Here’s Why Mallorca Is For More Than Just Road Cycling!

Now, most of you avid bike riders would have probably heard of Mallorca. It's one of the most popular cycling destinations in Europe, and for good reason. Even the world's very best come here to train. The likes of Team Ineos have their pre-season training camp here each year. Does Mallorca really have it all for us cyclists? With gravel riding becoming more and more popular, I want to find out if you can do a gravel ride here on the island, a place so well-known for its road riding. Myself and Bernat, ex-pro and now GCN Espanol presenter, have come out to the island with our bikes, but not our road bikes. Oh, no, our gravel bikes. We're not going in search of the smooth roads. We want the rough stuff. Myself and Bernat have been out to Mallorca numerous times on training camps, but we've only ever ridden on the road. We're very excited to see Mallorca from a different perspective. Where do we go? I don't know. I thought you planned the route. You're Spanish. I'm from Barcelona. Mallorca is in Iceland. Oh, I know just the guy. This is Jan-Erik, a former pro cyclist that moved to the island 12 years ago. He now owns a cafe out here as well as a B&B for cyclists. Hey, Jan. Nice to meet you. Hello. Nice to see you. Thanks for having us. Welcome at MR13. Thank you. It looks great. Before we start, quick coffee? Sure. I think so, yes. That sounds like a good idea. He's been exploring the island by gravel bike for some time now, and he's been kind enough to give us our first taste of gravel riding in Mallorca today. You've been living here for 12 years and you came here as a pro cyclist for years. Why Mallorca? What makes you love Mallorca? This island is amazing. You have everything. You have the mountains, you have the beaches, you have a really narrow road with no traffic. For me, still, Mallorca is a cyclist's paradise. This place is pretty cool. Tell me a little bit about it. The idea starts 15 years ago when I was still competing as a pro cyclist. My training group from Cologne was a little bit sick about the hotels. If you don't have to care about these little things, you go to a place where you know there's everything. Even if you have a puncture with your bike, the tools are there, everything is prepared. Last week I had a customer, he came especially for gravel and he was very happy. Also for people, they are coming a lot of times with a road bike to Mallorca. When I convinced them to follow me for a ride on a gravel bike, they are so happy because I thought Mallorca is getting boring for me and I was thinking to have a ride in the Canarian Islands or whatever, but now I think I will come back with my gravel bike. Jan has planned out a 40-mile gravel route for us today, starting in the heart of the island in a town called Senau. Then we're going to head west, taking in lots of different gravel that the island has to offer, as well as a little bit of road chucked in there as well. Then we're going to loop around and we'll finish back where we started. Okay, Manon, let's go. When did you start discovering that you could actually do gravel rides here? So after I moved here, after a time I was a little bit not tired, but it was like, okay, on the road I meet my clients and I want to disconnect. So I just took my cyclocross bike and go out and explore my home area. But yeah, it's exploring, it's an adventure, and then if you find a nice single trail or whatever that brings you there where you like to go, it was always like, wow, that's so cool. It's also nice to show people they come very often to Mallorca, another side of Mallorca. At this point in the route, Jan is taking us up what he describes as a technical section up to a viewpoint, but with quite big rocks and the elevation of 255 meters, I have to be honest, for me and Bernhard, it's more of a get off and push kind of thing, but that's okay. That was worth it for the review. So you've ridden gravel in loads of different countries, but how does the gravel here compare? Here we have a lot of rocks. It's tougher and you really need to choose the right line to don't get a puncture. But we have really a lot of different kind of gravel here, but a lot of times you need to go on this rocky part. And another difference is that a lot of properties are private-owned and you cannot cross everywhere, but there are really nice owners that let you cross, but you need the knowledge where it's okay and where it's not. So I recommend to use the knowledge of a local with a guide or a planned route from a local to be safe and don't get in trouble. And that's how you find the nice little hidden spots like this one? Exactly. And we will continue to this wood there, enjoying a single trail and continue the ride. After taking in the breathtaking scenery, it's time to ride back down or at least try and ride back down. Can I go down there? I'm scared. We haven't seen a car or another cyclist. Yeah. Oh, that's true. Yeah. We're the only ones that know about this. Yeah. If something