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In Depth Product Reviews
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Have some fun in the travel section.
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
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beeeeaauuuutttiiifffuuullllll!!!!
me parece una buena fin de semana. Que buena idea me has dado por la próxima vez me encontre en España!
That area looks fantastic. Question: Are you needing to use European languages to get by on these trips? Or, is English with some high school French / Spanish sufficient? I would love to travel when my son gets older. I’m wondering if I should be investing in language classes now.
I do not want to start a war, but I hope you do realise, that English is actually a European language ;) But on the more serious side, anywhere on Mallorca, or any larger holiday destination (or basically any larger city, definitely on the Western/Northern part, or anywhere among the younger generation) in Europe, you will be perfectly fine with just English. French people might tend to be a bit difficult (by actually understanding you, but replying in French…), but maybe Ray can tell you more about that :)
Peter pretty much nailed it.
I speak, in order of functionality: English, Japanese, French.
Anything outside of that and I’m back in English. With the exception of Xi’an, China, I’ve yet to find a place on this earth that you can’t ‘get by’ with English and some amount of charades. And in the case of Xi’an China, an iPhone with Chinese characters displayed worked. :)
Hey, Can I ask a bit more about where you stayed? It looks awesome and gorgeous weather to go with!
You see, my boyfriend is a total cycling nut and I am trying to convince him to go somewhere sunny on hols – this place seems like an ideal compromise! Was it the whole island that was complete with cycling maps/bike hire etc or was that just the specific place you stayed? Any advice very welcome!!
Thanks :)
Hi Claire-
We stayed at the Hilton Sa Torree here: link to www3.hilton.com
We had planned to use points, but ultimately got a pretty cheap last minute rate that it made point usage silly. It’s a really nice quiet place though (the resort). As for as cycling goes, it’s at least this whole section of the island, but as others have noted, it covers quite a bit.
The sandy beach today was alright, not great, but OK. They have two pools a the hotel though – an adult-only pool and a kid pool, pretty much identical, what you see in the pics.
So from that standpoint, you could let him go and enjoy cycling all day, and you enjoy the pool/grounds.
Really nice to see your holiday snaps. Beautiful island. Sounds like a really nice break.
There is also a ultra trail race here that takes place every year. A clubmate has done it and highly recommends it. link to ultramallorca.com
Nice report!
You guys haven’t even scratched the surface of the cycling experience in Mallorca yet. This is THE goto place for the top European pro cycling teams for winter training because of the contrasting terrain (mountains in the north and plains to the south) and the cycling friendly roads and road users.
The ultimate day trip has got to be the ride down into and up out of Sa Calobra, a small village on the north coast. The one road into and out of the village has 26 hairpin bends in 10 kilometres including a 270 degree hairpin that has to be seen to be believed. You’ll want to be riding lightweight road bikes for this one!
Former pro riders Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche both have holiday companies on the island offering a complete cycling experience including accommodation, bicycles and rides for all abilities led by ride captains. They typically operate two seasons, February to May and September / October as these are the best months for riding in moderate temperatures.
The only caveat I would add is avoid Magaluf on the coast, unless you’re into 24 hour partying and binge drinking.
Concur. I’ve taken a couple of cycling trips to Mallorca and the riding is fantastic. Although I’m partial to the roads on the north western side of the island. The stretch between Valldemosa and Andratx is absolutely spectacular.
Hey, I saw this place on my recent trip down there (race bike training camp). Thanks for the fresh up. The road where it’s placed is called “piggy road” :-)
Not too windy? I was this winter not so far as your hotel, in s’arenal. It was wel cooler :D I’haven’t really enjoy to training in the wind. But I love the old city of Palma and the northern part of this island! So Beautiful <3
and so you are tennis players too???????
….or are you training for joining to the next French Open (Roland Garros)?
anyway, nice place!
Nah, I’m just using the occasional tennis game to improve my beer pong skills.
omg–that looked/sounded like a weekend in paradise! and grass tennis courts, too! although I suppose grass courts are fairly common in Europe. you two have created a very lovely life for yourselves :)
@Peter: Thanks. I know the British are sometimes on the fence as to whether they are European or not. :)
Nice write up about Palma de Mallaorca island. This reminded me of the time a friend and I backpacked through there way back in the 1990. Hope to go back and visit again someday and maybe do some biking this time.
How beautiful! It’s great that you both are so into doing active things together-and you look so cute together!
I looked at the date to verify the summer period but the place looks deserted.
In one way good.
Most of the resort photos I took later in the day when folks were back in the room. During the day (like Sunday), it was busy, but not crowded. Sorta a pleasant busy. I’d guess perhaps 20-30% occupancy.
Very very nice place. Must have been an enjoying weekend.
I understand the use of hub gears because of maintenance, it seemed that luckily they were not fitted with suicidal roller-brakes (overheating in descents). But for driving back up the only hubs that might work are a Rohloff or Alfine-11.
Mallorca is not only “THE goto place for the top European pro cycling teams” for winter training, there are a lot of Triathlon Camps too.
Hi Ray
I nearly crossed with you as I did 2 weeks in Mallorca just before you went out there – was thinking of you and whether you’d been out there while I was there. The North East of the island is a lot more Cycle/Tri-centric, and you’ll find many of the pro teams training out there from Feb through to May (before it gets hot). Wiggo’s old Pinarello from the TDF is on display in one of the bars in puerto pollenca, and lots of the cycling holidays are based around pollenca, Puerto Pollenca and Alcudia. Take a look at link to tricamp.co.uk; too, based in Pollenca.
I was out harassing the roadies on a city bike towing a toddler in a trailer, but did manage to get out on a 'proper' bike for a couple of days – again the 'proper' hire places tend to be in the locations i mentioned above. If you do go back and need some routes let me know and I'll get hold of some…
Kip
Awesome!
Nice! I’d love to go there myself some day…
And true: most french people speak only french the same way most american people speak only american english… Because they think their mother language is THE universal language…
Only, we are wrong ;-)
Nice report of my favorite island. Two or three times a year we are cycling there, with our own bikes but also with our wifes on normal touring bikes. Small Country streets, less traffic, great nature, mountains are always in reach and we love the option to have a swim or a “cafe con leche” whenever you want .
If you are interested have a look on my video from 2012 (40 Minutes with cycling on Mallorca) link to youtube.com
Hey Ray!
You should definitely come to Mallorca around march. It’s funny to see all the biker doing their climb at around 10:30am from Palma up to the hilton – kilometers along just biker.
Especially the town Petra is a Mekka, and you’ll love the fresh orange slices you get served when it’s hot.
On the spanish mainland you can also try Costa Daurada, but Mallorca tends to be more stable when it comes to weather (except this year when we had snow on Pug Major).
Also nice 70.3 in may ;)