Majorca Training Camp

Majorca Training Camp

Here are the details of our 98 plan. Soon to be available all that happened in 99. We leave on the 5th of March and all will be revealed on our return

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Introduction

This article describes how the Birmingham CC put together their Majorca Training Camp in 1998. It details the target cost, some contact names and numbers, and suggests some routes. Additionally, it details some of the logistics which need to be overcome if trying to shift a group of cyclists and their packed bikes around the island.

The BCC have been organising their own February camp for about 10 years or so, starting with Youth Hostels in Malvern, moving on to hotels in Gloucester, then striking deals in Belgium. Eventually, we all got totally hacked off with the February weather in this part of Europe and went for the warmer climes of Majorca. Organised trips are available at around 400 pounds per head, but for many people that is too much and so we linked together the skills of our club coach Nick, with the ferreting and hassling skills of Todger and Smithy. The end result was a weeks half board in a three star hotel, insurance, our own coach transfers to/from the airport, sports masseur, spare rooms for bikes and masseur AND the chance to ride alongside Zulle, Chiapucci, Berzin and oh yes the ONCE squad - all for 230 pounds.

Majorcan Roads

The roads in Majorca are now very good. Dave, Nick and I went there back in 1988 and at that time quite a few of the roads in the middle of the island were real wheel breakers. The Majorcans have invested a lot in their infrastructure and the quality is now very good.

Navigation is reasonably straightforward, but don't expect maps of an OS quality, or lots of road signs. The only place where you will get seriously lost is Palma town which is huge and has traffic lights every 100 yards. There is a lovely road that follows the coast line around the port and that is probably the best way in or out.

Even the roads in the mountains are very good. However, when we say mountains, be prepared for climbs up to fifteen miles long.

Where to stay

Oodles of choice. The best three locations would be Pollensa in the North, Cala Millor in the East and Magaluf in the South West. Despite its image, Magaluf in February is quite OK. Many of the noisy clubs and bars have not yet opened for the season. However in the summer months it must be hideous.

For the past two years we have stayed at Magaluf:-

it's only 30 minutes from the Aiport so you don't lose hours in coach travel

we arrange our own coach (see later) so it's cheaper if you keep the distance down

after 2 years we have now learnt how to get through Palma

there is a choice of hilly or flat daily routes

the Tour of Majorca is based in Magaluf so you can ogle the teams, and have Chiappucci three doors down the corridor. The Brits in the hotel all think you are riding the big race and ask how you got on today! - if only.

Arranging Accomodation

They are not going to like it, but if possible avoid Travel Agents and deal direct. I have found Portland Direct excellent and they have a team geared up for group bookings (Tel: 0990 006600). Our base cost per person for 7 nights at the Sol Guadalupe in Feb 1998 was 199 pounds. You get one free in every 12 or 15 so we had one free place which went to the team masseur.

Read the group booking small print carefully for other direct companies and I'm sure you will find similar deals.

Once you have decided on your accomodation, trawl the web to find the details of the hotel, give them a ring to get the name of the manager, them fax them well in advance with any specific requirement you may have eg:-

rooms all together in the same corridor - with a rooming list of names

storage space, or a cleared room for the bikes

a cleared room for the team masseur

a fixed 'team' table in the restaurant

It may be a shock to us in the UK, but generally Spanish hotels will go out of their way to help a group of people.

However, please try to perserve this and ensure standards of dress and behaviour in the hotel.

Insurance

Another reason to book direct is to cut insurance costs. Book through a travel agent and you are likely to pay 30 pounds per person. Dealing direct you can crop this by half. Churchill Direct (0800 026 4050) did a cracking deal in 198 for 14 pounds per person and seemed to offer most of the cover you would need.

However, make sure everyone has a valid E111 - available from Post Offices - to cover emergency treatment.

Bike Transportation

Portland are part of the Thomson group and they use Brittania airways and I have always found them very good. They haven't yet charged for transporting bikes, but it's worth checking with them on 01582-424155.

