Darryl Gunson

Can you get me sun and flat i am in

Well it nearly midsummer day so maybe time to start thinking about it !!!
 
A few have asked me about a regular haunt of mine in the Cost Blanca so I thought I would give a wee summary.
Area is Moraira / Calpe. About 20 miles east of Benidorm. I have been about a dozen times with half of those being at Easter.
Weather, I have seen one day of torrential rain at both Easter and summer. Beyond that a couple of spots on an occasional day at Easter.
April temps are about 17-19c through the day.
Luxury villa to rent which could sleep 10 with typically a 10x5 pool would be about £1500 - £1800 / week at Easter. Not much if there are 10 or even 8 sharing that matter. Normally need to rent for a full week. Downside of course is that you need to man up and cook for yourself. Or maybe just breakfast as there are plenty restaurants. Special feature of the costa blanca is excellent Chinese where you can get the full bhoona with vino and schnapps etc for about 8 euros each, astonishing.
Cycling in the area is as good as anywhere in the world in my opinion. Pot holes are very few and far between. Roads are mostly silky smooth. Traffic is minimal once you go 15km inland. As in 2 tractors, 1 car and a donkey over 10 miles. Scenery I can only describe as 'heaven on earth'. There are quite a lot of cyclists around, nowhere near as many as Majorca! not so many through the week, ie lots of locals out at weekend.
There is an 'anytime' time trial on the Col de Rates. Which you can run or cycle. Hut at bottom where you take card and stamp it in machine then do same at top station. Then post card in box and your time will appear amongst the many on the Internet. It is 6.8km with about 330m rise.
Flights to Alicante airport are plentiful from Easyjet and Jet 2.
Car hire is the route I use and as an example Darryl and I hired a small car which took our 2 bikes for £80 for 5 days in Majorca. Plus some fuel. Car obviously very handy for supermarket trip. And occasionally I have driven up the climb from the coast and parked maybe 15 miles inland so as to be able to venture further into the mountains.
I may well be time strapped to go next year with different job role but would hope to get for 4 or 5 days. I guess if we go this route then we would just need to make a 1 week commit whether you are there all the time or not.
Finally there are bigger hotels in Calpe which are another option, a lot of the pro teams go there in February, March. Usually Astana and Saxo Bank.
So, an option to consider.

 
 
 
 

Jwcc made up half the bunch tonight with 6 oot for a blast.
The run out from Renfrew to clune was a gid grind.
I confirm my legs were indeed ground to a frazzle.
Good to see Richard back out and displaying fine form, Greg the chief grinder set the tempo with a crazy pace right from the word go, Davy and I felt compelled to keep going through for unity, Darryl only a week or two away from getting back to usual smooth and effective style and Davy T on his crash course to fitness
 

If you think we have it bad with potholes....check this one out. Thankfully it's in Ireland.
 

No midgies on the slip road tonight.
 
Only 5 riders out.
 
John S. 29.10
Iain Cou. 26.08
Ian McG. 25.30
Mike. 25.14
Big Al. 22.46

Is that why some of his bits are sore? I thought it was because he fell of his trike

I was thinking the same thing!

Very lightly used colnago for sale.
 
This bike has recently had a new rear mech fitted due to poor bike maintenance and new rear wheel due to poor bike handling.
 
This bike has hardly been over 25mph and hasn't done any climbing at speed.
 
There has been a lot of spray been thrown up at the front of the bike due to a lot of wheel sucking.
 
Will come with 120 euro bottle cage and a free lawyers fees if you have been on the wrong side of the law.
 
I am looking for £3500 for it, due to the prestige of the current rider and the extras that are getting thrown in.
 
Thanks

Good night tonight, nice to finally meet you all.
 
Pretty surprised at winning a couple of races. The last one just seemed to fall into my lap somehow - my legs were pretty much gone by then but there was a Nightingale rider on the front who for some reason pulled everyone along at a good pace for about 15 laps so i had a chance to ride along and not do much work, by the time of the bell i was sitting third wheel and pretty much in an ideal position for the sprint, without having done anything to get the position.

Pie for me

Well helllo everybody!
 
Just had my bath and all the dressings on!
 
Decided to finish the ride with a small gymnastics routine after a crater of a hole was covered with water!
 
Was in a bit of shock and apologies to Hugh and Andy but don't think I could of missed it! The couple from beith phoned the ambulance and kept me warm also looked after bike, going to pop over tomorrow night to pick it up and take something over (fingers crossed not too much damage)
 
Hospital thought elbow was broken but xray was ok! So it makes me officially the hardest man in club! Belter of road rash down thigh and gash on my ballon like elbow.
Elbow and ribs are agony and Dr said it is going to get worse tomorrow!
 
Other than that felt great whole run and even got kom on the wall climb!
 
Thanks everyone that helped much appreciated and although we all have banter everyone fairly chips in when the sh#t hits the fan.
 
Thanks
A stupid Toole x

Well summed up Chung ...a cracking trip where the weather didn't stop play with my Garmin reporting over 400 miles with excess of 25,000ft of climbing in the week. The Sa Calobra in particular was stunning, almost unwordly, and just felt priviledged being there to be honest.
 
Would highly recommend as a cycling trip with the Hotel Duva being a great base really well set up for cycling - I would see myself going back.
 
