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Well, as James told you in his last blog update, we’re in Mallorca!

Yep, I pulled it off. I dodged a bullet with the whole Bollywood-extra obsession thing he had going on, and instead we’re doing something sane for his 50th.

My whole master plan worked. (insert evil laugh).

There’s the almost-birthday boy. In Mallorca and NOT in a Mumbai cafe awaiting abduction.

We’ve already had two rides on our terrific Trek Travel trip, one yesterday and one today, both fantastic. I’ll get back to that.

First, our hotel!

The Monnaber Nou hotel is a very old and restored set of manor houses situated on almost 400 acres packed with free-range sheep in the Mallorcan countryside. Step outside anywhere on the grounds and prepare to be serenaded by sheep baaing and no other sounds.  (Except James baaaing…)

This place is dripping romance and tranquility.

The view from our apartment’s front door.

And the food! Much of the food served at the hotel restaurant comes from their very own working organic farm right on the grounds. They even make their own olive oil, from the 150 year-old olive trees on the property. Coolness!

 

I had no clue we’d be staying somewhere so lovely, the hotel’s a total surprise. I mean, we’re part of a Trek Travel ride camp, emphasis on that end bit… RIDE CAMP.

 

No one expects luxury and gourmet food when attending a ride camp. Makes me wonder what the lodging is like on Trek Travel’s actual luxury bike tours. After all, my 50th isn’t too far off…

Our apartment’s balcony is top floor right corner!

Yesterday was Day One of the ride camp. When I went to grab my assigned bike, look what they had written on the name tag!

Not sure how they knew I call my own bike Lucy, but I thought it was a nice touch.

James calls this the “Bat Cave”.

Since people were arriving throughout the day, Ride #1 was on our own and “self-guided”, which means we followed the GPS directions in our Garmins provided by Trek Travel.

Our turn-around point on Day One’s ride.

Here’s the data from Jame’s Garmin:

 

It was a 38 mile warm-up gem of a ride that took us to the ocean and back. I won’t bore you with the ride details, but I will share this weird sign:


Doesn’t caca mean poop? So apparently, off that cliff ledge, there’s poop AND peril. Likely best to be avoided.

All in all, it was a great first day ride. After getting back to the hotel, we had dinner with our ride camp group (there’s 11 of us), and then played with Melanie for a bit before calling it a night.

It appears we are cat magnets, as it was not even 2 years ago our own cat, Mel, walked out of a tree and decided to move in. Melanie has been making similar gestures, but there’s no way we’re hauling her cute butt all the way back to the states, that would be insane.

I mean, that would be insane, right?

Wouldn’t it?

Because I’m totally not thinking about it.

…

So that was yesterday.

Look who we found when we opened the door as we headed out for breakfast this morning.

Today was the first of the serious rides, the Orient Loop.

It turned out to be over 60 miles and with a few mountain climbs thrown in… 4400 feet of climbing awesomeness.

I love when we roll through quaint Mallorcan villages and towns…

And wouldn’t you know, only 5 miles until done, I flatted. At that point we were riding with two other guys in our group, so we all pulled over and together changed it. Luckily Trek has us carry everything we need for roadside tire changes, so we were rolling in no time.

 

 

And now here we are post-ride and back in the apartment, both chillin’ like villains (I don’t know what that means), listening to the sheep try to out-baa each other, and killing time until dinner.

Nothing to do, it’s Selfie Time!

I’m looking forward to another night hanging with like-minded cycling nuts, enjoying local wines, and then walking through the grounds back to our apartment where I’ll bet you Melanie will be waiting at the door, or waiting somewhere along the line to accost us for ear scratches and attention.

Tomorrow is Sa Calobra day, gulp. The hardest of the rides we’ll do. I’m trying not to think about it.

Mallorca rocks, people! Put it on your bucket lists!

xoxo,

Stef