There are mixed views on how best to transport your bike on the plane. Until this year I had travelled at least a dozen times with my bike safely swaddled in its padded bike bag without any damage whatsoever. However, there were three bikes damaged this time. Two rear mechs and a chainring. Conversely, the guy who just took his pedals off, turned the bars round and put pipe-wrap on the tubes has no problems at all - perhaps because it was obvious to the loaders that it was a bike? Anyway, the choice is yours. If you do want to hire a bike bag, we can hire one out to you at 10 pounds per week.

(Another advantage of Magaluf at the Tour of Majorca time is that all the team trucks are laden with bits and the mechanics seemed quite happy to help fellow bikies in trouble.)

The real issue though is the transfer to/from the airport. Package deals are put togther on the basis of coaching the holiday maker and his one suitcase to his hotel. Take it from me, 13 bikes and 2 massage tables take up ALL the luggage space of a 53 seater. So you are very unpopular with the other 38 passengers on the coach. Additionally, the coaches sit at Palma for hours waiting for planes from christ-knows-where to arrive as nearly all flights from the UK go on Fridays in winter.

In 1997 we argued for 2 hours at Palma before getting away from the airport (we were NOT with Portland that year). So for 1998 we simply hired our own coach! Pick up bags/bikes, walk straight out to locate our coach driver and ten minutes later we are on the motorway - luxury. Arrange this via the hotel, and have enough cash to pay the driver. One way cost to Magaluf was 16,000 pesatas - around 64 pounds. At less than 4 quid per per person each way this was just brilliant. To give ourselves some different routes (see later) we also hired a one-way coach to drop us all off at Pollensa. Cost was 100 pounds - or 6 pounds each - and the journey time was about an hour.

Other Costs

With breakfast and evening meal covered in the half-board arangement, your only extra costs are lunches out, snackettes and beer money.

Lunches out will cost around 4 or 5 pounds for soup, omlette, chips and coffee etc, so it won't break the bank. As to beer money, that's up to you - but Mano's in Magaluf keeps going until 3:00am or so.

Routes

Severity and distance are very much a personal thing, but this is what most of us did in 1998 (as with any mixed ability group you need to allow for the hard-men who want to do their own thing and for the less able riders. We arranged a joint lunch stop for 2 or 3 groups to meet up).

Friday late afternoon. Shake down ride into Palma, then out towards Establiments, then left towards Calvia up a rather nice three mile climb. From Calvia there is a good plummet back down into Palma Nova and back to Magaluf. 25 miles.

Saturday. Palma, and out on the Manacor Road, left to Santa Maria, through Sencelles to Inca. Inca to Alaro then up the 2nd cat climb to Bunola and a fast run in to Palma. 80 miles.

Sunday. The Tour was in Palma so we had a morning ride via Paguera, Capdella, Calvia and Estbliments to Palma. Watched the opening stage then a flat loop out to the East through Algaida and Santa Eugenia back to Palma. 70 miles.

Monday. Big hills. Andraitx, Estellencs, Valdemossa, Palma. Two 3rd cat climbs and one 2nd cat. Ouch. 70 miles. The heros went on further to Soller and then over the Col de Soller to Palma. On the Col they were caught by the ONCE boys climbing on the BIG ring. With some hard chasing they got back on, and offered to work with the group. Johan Bruneel told them they should sit in and they received a cracking tow back. Apparently, the ONCE boys don't stop for traffic lights which made the negotiation of Palma 'rapid but interesting'.

Tuesday. In theory a rest day. Some of the team hired motor bikes to go and watch the day's stage. Two of us did 45 miles of level 1 just to keep the legs from seizing up.

Wednesday. Coach drop at Pollensa up to Lluch then over the huge Hors Cat climb of Puig Major. Absolutely stonking snakeback descent of 12 miles at over 35mph down into Soller. Over the Col, then back over the hill to Calvia. 75 miles.

Thursday. Palma, Sineu road, Sa Cabanta, Santa Maria, Sancelles, Costitx to Sineu where we sneaked a few laps on the track. Team Time trial back on the lovely road from Sineu to Palma. 70 miles.

Improvements for next year

The trip was a great success. However, in true BCC style we looked at where we could make minor improvements for 1999. The main points we will roll forward are:-

Masseurs. Most of us certainly couldn't have got through 7 days of training without the daily leg and back massage (I have 6 screws holding my lower spine together so a day's climbing gives the back some serious jip). However, one masseur and one rider/masseur between 13 riders is too high a ratio. For next year I will be looking at a ratio of 6:1 and those who want a daily massage will have to pay extra for the priviledge.

