Last day for most riders on the Wheels in Wheels training camp, so it was pretty much a do-as-you-like day; fine by Team RCUK, since we fancied a recovery day. This we decided would mean a flat ride across the middle of Majorca to Randa followed by the steady climb to the sanctuary above.

Snapshots from the day:

It’s quite nice, for a change, to be just riding along in a group of two with no shouting out every hole;

The Majorcan landscape is incredibly varied, especially through the middle;

The smaller roads are both wonderfully quiet and very pretty;

Nothing much seems to happen on a Friday morning in the average town;

The sanctuary above Randa looks harder to reach than it actually is;

A young lad in Team Sky kit almost loses his back wheel descending from the sanctuary;

A bottle of Coke produces almost instant recovery but needs proper backup;

DA abandons all thought of a recovery ride on the road from Sa Pobla through the marshes to Alcudia and gives it bulk wattage into the wind;

Tolo’s bar does a superb seafood risotto and excellent cheesecake;

The Madone attracts attention, but the Bontrager Aeolus wheels get the comment; “I’m experiencing a serious case of wheel envy” from an admirer at Tolo’s;

Can I ride it “as fast as it looks?” Er, no. Sadly not. But then it does look very fast