MALLORCA LIFESTYLE
acupuncture needles, giving me energy to fight the man flu and Joe pushed, prodded and cracked my back to release the pressure on my neck. Having ridden my mountain bike only twice this year and with no biking for over a month, I headed off for the 3 day mountain bike race in Menorca - www. camidecavalls360.com. I met up with my 3 other biking buddies for our 4 night trip. Paddy (Pat the Baker from Tipperary) & Linus (The ex-pro road biker from Germany) were riding together and Steve (RSB Rigging Steve!) & I were partners.
FIT FOR A HALF IRONMAN IN 10 WEEKS 6 WEEKS TO GO! Dan Marsh Owner & Founder www.marsh-mallows.com dan@marsh-mallows.com (+34) 616 529 111 My plan was to develop from a complete beginner Triathlete, to a lean mean fighting machine in just 10 weeks (see last month’s article in the Islander). I have amassed a team of professionals to support & push me to the start line and over the finish line (see the names below). So - here is an update on my preparation…. It wasn’t until the start of March that I started to feel vaguely
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human again. The intensity of the Man Flu was something that had never before been observed in a male Homo sapien. With my cricked neck rendering me almost useless - coach Jakub’s intense schedule was out of the window. In the last week of February, I managed to sneak in 2 strengthening classes in with Flor, a couple of spinning classes at Palma Tennis Club and the run analysis tests at Bicimetrics. No danger of me braving the elements & doing any outdoor exercise… The risk of a relapse was too great, especially with the Epic 360 mountain bike race in Menorca looming on the horizon. Gudrun wielded her magical
Our rendezvous was set for 05:45 in Santa Maria. We popped an informative Tim Ferriss podcast on in the van and blasted our way down the motorway to Alcudia. We then endured the slowest & choppiest sea crossing in history, resulting in Linus spending most of the trip on deck, gazing at the horizon or the bottom of a narrow tubular paper bag! These pro-cyclists yeh!! Nearly 4 hours later we docked in Ciutadella and drove to the event base in Es Mercadal - more or less in the centre of the island. Whilst other competitors bedded down in the local sports hall or hotel, we enjoyed the luxury of a 4 bedroom Airbnb, wonderful red wine, entrecôte steaks from www.comercialvera.eu, pasta with shaved truffle & a selection wonderful cheeses/ smoothies. A world away from some of the hotels & food Linus endured during his professional cycling career. Camí de Cavalls 360º consisted of three stages of pure mountain biking, through an exciting and technically demanding tracks. The organiser created routes that included inland tracks and the most attractive sections of
the Camí de Cavalls. The Camí de Cavalls is an ancient path of 186 km encircling the island (GR 223). It is widely accepted that the path was built in order to connect watchtowers, fortresses and cannons distributed along the coast of the island and to make the transport of troops and artillery easier. The stages of the race averaged 65 km and 1.110 m of elevation. The routes were very technical - far more than those in Mallorca. The terrain is so varied it is incredible. Coastal cliff top single tracks are swiftly replaced by large disclike pebbles on the beach. You then find yourself carrying your bike up steep jagged rocks, before blasting inland amongst the pine forests on 4x4 dirt tracks. The whole experience was fantastic, but serious hard work… One of those that when you look back you think you enjoyed in more than you did! Unless you are Steve, who seemed to love the whole experience - especially the driving rain of Sunday’s stage. What is certain, there is no better way to see the stunning, rugged coast line of Menorca Thank the lord… the return ferry on the Monday was a smoother/ faster crossing, resulting in much more verbal communication from Linus and a bit more abuse aimed at Paddy. I dropped the bikes at www.ciclosgomila.com for a well earned service and was back into training Tuesday. Wednesday was my first dip in the pool this year!!!!!! I joined Maria’s group at Palma Tennis. The 45 minutes session, with a variety of different technical drills really got me thinking (worried). I totalled 1500m with lengths of regular crawl, fists clenched, one armed strokes, fins, no legs, no breathing, sprints, backstroke… it was brilliant. Friday I did a 2km swim test, I thought it would be good to see how fast/slow I