look the
same. |
On Saturday before camp (we flew in on
a Friday), we took the old narrow-gauge rain to Soller, and
trolleyed down to the Port du Soller. The views in the valley,
from a rail-side stop, were incredible (see pictures page).
The bike ride to Soller was done only by Nathan, while Jim,
Carolyn, Avery and their guide did a gentler side trip. The
Soller ride was pretty cool, though less engaging than the
other rides because it rode for a distance on the shoulder
of a highway. |
Our final ride, Saturday, was a short ride, running part
of the Orient loop, and returning to Hotel Ponent Mar by
noontime. (Most other rides return between 1 and 3 pm.)
We took a last swim in the hotel pool, cleaned and packed
our gear and, on Sunday, started the long flight home.
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Map of Mallorca; Hotel Ponent Mar in lower left.
Most rides were on southwest coast and mountains to north
(up to Soller).
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Click on a picture for a more detailed view (larger image file, longer
download).
(After viewing a detail picture, use the browser 'back' button to
return to this site.)
© 2006 James
R. Wilson.
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