Balance On A Bike - The other side of cycling

Those of you of long blog experience will know that I am more than happy to quote feedback or comments that you send me. I don't recall though ever having a sort of guest blogger for the day. So something of a first.

Occasionally, I do get pulled up. There was once an accusation of anti-Catalan sentiment, which was quite unjustified. The post in question may have suggested this, but there were and have been plenty of others that are anything but anti. Though I may now and then "go off on one", I try and avoid one-eyedness. Blogs, comment pieces and so on are easy to exploit as a means of presenting one particular point of view or prejudice. God forbid I should ever sound like a Leapy Lee, and were I to, I trust someone would be good enough to shoot me. Balance in all things is important. So when someone suggests to me that I might not have been balanced, rather than dismissing this, I can accept the point and also happily seek to redress the balance. And so it was that, following a recent piece about cycling, I had an email from Marcus who questioned the balance. An exchange of emails has ensued, and Marcus has forwarded what is today's guest blogger feature. Over to you, Marcus ...


February is the time of year when you might start to notice groups of cyclists, in all sizes of groups, appearing on the roads around Alcúdia. From individual, mature loners who look like they have spent their whole life on a bike, to identically clad groups of Germans or Danes happily going about their daily holiday excursions. There are times when, as a driver, you may have been put out slightly by these pedallers in lycra, but let me offer some explanation of the type and why they happen to appear in the first place.

For the northern-European cycling enthusiast, Alcúdia holds a number of charms and I for one have been taking advantage of them for several years now. First there is the wide choice of good quality hotels, and those that open this early in the season seem well prepared to pander to the needs of cycling groups. They provide exactly the facilities in terms of comfortable rooms, keen prices, bike storage, relaxing pool areas and abundant nutritious food that we cyclists look for. Then there is the great Alcúdia beach to enjoy at the end of a long day in the saddle and finally there is the town's perfect position on the island, just a day's ride and back from all kinds of places like Soller, Porto Cristo and Sa Calobra. Even the monastery at San Salvador is a comfortable jaunt away.

We've been coming to Mallorca for so many years that it has been tempting to try other areas, but Arenal meant a dull ride through the lowlands of the south or the busy roads of Palma at the start of each day and Magaluf was just a bit cheesy unless you wanted a drink-fest every night, which was not our bag. Nor did it offer many escape routes other than the busier west coast road or a route straight uphill at the start of every day.

No, Alcúdia is almost perfect and what better way to finish off a day's riding than an all-out burn-up along the coast from Pollensa. We all suppose that the smooth, well-maintained Mallorcan roads are a result of EU subsidises, but wherever the money came from they provide a welcome respite to the pot-hole littered lanes of Surrey. And there's the considerate approach of motorists too, which also compares favourably with the hasty, "don't make me late", get out of my way driving skills of many in the UK.

Here I must reference Andrew's previous post about some cycling bad habits like running red lights and not giving way where needed, none of which are to be condoned. As a rider I don't intentionally ride to block the road for any driver, after all an angry driver is far more a threat to me than an happy one. But bear in mind that if you approach a group of riders, even after they have realised they are holding you up, it may take a moment or two for them to organise themselves into a narrower line so that you can pass safely. A short, friendly toot on the horn before and after the overtake is all it should take. Try it, the friendly thank-you wave from the front of the group may warm your heart for the rest of the day! And then there are the Mallorcan winds which can easily blow a rider a few feet off course without notice, so please leave a healthy gap as you pass.

Finally there's the issue of lycra, which other writers on Mallorca, not just Andrew, seem to take slight offence to. Well from the horse's mouth the reasons for the crazy garments are two-fold. Be seen and be comfortable. I'm sure we'd all look very smart in black Paul Smith tailored jackets, but the Mallorcan truck driver might just not see me in time and my poor wife and kids back home would be distraught if that jacket was returned damaged! And how sore would my more delicate areas be after 6 or 7 hours in the saddle unless I dressed carefully in appropriate gear? Don't worry we do normally change into more suitable attire before frequenting the local bars and restaurants in the evening, so you may not even notice us unless you eaves-dropped the boring conversations about who rode fastest that day. In that case, come and say hello and give us something more interesting to talk about, please!


QUIZ
I never understood what the video had to do with the song, but which duo (or band even) featured in a cycle race?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.