Mallorca 312
If Michael I were lucky enough to have not one awesome honeymoon in Los Alamos, but we also got honeymoon2 in no place other than Mallorca, Spain! Michael's boss at Jakroo is just wonderful, and for our wedding he gifted us a trip to Mallorca to take part in a Grand Fondo that Jakroo was sponsoring! And we got to stick around for a few extra days as well!
Our trip started with a 1 day layover in Zurich, as Michael had a business meeting. We walked around the city a bit, and this is the one picture we took. Fitting.
I didn't really know much about the Mallorca 312 Grand Fondo. There were two categories you could enter - the full 312km option that goes around the ENTIRE island... a 12+ hour excursion, or the 167km option that just went through the mountains and back. We chose the later. I didn't know much what to expect from a Grand Fondo. I figured it would be a pretty leisurely affair, with rest stops, food, and leisurely riding.
I started to get the idea that that wasn't the case the day before when we went to packet pickup, and people seemed serious, with timing chips, race numbers, and the like. We met up with Max Hürzeler, who was a promoter of the race, and long time friend of Jakroo. He told me I was supposed to win, so I guess I had better get serious!
We showed up to the start 30 minutes early, and there were BLOCKS of people lined up. Thank god Michael is Michael, as he had us jump over the fense and slot in with the first couple hundred of people. Yikes!
The first 20 miles were a bit hectic!
Me and my few thousand closest friends.
After about an hour we started climbing and things spread out..... there were water stops all along, but no one would stop! I was scared to death of getting lost and losing my group - afterall, I had to win - but soon I was out of water, begging European men I didn't know for a sip of auga and then refusing to pull through.... the last thirty miles all I could do was halucinate about water. I made it to the finish and there was no water to found - only this!
Thankfully I won so I got an extra big glass!
However, it was very heavy and hard to drink!
All smiles at the finish!
We stuck around a couple of days and got to do some training. This time I actually got to enjoy the scenery, as during the Mallorca167, I was so redlined, I don't think I saw much! Thank you Wayne Du and Jakroo for the amazing trip!
