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I went to Mallorca 312 km and ended up doing the 167km as I missed the cut-off. This is a blog about what I learned.
I attempted the Mallorca 312 in April 2025, but I missed the cutoff time for the longer route, so I was unable to take part in the 312 and had to ride the 167. I was gutted, all those winter days in the saddle were for nothing.
I want to try again next year, and I learned a lot, so I’m sharing here what I learned.I also suspect it will be quite cathartic whilst I try to get over the failure.
I did a lot of training, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the mountains.The first 90k of the Mallorca 312 is brutal; you start climbing at 20k, and you don’t stop until the first cut-off point.
I live in Suffolk, so training for climbs wasn’t easy, but I needed to do more set interval training and getting a few days in some hills would have been helpful.
I also needed to be lighter.The problem with the training was that I started training hard 6 months before, but a more successful approach would have been to train lightly and lose weight, then train hard.As soon as you start training hard, you won’t be losing weight as you are building muscle and eating a lot of calories to be able to achieve the long rides and tough interval training.
I started training lightly after returning from Mallorca 312, and two months later, I’ve lost 5kg. My goal is to shed another 5 kg before resuming “hard” training.An 8-10kg difference in weight will make a significant difference on the climbs.
I did a 296k ride a few weeks before the Mallorca 312 – I wanted to make sure that psychologically I could do it.I think that was a good idea, but I would not have done it as near to the ride as I did – at least 1 month before would have been better, as I was incredibly tired after that ride and didn’t quite get my training right between then and the Mallorca 312 day.
Most of my preparation was good, but I missed two key things:
1) Understanding what average speed, I needed to be at throughout the first 90km to hit the cut-off time.
The start was fast (but not fast enough, which I explain below), but as soon as I hit the hills, the average speed dropped and dropped. I naively thought the downhills would bring it back up, but they were simply not long enough, and I lost a lot of time.
I put this down to lack of experience on the hills – I didn’t know how hard I needed to be pushing, and wasn’t trying hard enough, or as hard as I could, as I thought I’d get the speed back.
2) Garmin settings for climbing
This might sound quite simple, but I’d forgotten to add back the climbing setting on the Garmin, which is the page that shows you the climb, where you are, how long to go, gradient to go etc.
I’d taken this off in my training because it wasn’t helpful (there are no hills in Suffolk).It would have been valuable on the climbs, and I think it would have helped me drive harder on the climbs.
Even though I failed at my objective, this is a great sport and I enjoyed the majority of it. Here are some key things I learned.
All of the course timings are from when the first cyclist crosses the line, so all of the cut-off times are based on that.That means if you start 30 minutes after the first person has crossed, you already have 30 minutes to make up.
I knew this going in, and I was lucky in that the group I was with was placed in the “pink section”, which was second to go after the VIPs, and the group lead knew how to get us as far to the front of the “pen” as he could.
As a result, I crossed the line just 15 minutes after the first cyclist went out. But I was still 15 minutes behind, and you need to account for that in your timings.Assume you are going to start 30 minutes after the first rider and calculate how quickly you need to ride to the cut-off points based on that.
You’ll be waiting in a pen for at least 45 minutes, and it’s 6 am, so take a warm layer. Ideally waterproof – I was thankful for my Albion top! Some people take old tops and discard them at the start so that you could do that too, or if you’re lucky enough to have someone take your top and look after it, that’s another option, but I’d suggest something for the start as you’ll be waiting around a long time.
I was with a group – we were not going to cycle together, but we were on the same tour, so we all rode to the start together.I was chatting to a couple who had done the route before and asked for some advice.
They were lovely and helpful, but they talked a lot about how the start was a bit edgy, with lots of people on all sides riding fast, and obstacles like roundabouts and parked cars to watch out for.They also said the climbs could be daunting, as you have people all around you and have to be aware.
I’ve been cycling for 15+ years and done many sportives and ridden in groups, so none of this would normally faze me, but for some reason, this stuck in my head.
Also, it rained at the start.Which was a surprise to everyone as it wasn’t forecast – a huge downpour whilst we were in our starting point.This meant lots of people started explaining to be cautious as the roads would be slippery to start.
None of that played out.I didn’t feel daunted by the large crowds of cyclists at any point, the start was easy to navigate, and the rain dried up quickly, and I didn’t feel it under my wheels.
