Thursday 7 June 2007

Menorca

I have just returned from a week in the sun in Menorca. I (obviously) took my bike. Only my road bike as it is less precious than my newish Giant Anthem but a bike nevertheless. I managed to get out everyday and explore the island. It's an odd place and it's odd riding on holiday. I felt vulnerable riding on the 'wrong' side of road in a place with hardly anyone going anywhere with 2 wheels.

That said I did see a few roadies. And that itself amazed me. Menorca is 26miles long and 9 miles wide. That ain't big. And there aren't huge numbers of roads either. In fact there are 3 main roads and a few smaller lanes but to some of the villages on the coast you have to drive to the far end of the island to the capital and get on little lanes to them. There is no 'coast road' so loops were impossible. I spent the week riding up and down the main road from East to West, West to East.

Sounds like madness but it's all in a good cause - training for Mayhem. Only 3 weeks to go and we (both Jenn and I) admitted on the quiet to each other that we are terrified. That terrifies me even more because she has done it before and I'm a newbie.

But Menorca was surprisingly fun. The roadkill is different - snakes rather than badgers. And the whistling road workers are a lot sexier. So it had its perks. But it was still road riding and it made me realise yet again that mountain biking is the sport for me, particularly as I passed by intriguing looking tracks and wondered where they led to... Frustrating!

Fi

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Fi. Read your comments about road biking in Menorca. I am going ther in Sept and wondered if you had any issues with the flight operators taking bikes? I am flying with Monarch. I assume that you did not contemplate hiring one??

Cheers
Scoops

Anonymous said...

Hi, Should anyone decide to mountain bike in Menorca, visit Andy at www.menorcacycling.com
He has all the routes, rents bikes and does guided tours. Brilliant.
Louise