Preparing for the training camp at home
Rental bike
The road bike training camp organisers and bike hire companies have such a wide range of rental bikes that you can leave your own bike at home. It also pays off: transport by plane to and from Mallorca, for example, costs between 100 euros (Condor) and 200 euros (Tuifly). This is pretty much the same price range as the one-week hire of a racing bike in the high season (spring). The cheapest racing bikes cost around 100 euros, carbon racers with electric Di2 gears and disc brakes around 200 euros.
In order to get a bike in the right size and with the desired equipment for your road bike training camp, you should book early. It is also best to take out hire bike insurance with the hire company! This costs between 10 and 20 euros per week and covers material damage caused by a fall or accident; some hire companies charge an excess. Theft is not covered. Therefore, never leave your hire bike unattended, for example to have a quick coffee at the bar! Or at least take a lightweight cable lock with you for such cases.
Saddle bag
A spare inner tube, pump and tyre levers are included with most rental bikes, but not always. It can therefore be a good idea to take your own saddle bag with a mini-tool, cartridge, inner tube and repair kit.
Seat cream for road bike training camps
Even if you never protect your seat flesh with cream at home: The training camp at the start of the season is an exceptional situation with many kilometres in quick succession. Your backside is not used to that.
Sun protection for road bike training camps
Make sure you pack sun protection with SPF 50 for your road bike training camp. Many people underestimate the power of the sun in spring (even when it's cloudy), especially by the sea, and burn their winter-weary, pale skin.
Hand luggage
Admittedly: It's rare that the suitcase doesn't arrive on the plane; if it does, the helmet, cycling shorts, jersey, cycling shoes and pedals for the first few rides are missing. If you put these items in your hand luggage, you are not taking any risks.
Laundry net
If you don't want to take fresh cycling clothes with you every day, you can have them washed in most hotels after the tours (ask in advance!). It's best to take a laundry net with you to keep your clothes together.
Road bike training camp: Behaviour on the road
Drive on the right
Cyclists on Mallorca must always ride on the right. If available, they must use the tarmac hard shoulder. But be careful: there are often reflectors anchored in the ground. The requirement to ride on the right does not apply on descents, where cyclists may use the entire width of the carriageway. Also: Groups may only ride in rows of two on wide roads.
Right of way as a group
If cyclists are travelling in a group, they are seen as a single vehicle. If the first cyclist enters a junction or roundabout because no vehicle is coming, the whole group can follow.
Turn left
Unlike in Germany, cyclists on Mallorca must keep to the right-hand side of the road when turning left outside built-up areas and turn from there; you are not allowed to turn into the centre of the road. Exception: there is a turning lane.
During the road bike training camp
Prepare correctly
Not cycling during the winter and then cycling almost every day for a week at a road bike training camp: that can't work. Start cycling training at least four weeks before the training camp - in bad weather on the roller or spinning in a studio.
Find a suitable group
Almost all organisers offer rides for different ability groups. Lengths and average speeds are usually given. Don't go too fast on the first day, fat metabolism training is done very slowly! If you feel underchallenged in the slipstream, you can do more leading work or accelerate briefly on the mountain - and otherwise switch to a faster group the next day.
Taking a break on the road at the road bike training camp
Unless the guide is planning a longer break anyway: Ask for it! Eat something. Training camp is the worst time to think about losing weight or counting calories. If you train hungry, you can't perform. If you pedal with low blood sugar levels, you won't be able to concentrate - one reason why many accidents happen in the last hour of training. And a break is also sociable: finally time to get to know the other participants in the road bike training camp. You can also take short coffee breaks on long rides - coffee stimulates the fat metabolism.
Warming up and stretching
Before breakfast, a gymnastics session or an easy, short run (perhaps by the sea?) wake up the body and prepare it for the bike tour. Stretching, fascia training and a few strengthening/stability exercises are also part of the programme after the tour. Most hotels have fitness rooms, but you can also do a lot in your room (take a mat with you).
Take a rest day at the road bike training camp
After three days there is a rest day, otherwise there is a risk of overloading! And a rest day does not mean: 60 kilometres easy. Use it as a holiday day and discover the region without a bike. Three tips for Mallorca: the capital Palma with its cathedral and old town, the artists' village of Deià in the Tramuntana mountains and the s'Albufera Nature Park, the largest wetland biotope in the Balearic Islands (on the Bay of Alcúdia), where thousands of migratory birds rest in spring.
Road bike training camp: tips for do-it-yourselfers
Choice of location
If you don't book a package holiday for your Mallorca training camp, you can save a lot in Playa de Palma. The hotels there tend to be slightly cheaper than those on the north coast in Alcúdia or Can Picafort; above all, they can be reached by bus in just a few minutes from the airport. Even a taxi only costs 10 euros. Taking a bike on the bus is free of charge, but in the hotel shuttles it costs up to 20 euros (bikes also cost extra in taxis). However, you not only save money, but also time: package holidaymakers sometimes spend two hours on the bus because the hotel shuttles cover several hotels. Playa de Palma is a good location even without your own bike in your luggage: there are plenty of bike hire stations there.
Start time
Mallorca is particularly busy at the main locations, such as around Alcúdia or Playa de Palma, at the morning departure times. Those who train individually are quickly wedged between the large groups, overtaken by them or have to overtake them themselves. That can be annoying. So either start earlier or later. The exact time depends on where you live. Very roughly: before 9.30 am or after 11 am.
Road map for road bike training camp
The Huerzeler Bicycle Holidays cycling map is a good help when choosing a route for your road bike training camp. Huerzeler shops can buy. The map also shows small, tarmac garden paths and warnings about unsuitable main roads.
Cycle highway
Parallel to the motorway, there are often signposted service roads, called "Via de Servei", which lead quickly and almost car-free into the interior and back.
Racing bike meeting point
Mallorca's ultimate road bike meeting point, the café-filled plaza in the pretty village of Petra, can be incorporated into many longer road bike tours. When the weather is nice, several hundred cyclists sit here at lunchtime over coffee and almond cake.
