Bikes boxed and bagged, Shiny Boy Arthur and I arrived at Gatwick, boarded, flew, landed, were picked up by Wheels in Wheels’ Patrick Trainor and deposited at the camp’s Aparthotel Duva with what we thought would be just enough time to unpack our bikes and ride out to Cape Formentor.

Unpacking the bikes is, of course, where the fun starts. My build went well enough although the freehub came away with the plastic spindle end cap transport protector when I pulled it out…

Dave, on the other hand, managed to strip the thread on his seatpost clamp. Luckily, this was the same 5mm thread size and bolt length as a bottle cage bolt and a repair was quickly effected.

But, by the time we were up and running and had assisted a fellow rider to extract his bike from a zip-bound box, we had just enough time to ride to the top of the climb out of Port de Pollensa and admire the view before dropping back down the twisting descent. Which at least allowed me to get to know the Trek Madone’s handling. It’s razor sharp…