Majorca 312
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Thanks for all the messages of support. Just got back to Scotland in the early hours today so apologies for the late reply.
Glad to say thatās Mallorca 312 ticked off the bucket list š For those interested hereās a little breakdown.
The event was Epic and lived up everything that Mikey, Martin, Mark and others had told me and I had read about. The 312 expo was great ( Mikey I have some socks for you ) and some eager Englishman had to get my personal unremovable 312 id wrist band forcibly removed from wrist before getting it attached to mine for the next 48 hours. The wrist band, race number and shirt numbers were all mandatory to stop the increasing number of freeloaders.
Up at 3am in PP, cycled down with Craig in the dark to the start in Playa de Muro, as the nightclubs in Alcudia were spilling out, to be in the red pen for 5.05 in the morning. Used my foil blanket to keep warm while waiting in the pen, and ditched it when we started moving, only to realise we were only filtering further down the road so ended up freezing on red pen start line for a while. Doh. Never mind you warm up quickly as you hit the many of the iconic climbs.
The official start was 6.30 but I didnāt get across the start line until 6.50 so the 1st cut time at mile 60 would come in to play at 11.15. Didnāt panic and kept the effort and HR under control up Col de Femenia and Puig Major and kept it safe on the windy decents, and decided to cycle past the cut off and make it to the 3rd stop to refill water and grab a bite to eat.
Overcooked one corner on the coastal road to Andratx but managed to straighten the bike and get round without drama. Guy 30 seconds behind me wasnāt so lucky and had a nasty smash in to the 2 foot wall that was the only thing protecting him from a hundred foot fall on the rocks below. With 8000 people in the event plenty of crashes and seemed like you witnessed punctures and mechanicals every few miles ā reminded me of a FWCC weekend club run !
Probably relaxed too much for my next stop at Sa Granja at mile 98 and was guzzling my 2nd coke and 2nd sandwich when I saw the green jerseys ride by and looking at timings was 10 minutes behind. Made a mistake and only filled 1.5 bottles and as I set off knew Iād need up the pace to make CUT 2 at mile 137. I got in to a group and me and another rider did big stints at the front managing to average over 20mph for the next 40 miles, which were at that point much flatter.
Was glad to make the 2nd cut and even happier to see a feed station at Ariany at 152 miles as Iād been out of water for a good while. Mikey and others had told me about the party at Arta at mile 178, but it still takes you by surprise on the welcome and cheers when you cross in to the town. I stayed for a few minutes to soak up the atmosphere, grabbed a small refreshment, and then cycled to the finish 16 miles down the road.
The legs were fresh on the flat run in and had and had my family cheer me in over the finish line which was one of my highlights of the day.
Really happy with prep for the event (thanks to all the advice Iād been given) and having the weight at 70kg on race day helped on the climbs, with fuelling and with the heat in the middle of the day. New bike with 30mm tubeless tyres was super comfortable in the later stages where it becomes more like Ayrshire lanes, and had zero issues.
Glad that those long early winter training miles in to the Ayrshire Alps with a few of the hardier (crazier ?) club members, building the base miles, paid off, and if we didnāt have rain Sunday and Monday would have been out riding again. Did manage a Sa Calobra run on Tuesday and the legs felt good.
Itās definitely a bucket list event and well worth doing the full 312km, but now that Iāve completed the full event, would maybe be more interested in doing the shorter 225km version next time as it has all off the same main climbs.
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