Day 6

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Wow, what a day!
Last night we discussed riding up the mountain to Orient today. I did not commit because I was more than a little worried about my ability to make it up a real mountain. Plus the desire to worry my mother to death before hand seemed silly. This morning, I decided that I should give it a try, you don't know what you are capable of if you sit at the bottom of the mountain. So I agreed to give it a go. Our plan was to climb up to town of Bunyola village of Orient which is part of the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range and then come back the same way so a big descent and then begin the rest of our ride. The rest our ride was to include a trip up to a different part of the north shore. Well we started climbing a few kilometers outside our hotel and I was nervous and taking it easy. As we neared the true base we made plans to meet at the bottom, I felt it would not be fair to Ed to make him wait at the top in case I didn't make it to the top. So we took off and Ed passed me quickly and went on. I pulled up next to two German men who I found I was keeping up with! I was shocked and stayed with them for several minutes trying to decide if I should pass or just stay with them, I was not sure what was around the next switchback so I was hesitant to pass. I knew it was eight kilometers to the top so I kept watch on the very well posted road signs. I decided if we were going to spend the better part of a half hour or so together I should get to know the Germans. I thought about how to start the conversation when everyone is pretty much out of breath and focused on the road ahead and the traffic behind. So I said "Excuse me, do you speak any English?" Absolute silence was the response. I thought about the few German phrases I know Guten Morgen, Guten Aubin, Scpiel Platz, Nine speken zie Duetch. None really fit the bill so I decided to shut up. So I climbed the rest of the way in silence, each switch back giving way to yet another, I would glance at my heart rate monitor, it never topped 149. I had decided if I topped 180 I would stop, it didn't so I didn't stop. On a nice flat near the top we reached the hotel called the H'ermitage and a younger German girl passed me and the German men. Not to be outdone I follwed her past the old men, praying that we would not hit another tough grade. We did not and at that point I met Ed, he said you have made it and he turned around and rode with me to the sign you will see in our photos. I was very pumped!!!! Ed got to the top about 15 or so minutes ahead of me, so in this case the hare won the race. I realized that I had to get the 8 kilometers back down to the base, this was almost equally scary, OK it is actually more scary. The guys I had seen cruising down were flying and it did not look like they were touching their brakes. Well I used my brakes and it was scary getting down the mountain. I got passed by three guys who were flying! It was like a roller coaster without being strapped in, Ed arrived at the bottom a few minutes faster and we headed Llosta and we had quite a climb getting there, I was not really expecting a big climb so my legs were crying a little. We stopped and grabbed a quick bite. We actually shared a Pa amb Oli so we could eat later since we were not starved, but needed a little pick me up. It was very standard, not amazing but not awful by any stretch. We then headed up to Selva and on to Campanet. This is the home to our first Pa Amb Oli. We did not stop, but I was able to get a video of the sheep with their bells ringing on this stretch. We ended up on a long beautiful bike path that was in the mountain range that I mentioned previously so we had some climb and some descent, but very rolling and not too taxing. The scenery was just gorgeous, I saw a sign for agrotourisme and I convinced myself that would mean I would find an orange farmer with big juicy oranges for sale, ok that did not happen, but the ride was just gorgeous, it was overcast but the scenery was mountains above us, valley below and trees and sheep everywhere. We finally got a little side tracked trying to get to Port de Pollencia. We ended up going up a few very steep short hills and in my opinion worse than the mountain. We pulled onto the coast and quickly found a cafe on the beach where we found the other food item Ed was hoping to have while we were here. Ed loves Paella, I am not a huge fan but as it turns out you have to order Paella for two at this cafe so I insisted that we order the shell fish Paella for two. It was pretty tasty. My favorite part was the huge slice of fresh orange they put in my sprite. I don't love sprite but it tasted great. At this point we both started getting cold.
I did not dress as well for this day of cycling which was a mental thing. I thought if I dressed in my normal cycle gear and had a hard time on the mountain I would look silly so I wore my baggy bike shorts and a long sleeve j crew cotton T. I was pretty sunburned in places so it was also an effort to cover my burned spots. Well, up the mountain I could have easily worn my cycle gear and cotton is not a great choice when sweating up a mountain. Oh well, live and learn.
So the good news is we finished the Paella and not only were we cold along the coast it started to rain. Not pour, but rain. So we ended up making a somewhat bad choice and instead of looking for the bike path of the coast we ended up taking highways into Inca. So if the North Coast is the Jersey shore then Inca is Jersey City. Prior to getting to Inca we were in Buger which is where we saw a call from Cheyenne so we called to find out that Miss Annie had finished her horse show with Huxtable a first for the two of them together and Annie got third place in her first test! Way to go Annie!!! That made the rain and traffic a little better, plus Cheyenne sent the best pics of Annie on Huxtable. They make a lovely couple. Of course so do Annie and Blue and for all of you who follow Annie's horse life Blue is still lame. Quick Annie side note, I think her riding is amazing, I could never do that it scares me to death to even watch her canter Huxtable. But she loves it!

Riding into Inca is the only point in the trip where I was a little upset with Ed, I could tell he was uncomfortable and anxious to get home so he kept going ahead, he would wait, but I was still a little frustrated because he would get pretty far ahead prior to waiting. I wasn't physically uncomfortable just frustrated with the rain on my glasses and my cold cotton shirt sticking to me. In fact right after Binisallem prior to the lovely bike path to our hotel he waited and asked if he could have the rest of my water because he was out. I was so ticked off I literally tossed it on him. Well we both quickly got over it and spent our last three kilometers riding on the bike path in the rain to our hotel recounting the highlights of our week in Mallorca. Trust me this place must be magical it usually takes us at least eight hours to get over any slight tiff.

Well we were soaked but happy and our mileage came in at 72 miles for the day which brings us to 332 for the week. All in all we are pretty happy, we didn't really have a goal when we arrived since we had no idea what to expect.
Thank you all for reading the minutia of our daily lives on vacation.

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Photos

Becky
Queen of the Mountian!!

Ed
King of the Mountain!

pa amb oli
The final one!

Cap't Jack Sparrow
I have a great video that we can use for blackmail of Ed's best pirate imitation!

Ed
The End!

Becky
The End!!!!!!!!!!!

Escargot
After the rain there were snails all over the walk from our room to the dining room, we joked that there would be a menu change to Escargot for this evening.