happens, we're in trouble too. Hopefully nothing happens. First taste of Mallorcan gravel. Very different to the gravel I've experienced before. I've only ever ridden gravel in the UK, Canada, and America. And I mean, here in Mallorca, you literally have all types of different gravels. We've just been up like really technical single track gravel. And now we're on, this could essentially be US gravel. It's quite nice and smooth, just like a form track. It can get quite busy in Mallorca. Loads of hundreds and thousands of cyclists come to the island to ride on the roads. And it could be quite a nice option to go on the gravel bike when it is really busy. Because I mean, we've literally seen nobody today. You kind of get a bit of peace and quiet and the tracks to yourself. You don't have to worry about tourists and cars. It's nice to have a bit of an adventure out on the gravel bike. And it's definitely been an adventure today. We've had a little bit of everything so far. Quite technical descents and up to that viewpoint where we could see right away around us. A little hike, you mean? A little hike, yes. Well, you know, I love an adventure. And now we're on the smooth tarmac. So yes, a bit of everything on this ride. And I've been banging on about loads of bike riders come to Mallorca because the weather's so good. And you're probably thinking, well, Manon, it looks a little bit cloudy there today. And yes, it is a little bit cloudy. It did rain a little bit this morning. But it's still so warm and still the perfect kind of temperature to ride a bike. But this ride has been truly spectacular. Whoa. Do you want fig? Huh? Do you like fig? Oh, fig. It's the late season of the fig, but you can still find some of them. It's good. So from everything already mentioned, like us, you might be lucky enough to find some fresh figs too. Delicious. Oh, skills. This has gone from being a gravel ride to a food tour. And we have now found some almonds, an almond tree, which I don't think I've ever actually seen before. In Whole Foods. This is a very healthy food. I dropped it. It's a very healthy food tour. Figs, nuts. When I'm out on my bike, I was like trying to spot animals and I was trying to think of like some New York and animals I could spot. And I mean, goats sprung to mind, goats and dogs. So I'll keep you updated when I find a goat. I haven't seen one yet. Okay, so it turns out all three of us were track cyclists and we're just talking about velodromes. And you had quite a fun fact about New York velodrome. Yeah, Bernard, explain. Don't explain, you stay there. Okay, I know that the track was a little bit too short. So the time when they were like counting the time, there were like a lot of records. Then they were measure the track again and they found out, oh, it's missing a bit. So everybody was taking world records on New York velodrome because it was too short. So obviously you're going to be quicker. And Bernard just announced that he will try to make the hour record in Palma Arena now because the track is shorter. I have found my first animal in Mallorca and it is not a goat. It is in fact a pig. Gray pigs or are they just really dirty? They are Mallorquin, eh? The Mallorquin pigs. Oh, wow. Excuse me. What do you think about gravel riding in Mallorca? It's not gravel, but to end our route back in Senau, we get to finish things off with a quick lap of the velodrome. I got to thank you. Bernard. Hey. Congratulations. Nice win. My first podium on GCN. Finally. You go too early. You went too early. This international podium we have here. At least we all made it onto the podium. So coffee, please. Yeah, and sandwich. No better way to end a gravel ride for some Mallorcan delicacy. What have we got here? So we have a mix out of this typical Mallorquin food. The ham, cheese. And you ordered this. Yeah, this is a fried Mallorquin. And it's like a mix out of vegetables. And in this case, we have pulpo inside. Octopus. But normally it's like the inner parts of the animal. Like it's really food from the farmers. They had after a hard day on the fields. What do you mean the insides? What, like the liver? Oh, yeah. Not sure how I feel about eating organs. Yeah, but it's like a farmer meal. Typical for this region here from Mallorca where they had a lot of fields and hard work to do. Very nice. Let's tuck in. Back where we started. Here we are. I hope you enjoyed the little gravel ride with me. It was great. Yeah. Thank you so much for showing us a completely different part of Mallorca today. I think I'm definitely going to have to come back again with my gravel bike. What about you? For sure. This place is great. It was awesome. All the gravel roads that you showed to us. Oh, thank you. And the delicious food. Don't forget that. Yeah, this soda salad. Yes, I'm coming back for the food and the coffee. Yeah, everything was pretty good. But yeah, if you did enjoy this video, then make sure to give it a big thumbs up and let us know what you thought of it down in the comment section below.