24 hours to go until the Mallorca 312 ride—a 312 km “lap” of Mallorca. The route is not a true lap of the island, as it follows the north coast over the Tramuntana mountains from Pollensa in the east to Andratx in the west, but then cuts across the centre of the island rather than skirting the west and south coast. The route passes about 100m from my door in San Llorenc; by this time the riders will have 275km in their legs, so we’ll be out there to give some encouragement. From us they head east to Arta, from where the route once more skirts the coast traveling north to the finish near Alcudia.
312km is a long day on a bike: average 26km an hour and you’ll still be riding for 12hrs — and that’s if you can average 26km/h including your stops! It doesn’t get light here now until about 7.30 in the morning, and it is getting dark about 6.45pm, so there’ll be plenty of riding in the dark for the many riders who will need much more like 16 hours to complete the course (an average of 20km/h).