Cycling Getaway for Winters (Where are you going?)

Thanks a lot for the extensive review. It sure looked like an awesome trip. I’ve done some riding down there but never in the coffee área. I have Letras in my bucket list both tarmac and off-road.

I have been there for a day trip. I didn’t really like the look of the village/ promenade.
My biggest gripe with it for cycling would be, that it’s about as far out from the Serre de Tramuntana as the island allows.

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You‘ll definitely have that. As I said, only been there for a day trip, so there is likely a lot more to CM, than just what I saw. Roads are really good throughout the island and you’ll likely find a few nice climbs still.

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Through Arta nice climb to Ermita de Betlem. Go south to Sanctuary de San Salvador, nice climb to the top. MA3330 from the Arta road to Petra (nice square and cafes in centre) is “the ever-rising road”. MA 3321 is a nice road off the 3330 through a quiet valley to Manacor

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You could just put a sticker on it saying „this is not what you think it is“.
That would probably clear up the confusion.

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I’ve never had a problem taking ziploc bags of drink mix when traveling, even when divided into smaller, more “suspect” bags.

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Three weeks ago on a trip to AZ I took four 90g ziploc bags with me. First time I was stopped going thru security. The powder was inside my bike helmet along with a couple Clif bars, gloves, bike computer, etc. Told them I was a cyclist and it was bags of sugar. The TSA inspector first tasted, and tested the mysterious white power. She joked that it tasted good LOL. Added less than 5 minutes to security checkpoint.

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Did a quick trip with the provincial team to California a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, CA weather has been very sketchy this year with rain/wind/snow, but we managed anyway.

Stayed in Thousand Oaks and went up, down and across the canyon roads. To anyone that hasn’t been and is looking for an accessible and affordable US/Canada destination, that’s it. The riding was absolutely gorgeous, most roads are in great condition and traffic was quiet on most roads (there’s a couple main highways I’d absolutely avoid). Will definitely be back, hopefully to sunnier skies! Happy to share more info and routes if anyone’s interested.

Not exactly a winter getaway unless you live in half of Canada, but will be headed down to San Diego in mid-April for BWR. Three days of riding followed by a race, will be a great time! That is another amazing destination, though I’d say LA is a couple steps above.

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I’ve stuck it in my suit/bikecase before and have never had a problem.

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Week one on Costa Blanca is in the books, and I’m enjoying every bit of it.
The weather is really close to perfect, with 18C from around 10am onwards, and highs of around 22C, sun all day, zero rainfall (which is actually in a shame, with Spain slowly but surely becoming a desert, but I am not complaining for cycling purposes).

I brought a gravel bike with 1x, with 2 sets of wheels.
47c Pathfinders for the rough stuff, and 35c G-One RS for road and hard pack.

The first day I tried to plan a mixed road and gravel ride based on Komoot, which turned out out to be a bad idea. On 3 occasions I ended up at a closed gate, or a private plot with free running dogs.


The landscape was beautiful regardless and I found a nice climb right next to our hotel.

I did several more rides, with road and gravel incorporated. Just really amazing.

As some mentioned before, it is a lot more varied than other cycling hot spots.

I think it’s very much comparable with the hinterlands of Marbella.

Planning gravel routes can be a little challenging, with the gravel often being super chunky and routes being mega steep.

For road, it’s super easy though.

Road riders everywhere. I have seen a lot of World Tour pros. A team training from ISN, but Uno X and many more too.

The climbs can be pretty challenging, with many of them being rather undulating, low avg gradient, but many steep ramps along the way.
Colle de Rates is planned for this week, but I did this monster last week, for the best view of Costa Blanca:


So, I can definitely recommend the area, that also offers great food and loads of hotels and rentals.

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I’m off to Malaga for work in November - I’ll be there for four weeks with lots of flexibility with regards to work times and thus when I can ride…

Anyone have any must do climbs/places to visit/must ride areas?

Thank you!!

Out of just „climbs“ definitely do „Antennas de Mijas“.
Best view of any climb on Costa del Sol, and really tough.

Regardless, I’d advise to definitely do a ride into the Sierra de las Nievas. Very varied and beautiful. See
My post from above about that:

The garage

Also a tip is to stay the hell away from Alcudia & Pollenca. I honestly don’t know why anyone stays there considering how far it is from the airport, all the British (no offence…), and even most important, so far from the nice roads in the west.

My favourite is Caimari or Alaro, perfectly placed in the middle, great way to get better access to Andratx, Puigpunyent, Estellencs and Esporles which have GREAT roads and climbs :slight_smile:

Also, don’t forget to stop at Doble Coffee in Esporles, great Eggs Benedict.

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Shhhhhh. Definitely don’t go to Alaró.

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Hahaha, Ill edit the post :rofl:

I was in Calpe last December and have what might be an unpopular opinion but, Malaga > Calpe!!

I’m staying about 45mins from the airport and have the option to battle the coast and wind or escape to the mountains.

Great roads. Great food. Great weather.




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I know it’s not 2023 anymore, but have 10 beautiful days on Gran Canaria behind me (sadly) and can absolutely recommend it for cycling and hiking.
The landscape is among the most stunning I’ve seen (a lot of similarities with something like Utah and Arizona on the southern side, and like Maui on the North Side.
I find the landscape more beautiful and the riding more varied than in Tenerife. However, especially the roads above 1000m of altitude can get relatively awful (there are exceptions), which you won’t see on Tenerife.
Also, I find the Restaurants and hotels on Tenerife easily superior to what I was able to find on GC. I was at Salobre Serenity hotel, which is among the highest rated hotels and officially „cycling friendly“. That’s Bs. You CANNOT ride your bike from the hotel, because the only way to get to anywhere is the GC-1, a high speed highway where cycling is prohibited. But I’m not the only idiot to be fooled. Two EF Easypost riders had booked the hotel as well and complained about this as well.
All in all though: beautiful island and great for riding:








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Beautiful!

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Any thoughts on Valencia for cycling? Was planning a trip there with my wife back in 2020 which was cancelled due to Covid, we are looking at finally going this May. We chose that destination before I was cycling but would be interested in renting some bikes to do some cycling outside of the city while there.

Bucket list cycling destinations for me would be Iceland and Siena Italy.