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Daniel's Wild Week in Mallorca - Day 6
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Part:
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Photo Credit:
Ulf Haase
A WEEK OF SKATING IN MALLORCA, SPAIN (Day 6)
by
Daniel Edman of Stockholm, Sweden
From some stupid reason I wake up early this particular
Friday morning, clearly remembering departure was set
to 8.45. At 7:30 I leave the warmth and comfort of my
bed and short after I´m with the others in the breakfast
room. They still keep talking about the mountains and
again I search the hotel for a doctor who can do an
instant mental check. But no such doctor is to be found.
At 08:45 the entire gang is standing outside the hotel, and
Johan informs that first we will head for the City Dump
outside Pollenca that was frequently visited during the
first two days. From there one group will head for the
mountains, he says, while the other group will be guided
by Karolin and Benny on more flat ground.
Up to the Pollenca City Dump the speed is moderate
and not many words are spoken, there seems to be
excitement in the air.
Outside Pollenca the mountaineers turn out to be
Johan, Ulf, Marten,Mats and myself. I just have
to be in, cannot stand the idea of hearing about
the mountains afterwards and not having been there
myself. In order to make the climb easier Ulf is
using his older plastic 4-wheel skates, Johan is
also on 4-wheel frames and Marten removes 2 wheels
from each frame. Mats and myself, the only real
Men in the group, use our ordinary 5-wheele skates.
Man or mouse, I just ask?
Photo Credit:
Ulf Haase
There is little traffic this Friday morning and we are
going road 710 westward from Pollenca. Marten reports 3
wheels are not enough on flat surface, he is slower than
usually but can still keep up with us. After some 4
kilometers the road starts ascending, and we skip the
drafting for individual speed and leg frequency.
The inclination increases and stays in-between steep
and very steep all the way to the very top. Maybe the
last few 100 meters are not that steep but at that
stage I´m too tired to judge.
Between steep and steeper parts there are hairpin
curves, which are not flat if you may think so. They
are equally steep and strength consuming as the rest
of the climb. We are basically not having one single
meter of flat ground until we reach the summit at 1600
ft altitude.
Photo Credit:
Ulf Haase
Maybe 1600 ft altitude does not sound too much to you,
in fact its quite easy both to say and to write, but
I suggest you skate it yourself. Until you have tried
it you would not know how it feels.
We are proud to say we performed this climb without
stopping, but in order to describe how my thighs feel
when reaching the top, I have to use the expression
"stiff like telephone poles in an Artic winter".
Once at the top we get a 15 minute rest before the car
comes and picks us up to drive us down to where we can
continue the skate. Since we are not having any brakes
we definitely do not want to go downhill these mountains,
so we arranged with a car to drive us down again.
The car comes, picks us up and drives us down to the road
crossing at Col de Sa Batalla. From here we keep on skating
to the summit at Gorg Blau, 1800 ft altitude.
Photo Credit:
Ulf Haase
Once here, the climbing activities for today are through
and with a final help from the car we are transported down
to Selva. This route down is steeper than the one we came
on our way up, and I´m actually happy the asphalt quality
is so poor it is basically unskatable. If it were not, Johan
would have gone for this route the day after. And "poor
stupid me" would probably have followed him…
Ulf and Mats are in a hurry to get back to Alcudia for some
domestic obligations. Johan, Marten and myself prepare for
a final 35-40 kilometer "speed blast" from Selva via Inca,
Llubi and Sa Pobla back to Alcudia. The conditions are very
good and the GPS indicates 35 km/h when we are working our
way home.
Photo Credit:
Ulf Haase
This day counts 84 kilometers and finally at home we skate
directly to the nearby Burger King for a fresh grilled burger
and something cold to drink.
<--
Part 6
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Daniel's Wild Week in Mallorca - Part 1
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