We decided on a week’s holiday in Ibiza this year, as a break from Mallorca, and to find out how it compares. There isn’t the same cycling culture in Ibiza, but we chose the Tropic Garden hotel in Santa Eularia particularly because it described itself as “cycling friendly”. There was no special secure bike storage, but we were able to keep our bikes on our balcony, and in addition to that, there was a cold water dispenser on each floor, both very cyclist friendly I’d say.
After a few days exploring the area, I came up with this particular ride, with the aim of reaching the secluded bay of Calla Nadja at the north of the island. There didn’t seem to be anything much there, but the road leading there looked interesting, which was what we were looking for.
A leisurely breakfast saw us leaving a little later than intended on our gravel bikes. I made the decision to leave the road bike at home at the last minute, after finding the website of the Kandani bike shop, where I found details of the many gravel tracks in the area, and some sample routes to work from. Colette’s bike is also a gravel bike, but with 32mm road tyres fitted, it is a good compromise between road and gravel.
We cycled northeast out of town on the main road for a mile or so, with some moderate traffic, before going left onto a quiet country road. The network of camis is quite extensive, running through mostly tree-lined fields. My impression is that Ibiza is more wooded than Mallorca, the trees giving welcome shelter from the wind, which was forecast to be quite strong but in fact we didn’t really notice most of the time.
My route took various twists and turns to stay away from main roads, but we did need to jump onto the EI-200 on the approach to Sant Carles and up the short climb just after. On the descent, we turned left, actually staying on the EI-200, but the traffic rapidly petered out to an occasional trickle.
We were now heading north, with the coast close by on our right, giving inviting glimpses through the trees. It was a short but beautiful climb, culminating in a stunning view over to Sant Vicent beach and the rocky promontory beyond. Soon, we had descended to Sant Vicent and were enjoying a coffee and the view out to sea.
Next, we headed west along the road to Sant Joan, which involves possibly the longest road climb on the island, although 2.7 miles at 5.6% average (787 ft elevation) is modest in comparison to Mallorca’s mountain climbs. We had barely reached the bottom of the climb when I nearly missed the turnoff to Calla Nadja, which we were to explore first.
This turned out to be a treat. First, we enjoyed a twisty, turny ascent on what looked like brand new tarmac, with next to no traffic. After a mile or so, the new tarmac ended and we were onto rougher single track road. The road then split in two, with the straight on road private, and the road to the left heading down to the sea.
It was fairly gradual for a short time, then went downhill very steeply. I tried to put the return journey out of my mind and enjoy the scenery as we made our way down, very much as you do when heading down to Sa Calobra in Mallorca. There was the sound of chainsaws as forestry workers were busy at work out on the hillside. I said “Hola!” to a few as I passed. Then there was a final drop to the beach, with reeds lining the sides of the narrow road, making it feeling even narrower.
The beach itself was pebbly, sitting in a narrow inlet. It might normally be a calm haven, but the wind today was blowing directly onshore, with quite a big swell pushing waves onto the beach. It would have been a bit uncomfortable for anyone to launch a small boat from any of the slipways that lined the bay.
We took photos and ate some snacks for energy, as we were shortly going to be needing plenty of that. Then we set foot to pedal and began the climb back up. Passing the forestry workers again, they seemed friendly and encouraging as I puffed and panted my way uphill. After the first bend, I looked down and could see Colette making her way up behind me. The workers gave her an encouraging cheer as she passed.
There were extra steep bits peppered throughout the climb, some hitting 20%. This was much harder work than the Sa Calobra climb, but luckily it was a lot shorter too. I stopped after the gradient eased off, then Colette appeared a bit later, feeling chuffed that she didn’t need to push for nearly as far as she feared.
After that, we descended the lovely new bit of road back to the main road (EI-321) and turned in the direction of Sant Joan. The first part of the climb seems the hardest, being quite steep and straight for a while, before becoming a more typical Spanish mountain climb, weaving its way gently round the hillside, but never getting too steep.
I found a nice vantage point to have a rest and wait for Colette to appear round the corner before carrying on to the top. After that, it was a fast descent taking us to Sant Joan in next to no time.
