For the runners and riders who participated we could all remember the breath taking coastal descents, the epic mountain views and the odd friendly push for a town sign………. but the reality of white knuckle descents at break neck speeds, desperately trying to hold onto gregs wheel, lung wrenching climbs which involved a singular view of your handlebars and stem desperately trying to cling to gregs wheel, and developing nervous twitches when approaching any sign of civilisation for the fear of all out attack by any member of the NOVA elite but inevitably sighing as greg crossed the boundary line at least a 100m clear……. Is all too vivid for those that attended!
Reality aside, an amazing trip was had by all, the laughing and banter (and don’t forget the pain) never stopped and I know I personally cant wait for the next adventure! A huge thank you to the Mantis for outstanding organisational skills, it really was seamless and to Young Mike H for picking us some amazing rides……… I always did want to see the Majorcan ghettos
Now for the serious stuff… the immensely competitive, gut wrenching, blood sweat and tears competition….. The King of the Mountains….. The results!
This year, although it felt like every single lump and bump, on every single ride was fiercely contested, the King of the Mountains was officially only counted on 2 days, over 2 nominated mountains on each day. The scoring was categorised by Young Mike (aka Mike Hudson) into Hors, 1st cat, and 2nd Cat. Each stage was neutralised in the valley floor for a mass start and first over the top won and then counted the rest over the line. Points were awarded for all 12 riders. Those of you reading this may think this was going to be a white wash for the usual crew, but with riders like the Paul “the Mantis Lehan”, Paul “the Boss” Caswell and Dave “it wasn’t me” Morris recovering from nasty injures, and their normal top 5 placing in question; the relentless attacks on the non KOM mountains and monstrous (50mph – yes that is correct) sprints to the town signs was a tactic used to “soften” the legs of the competition!!!
However despite the “softening tactics” it has to be said that the Kettrignham brothers were in scintillating form, often using well rehearsed shlek brothers style tactics to wear down the competition. Paul “the Boss” Caswell, although still in recovery from broken ribs showed moments of excruciating form when his ribs allowed. The Mantis, was in search of pray at any given sign and often used sprint style tactics early in the foot hills to weaken the legs. Dave “it wasn’t me” Morris, nearly back to his peak fitness, set gruelling tempos which could only really be matched by that of the 3 peaks over 60’s and pensioners pin up champion vet, GK. Tony “the diesel” Bradley showed all day power that even had the mighty Stephen Roche asking for a 2nd round of toast at breakfast. Little Al used shock and awe style tactics to soften up the competition often working in close combination with a Mantis or Ricky P mid climb attack. Simon “The stig” Thomas gave cadence a new meaning and showed all round class on nearly every hill, while Simon “I own the road and cars can move for me” Hudson gave absolute commitment and gut wrenching accelerations to keep up in the top echelons. Ricky P showed clear signs of returning form from a 6 month lay off with an excruciating performance, tearing chunks out of all but the Kettringham brothers, Ricky clawed himself to the top of a huge pass in what was rumoured to be a 3rd place….. only to find it was the next one which was KOM……. Of course, no European commentary would be complete without a word for the mercurial Mike “I’ll just potter on” Hudson who showed absolute class in attacks and both Simon K and I will never know how he bridged the gap on one of “little” lumps back to Palma Nova!!!!
Anyway enough of the form, results are what count and those that want more insight should sign up for whatever adventure we get up to next year……..
Day 1 – 2 KOM mountains were: 1st Cat Soller Pass and the 2nd Cat climb of Galillea
Day 2 - 2 KOM mountains were Hors Cat Puig Major and the Hors Cat Sa Collabra (yep that’s right that’s a 200km loop from Palma Nova)
Final KOM Results Majorca 2011-10-11
1st place = 105 points Greg “John Travolta” Kettringham (for the record he won every single hill we went up pn every ride… yep he was that good)
2nd place = 86 points Simon Hudson
3rd Place = 83 points Simon Kettrigham
4th Place = 76 points Mike Worden
5th Place = 44 points Paul Caswell
6th Place = 41 points Dave Morris
7th Place = 39 points Tony Bradley
8th Place = 34 points Simon Thomas
9th Place = 29 points Mike Hudson
10th Place = 18 points Ali Mitchell
11th Place = 10 points Ricky P
12th Place = 8 points Mantis
PS if the American from breakfast is reading this and you’re the one who said to me “ so what’s your sport dude, you’re too big to be a cyclist”……put that 4th place in your fruit salad and skinny latte… lyrca adds 10lb and im not the only one who likes bacon, eggs and maple syrup….
BigMike