Roll on next years trip....French Pyranees would be good (round Luchon area) but have been looking at the hotels / set-up of Paul's regular stamping grounds of the Costa Blanca and this might be a good early season shout given flights, costs etc.
 
Davie

Someone tell Charlie !

Before Martin gets in , it's called Beallachandrain. Cafe stop Otter Ferry or Tighnabruaich. We can easily catch Billy on the way back to Dunoon.

Billy....my Lezyne pump is good and weighs less than co2.
A few of us have the pump in rear pocket and don't think one has fallen out yet.
 
Would've liked the C11 but will be in Dumfries for my 40th...yes, I know!!
Me..40!!

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

Hi All,
 
Here are my take on the trip, also some Garmin stats & photos for anyone thats interested.
Most of us only went for 5 days, so others can fill in the gaps before we arrived & after we left.
 
Day 1 Saturday
Arrived at hotel after lunch time with really bad weather. So, no bike ride, just settling in & building up bikes and chilling out.
 
Day 2 Sunday
Terrible weather again, but made it out for a short ride to Formentor (light house) with Ritchie after we got lost from DavieB & Richard. We dumped into Darryl & Paul in their car up the climb after their early morning "gym session".
The first part of the climb before the 1st viewing point was great with smooth new tarmac only to be spoiled by "slow" descending coaches. The fog was pretty bad near the top and visibility was not ideal but we made it to the end. The ride through the nu-lit tunnel was a really surreal & scary moment indeed!
http://connect.garmi...ivity/307347559
 
Day 3 Monday
Another p*ss day of weather, but after a lot of he-hor-ing we eventually made it out for nearly everyone around 2ish to explore the nearby hills. From Pollenca to Lluc passing the monestry, we all climb as a group all the way up to the jubction of Sa Calobra but time was late so a quick descend back to PP were we formed a train with a group of English cyclist with some very expensive & posh bikes indeed.
http://connect.garmi...ivity/307347537
 
Day 4 Tuesday
At last the sun came out and the whole place change- the atmosphere & mood of the group transformed to one of frustrated hope to eager anticipation. An early start of 9am for the whole group of 15 set out to do a few "hills".
Pollenca - Campenet - Alaro - Orient (climb)- Bunyola (Cafe stop) - Soller (climb)- Puig Major (climb) - Lluc - Pollenca
What a hard & magnificent day of cycling, the climb & switch backs was hard but the descend was absolutely brilliant.
I never really like descending back here, but the smooth roads & the layout of it made me enjoyed the descending so much more, it really did put a bug smile on my face.
http://connect.garmi...ivity/307347514
 
Day 5 Wednesday
Sunshine again! We didn't all go out as one group today, some want to take it a did easier from the day before. So, Billy, Charlie, Al, Richard, Davie, Scott, Ritchie & myself went as a group heading towards Ritchie's must do list for this trip - Sa Calobra (he wanted to go because he saw Bradley Wiggins did it for his training)
Pollenca - Campenet - Caimari - Lluc (climb) - descend into Sa Calobra - (lunch) - ascent of Sa Calobra (climb) - Pollenca
http://connect.garmi...ivity/307347473
 
Day 6 Return to Glasgow
 
The trip for me has been brilliant, I have been trying to go to Majorca on 2 previous occasion but failed on both times due to volcanic ash & airline going bust. So, for me it was a long time coming & I thoroughly enjoy the whole trip even with the poor weather to start with. I would definetly go back again in the further, it has so much to offer us cyclist. The hotel we stayed in was fantastic with great facilities for everyone, but particularly cyclist!
On a separate not - Billy get some proper tyres & try to look where you're going, 7 punctures on this trip must be a record even by your own high standard!
Tom, I hope you get your bike & Rapha gear sorted after coming down on those slippery when wet lime stone roads!
 
Link to some images (Some were taken by Scott)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55693145@N05/sets/72157633415617478/
 
Cheers the now!
 
So, where we're going next year then.............France?
 
Chung

I have an entry i am not using. Anyone feel free to assume my identity. Top 20 finish last year so no slackers !

Apparently this is quite a read Richard...
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mid-Life-Crisis-Mallorca-ebook/dp/B008DK43Y8/ref=sr_1_53?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366972705&sr=1-53&keywords=mallorca
 
 

I've packed Trivial Pursuit for most of us, Snakes and Ladders for Billy and Twister for us all

Forecast looking much better now for Sun-Wed......
 
http://www.holiday-weather.com/puerto_de_pollensa/forecast/fourteen-day/

Well there was certainly endurance in in the endurance night. Might just be the best nights track racing so far I reckon. 160 laps of mostly eyeballs out racing. Never more than 100 before.
 
B group had
A wee 10 lap warmer ( Lewis 1st, me 3rd)
A 40 lap scratch, ( me 5th, Lewis saving his legs wisely)
A 50 lap points, (blank results)
Than the coup de grace, a 60 lap scratch ( Lewis 2nd by a whisker, me 4th)
 
Magnifico
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Training what?
No-one told me!
Oh well, I shall publish my "Postcards from the rear of The Bunch" or "The loneliness of the long distance cyclist"
on our return.
 
 

Daryl
I no a good set for that
Mind you it ends up in Magaluf then some cross training

Boys, have a great holid..... I mean "training camp" hope to see you the following week whiter than you went out!
X