But because of this, I started more cautious than I would usually have done, which is an excellent segue into the next learning.
The first 20km is a wide, flat road heading out along the coastline. It’s also beautiful, and the sunrise can be seen across the water.
But it should and needs to be ridden FAST.I was doing around 30km/h…. You need to be closer to 40km/h and on the wheels of a large, fast peloton ideally.
It’s only 20km, but this might give you those extra minutes that you need, plus it gets you out with the other riders that are pushing for the longest 312 distance, as they know they need to go quickly.
I made the mistake of thinking everyone around me was doing the 312k, so when I was overtaking people, I felt like I was doing ok for time.This was a mistake; many people are taking the shorter routes, and some are even doing the 160k route, which means they're not aiming to reach the 225k and 312k cutoff points.I fell into a false sense of security, thinking that if others were at this speed, it would get me there.
I realised I’d made the error when the 312k broom wagon overtook us, but by then it was too late, I’d lost too much time to get back.
The cyclists riding the 312k were riding aggressively in the left-hand lane on the climbs, weaving in and out where they needed to – they were pushing on.I was naïve and bumbling along, whereas I needed to be overtaking the majority of people on the climbs.
To have made the time, I needed to be pushing much harder on the climbs from 20k to 90k.It’s tough, but once you are at the cut off, you can take the foot off the gas a little if you need to – and the last half of the ride is relatively flat, so you know you’ll have some recovery there.
The designated stops are busy, especially on the climbs, as there is not much room, and one of the stops is essentially just a hosepipe of water running down the hill for you to fill up with water. Because it’s on the climb, it creates a traffic jam for people getting through.Not all of the stops have toilets.
I made the mistake of stopping at an undesignated stop and had to wait 10 mins for the loo, so I lost a lot of time there unnecessarily when at the designated stop just a few km after, there were portable loos with less of a line.
I took enough food to not need to get food on the route, and had it all planned to be eating every 1-1.5hrs, which I stuck to rigidly and it worked – although obviously I had food for a 12-13hr ride, not the shorter ride, so I didn’t test this completely.
Assume you are going to lose time at the stops, you will have to stop and get water at some point and go to the loo, and you’ll likely get caught in a queue going in or out of that.I’d say you need to assume you might lose another 30 mins at the stops (even if you don’t want ti stop, you might get caught in the jam).
I loved the downhills, they are wide, smooth, fast and offer great views as well as some welcome rest on the legs.
I read a blog a week or two before about how to descend as I was a bit rusty – well worth doing that, but enjoy, be safe and relax. This is the fun bit 😊
But don’t assume it will make you up any time!!
In the first half of the ride, you're surrounded by people, and everyone is friendly and supportive. So, chat to people, offer words of encouragement, but keep an eye on those watts and average speed, and make sure you're on goal.
Being in a peloton isn’t helpful on the climbs; you are weaving in and out of people constantly, but if you are in a small group, it’s ideal.
However, once you get on the flats for the second half of the ride, you want to be in a group.I found that I would be joining groups, dropping off or taking over and sometimes on my own.Don’t be afraid to join a group – most groups are made up of people who don’t know each other. Also, be prepared to put in some work – don’t always sit on the sidelines.
In the last 10km, I caught a small group of 4 and joined the back, but then took over on the front for part of the ride.
If you are doing the 312k, this is the only way to get you through those flats; it would be a tough ask mentally and physically on your own.
I took my bike – I can’t imagine doing 312km on a hired bike, but there are plenty of options if you want to do that.
We stayed at a hotel in Alcuida, which was just 4-5km from the start and an easy flat 10-15min ride to the start in the morning and back home again after. Just note that the ride there is dark, and you could be riding back in the dark too, so you’ll need lights.
The hotel was set up for cyclists, and for those doing the 312 km.It has a mechanics workshop, with pumps, etc., equipment and clothing if you forgot anything and a secure bike storage area. The hotel also opened their breakfast at 5 am the day of the ride for all the cyclists to get their breakfast, which was a nice touch – there is nothing quieter than a breakfast room at 5 am full of nervous cyclists ready to take on the 312
We arrived 2 nights before the ride, which meant I could get a quick, easy spin the day before. This was useful for warming up the legs and checking that everything on the bike was in good order.I did an easy 20km ride the morning before the event.