Ride to Petra-San Joan-Sineu-Llubi-Sa Pobla

Our "traditional" first day ride is to Petra. Some gentle rollers with no mountains and a relatively easy way to acclimate to Mallorca climate and traffic. The climate was perfect. The temps stayed in the high 60's/low 70's today and we only had wind on the last three miles in from Sa Pobla. It is always blowing from the east on our return in the afternoon, so there is no way to avoid it. We still managed a decent pace in spite of the wind.

We enjoyed our coffee and snack in Petra, after a 24K ride along the coast and then inland. The square had some shade and the break was needed on the first day of riding. Here's the group on our first break.

Since it is Wednesday, we extended the ride to visit the market in Sineu, the largest open air market on the island. After our stop in Petra, we headed further west to San Joan then north to Sineu to catch the last few hours of the market. We actually found a space to leave our bikes while we shopped for an hour or so. A few of our group had refreshments at the cafe and watched the bikes while others perused the market.

Please notice that our bikes were compliant with the directions of the sign.

The descent from Sineu to Llubi ("You bee") was glorious. The rolling hills resumed on the section from Llubi to Sa Pobla, but nothing really serious as we were heading into the central valley which runs west-east across the island. The mountains were ahead of us most of the day. And that's where we will be tomorrow with one major climb and a few switchbacks to get back after a descent to the sea and a ferry ride to another town.

Tomorrow- ride to Sa Colabra.