Warmer...at sea level

It was a little warmer today. Honestly, it was hard to sleep last night because it was so cold. If I wanted to change positions, it would involve touching a freezing part of the bed. It was really hard to get moving this morning considering the cold and no way to get warm prior to getting on the bike. Right now I'm tucked in and a bit warmer than yesterday evening...I'm remaining hopeful. 

The sun was shining and it was a fine day to make my way into the mountains of Mallorca. These are some seriously huge, dramatic mountains. They reach into the clouds (and the humidity is so much that the road has no incentive to dry after being precipitated upon). It is cold, cold, cold up there. And the sun that was visible in town completely disappeared. The sun makes all of the difference in the temperature. I have been dressing properly (and am no stranger to epic riding) but still, when I'm soaking wet and cold I don't care to get too far from home or need to stop for any reason.

When the climbing was no longer fun and the pavement more wet than dry, I flipped around and headed back. There was a bit of climbing to do to get out of there. Finally, the sun returned and I was down to sea level. Happy, happy!


This is a shot from Pollença (I detoured and rode around this cute town. It had tiny, narrow roads similar to those I saw in the small towns in Italy, except this was a much more modern town with pavement).







I pedaled home, got more water and food and returned to Formentor. It's not every day one can experience a peaceful evening with the setting sun, great climbs and the Mediterranean Sea under foot.

Total ride time: right around 4 hrs, 2800 calories. Unfortunately, my left knee is very unhappy with me...I will play with my position on the bike tomorrow. If I can't get it right, I won't be able to ride. It felt like it was going to explode by the end of the ride today (that never happens...maybe it's all of the climbing?) 5800 feet of climbing total (if you believe my Garmin on that...not sure if I do yet). On a side note, the GPS has been a life-saver. I have leaned on it quite a bit and have found it very useful for leading me home when I've gotten slightly disoriented.