We found a place to have lunch, and since they advertised bocadillos, we decided to have some. We both went for fried pork loin and cheese; very tasty, though Colette couldn’t finish hers.
By this point in the ride, I was noticing the chain sounding a bit rough in the lowest gears and was in need of some oil. So we took a look in the local supermarket and found 3-in-1 oil, but just in a spray can. It seemed a waste for a single squirt, seeing as I had some oil back at the hotel and the spray can would not be allowed on the plane home. In the end I decided to give it a miss, and as we continued the descent in high gears, I couldn’t hear the chain noise any more anyway.
My plan was to stick the the main road (EI-300) for a while, as though it was busy, there was a fairly narrow verge to the right of the white line to keep us away from the cars. Passing a bus stop, I pulled over a bit extra on hearing a vehicle behind, which resulted in a beep and a cheery wave out the window. I thought that was a bit over the top, but Colette said no, didn’t you recognise that they were the forestry guys (and gal)? They passed her first and had called out some presumably well meaning but sadly incomprehensible encouragement. That was really nice of them, and yes, I can be a bit unobservant at times.
A bit further on, we managed to take a left turn, away from the main road onto a network of gravel roads. Immediately, stress levels reduced and we could enjoy the countryside in peace. We absolutely loved the dusty white gravel tracks, and the added bonus here was that we were still going mostly downhill, so I found myself freewheeling and feeling a great chilled holiday vibe in the sun.
As we got closer to Santa Eularia, we moved away from the gravel to quiet camis, then busier ones, till we reached the town itself just as school was coming out. We put ourselves into that traffic, as we wanted to have a quick look at the town centre, and maybe even find somewhere selling ice cream. Well, we had to go without ice cream, but our backup was a visit to the Kandani bike shop.
The shop is quite extensive, with lots of nice stuff, at prices that might initially seem high if you are used to shopping online, but it’s the same everywhere. We decided to treat ourselves to some nice fancy new Camelbak water bottles, and we also found an adorable mini water bottle / holder for our 3 year old grandson Albie.
All that was left was the short ride back to the hotel for showers, some bike cleaning and chain oiling, then relaxing, which included starting this particular write-up.
But that was interrupted by the dreaded hissssss of a deflating tyre. Aaargh! I was quick enough to find out that the air was escaping from the valve area of my front wheel. I was pretty sure that meant curtains for my tubeless setup, so was resigned to sticking an inner tube in there instead. I’d brought plenty of spare tubes.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when I discovered that my tyre levers were missing. Either I’d somehow forgot to pack them, or else they had fallen out of my saddle bag somewhere. It was nearly 6pm, but luckily the bike shop stayed open till 7pm. Thank god for Spanish opening hours!
I turned up on Colette’s bike and tried to explain my requirement to the staff. It took a while, but when the guy behind the counter realised what I was after, he fished out a set of tyre levers from behind the counter and gave me them for free! Yes, things were looking up!
I got the tyre off easily thanks to these really top notch levers and set about washing off the tubeless sealant residues in the shower, all the time saying to myself this was fine, this is a cycling friendly hotel after all. However, the valve was another matter. Try as I might, I couldn’t budge the lock nut.
It took nearly an hour of trying, making my fingers red raw, trying boiling water and then dripping oil on it, till I finally got it to budge. My black mood immediately lightened. An inner tube was installed in a trice and just in time to go down for dinner. Phew…
But in the night, I woke with a thought. Why would the air leak out via the valve hole? If it wasn’t the valve, maybe there was a hole in the rim tape. And if it was that, then the inner tube would probably bleb out into that same hole and burst too. I couldn’t sleep after that, so went out onto the balcony at 2.30am to check, and sure enough the tyre was indeed flat again.
Not much sleep was had after that, but needless to say I was outside Kandani bike shop as it opened and they came up trumps again with a roll of finest quality rim tape. That saved the day, so a mere 40 minutes later we were able to get going on our final day’s ride. It was yet another great day out, and I hate to think what would have happened if the rim tape had failed when we were out on a ride, or if the bike shop hadn’t been so close by. Just a very good reminder to think of all the bits and bobs you need in the unlikely event of a serious mechanical.