Bike transport. Having three bikes damaged was just hassle we could well do without. There was no major damage and most of it was fixed for free, but it was a pain. Two of the lads have said they will drive a van load of bikes and bags over, so I'm costing that one up as a possibility. If I find a way of doing it for around the cost of two flight tickets I'll put an addendum on the bottom of this article.

Hotel restuarant. Many hotels break their restaurant up into small tables and will "show" you to a table. This means you are spread out all over the place. For next year I will be asking for a large team table to be permanently reserved.

Total Cost

The total cost for 1998 worked out at 230 pounds per person. The general concensus was 'Cracking Value Grommit'.

Above picture shows the famed Baywatch and Timmy attempting to recover on the flight back

Last Update 03 May 2000

	it's only 30 minutes from the Aiport so you don't lose hours in coach travel
	we arrange our own coach (see later) so it's cheaper if you keep the distance down
	after 2 years we have now learnt how to get through Palma
	there is a choice of hilly or flat daily routes
	the Tour of Majorca is based in Magaluf so you can ogle the teams, and have Chiappucci three doors down the corridor. The Brits in the hotel all think you are riding the big race and ask how you got on today! - if only.

	rooms all together in the same corridor - with a rooming list of names
	storage space, or a cleared room for the bikes
	a cleared room for the team masseur
	a fixed 'team' table in the restaurant

	Friday late afternoon. Shake down ride into Palma, then out towards Establiments, then left towards Calvia up a rather nice three mile climb. From Calvia there is a good plummet back down into Palma Nova and back to Magaluf. 25 miles.
	Saturday. Palma, and out on the Manacor Road, left to Santa Maria, through Sencelles to Inca. Inca to Alaro then up the 2nd cat climb to Bunola and a fast run in to Palma. 80 miles.
	Sunday. The Tour was in Palma so we had a morning ride via Paguera, Capdella, Calvia and Estbliments to Palma. Watched the opening stage then a flat loop out to the East through Algaida and Santa Eugenia back to Palma. 70 miles.
	Monday. Big hills. Andraitx, Estellencs, Valdemossa, Palma. Two 3rd cat climbs and one 2nd cat. Ouch. 70 miles. The heros went on further to Soller and then over the Col de Soller to Palma. On the Col they were caught by the ONCE boys climbing on the BIG ring. With some hard chasing they got back on, and offered to work with the group. Johan Bruneel told them they should sit in and they received a cracking tow back. Apparently, the ONCE boys don't stop for traffic lights which made the negotiation of Palma 'rapid but interesting'.
	Tuesday. In theory a rest day. Some of the team hired motor bikes to go and watch the day's stage. Two of us did 45 miles of level 1 just to keep the legs from seizing up.
	Wednesday. Coach drop at Pollensa up to Lluch then over the huge Hors Cat climb of Puig Major. Absolutely stonking snakeback descent of 12 miles at over 35mph down into Soller. Over the Col, then back over the hill to Calvia. 75 miles.
	Thursday. Palma, Sineu road, Sa Cabanta, Santa Maria, Sancelles, Costitx to Sineu where we sneaked a few laps on the track. Team Time trial back on the lovely road from Sineu to Palma. 70 miles.

	Masseurs. Most of us certainly couldn't have got through 7 days of training without the daily leg and back massage (I have 6 screws holding my lower spine together so a day's climbing gives the back some serious jip). However, one masseur and one rider/masseur between 13 riders is too high a ratio. For next year I will be looking at a ratio of 6:1 and those who want a daily massage will have to pay extra for the priviledge.
	Bike transport. Having three bikes damaged was just hassle we could well do without. There was no major damage and most of it was fixed for free, but it was a pain. Two of the lads have said they will drive a van load of bikes and bags over, so I'm costing that one up as a possibility. If I find a way of doing it for around the cost of two flight tickets I'll put an addendum on the bottom of this article.
	Hotel restuarant. Many hotels break their restaurant up into small tables and will "show" you to a table. This means you are spread out all over the place. For next year I will be asking for a large team table to be permanently reserved.