Mallorca 312 - anyone done it?

Considering doing the full Mallorca 312 sportive this fall and wanted to get a sense of how hard it is and where you need to be as a cyclist to finish within the 14 hour time limit. I did LaMarmotte last year in 10:35 and it was the hardest thing I have even done on a bike (ie I could not have done 10:34). Mallorca 312 has around the same total elevation and less sustained climbs but it is also alot further in terms distance. While I have done a number of ironmans and centuries, it would be the longest ride I have ever done. To add to the challenge, I am in the Netherlands with lots of great riding options but few hills or climbs to train on in my area (we have lots of wind instead). Be grateful for any insights or specific training recommendations that worked for you.

Hi, highly recommend this race - I did it last year (completed 225km distance, because I had a training camp afterwards so didn’t wanna get tired).

I’ve done more than 10 70.3 and 3 fulls, but IMO almost no race could be compared with Mallorca 312 (of course, it’s not correct to compare triathlons and road races, but I just describe my personal feelings).

Great atmosphere and organisation, lots of people, beautiful nature and full road closure for cyclists. Definitely gonna come back.
Probably you’ve already checked some videos on youtube about it.

312km is absolutely doable for you, even with a lot of stops at aid stations.

There will be a fork at ~210km, so you can either go for 225 distance if you feel very tired or make 100km more (it’s quite flat) for a full distance.

I saw a lot of young and old people successfully completed that race, you just need to train accordingly, including some long rides, train your nutrition and know how to change tubes fast.
The start is around 7 a.m, so have some sleeves/gloves. During the race it’s usually quite hot, so better use a sunscreen.

Looks like a fun event! I have not done the Mallorca 312, but with all the Ironmans cancelled, I’ve been experimenting with ultracycling races the last few weeks.

I agree that if you can do an Ironman, the distance shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. A rule of thumb I’ve found is that if you take the distance you’re training for, and do that consistantly as a weekly training volume, you should be able to finish the race. And doubling it sets you up to do really well.
(Example: in marathon training, if I run 26 miles / week, I can survive. If I run 52 miles / week, I can PR.)

But cycling doesn’t beat up your body as much as running does, so you can survive longer distances compared to what you’ve been training.

I was amazed to be able to survive riding 950 miles in 4 days, when I had only been training 300-350 mi / week (not counting swimming and running). Though I would not recommend this approach! Was barely able to make it to the finish line, and if I ever try that again, I’m going to do a lot more volume! Blog post here if you’re interested: https://www.gingerhowell.com/blog

As far as the elevation gain, even if you can’t train hills, just make sure you have the right gearing. And it wouldn’t hurt to do some climbs on Zwift - or do some outdoor rides with lower cadence to train for the hills.

I found with excessive distance & climbing, my limiting factor was my knees. It helped to massage my quads and IT bands, since they get tight and pull up on the patella. Though I did not start having issues with that until well past 312 km.

Other things I found helpful were wearing two pairs of bike shorts, keeping anti-chafe cream handy, and really staying on top of nutrition.

Hope this helps - good luck!

Cheers,
Ginger

312 is a brilliant and very well organised event, there’s a reason why so many Europeans go to Mallorca for cycling holidays.
Enter early as it sells out fast.Get to start early (at least an hour) as it gets v.busy and working through the crowd at the start is manic until you hit the first real climb (~30k in).Take extra food/drink and big bin/trash bag (or something else you don’t mind dumping at start) to keep you fuelled and warm before you startGet your fuelling plan down, there are plenty of very well stocked aid stations,so you don’t need to carry too much.Most importantly make sure you stop in Arla towards the end for a beer, the locals make the effort to set up beer tents and appreciate it if you do.
I did with no training rides longer than 6hrs, but did do a lot of days training on the bike back to back ~5-6xdays a week.

My only complaint is that everyone gets the same ‘312’ medal and cycling top, even if they didn’t actually do the 312.

Yep done the race 5-6 times.

It is a super race, very challenging, with 5000m of elevation in the first 130km, then quite rolling for the rest of the course - course profile makes it look flat, but it is not really.

100% closed roads.

Wide range of abilities, from ex pro’s at the pointy end through to mums and dads at the back.

A fast time is 9-10hrs to be in top 100. For everybody else set a time limit of I think 16 hours when the roads re-open.

Amazing scenery, great roads, good atmosphere and supremely well organised. Race is normally at end April, but in October this year for COVID related reasons. Weather in October is the best of the year.

Also a half race (167km) which covers most of the best scenery and is very popular and very competitive too at the pointy end.

Love the race so much I moved to Mallorca 2 years ago!!

Usually fully subscribed, so need to book your spot early.

Any more questions would be happy to answer.

Thanks to all for the replies. This sounds like it will be alot of fun and a real challenge. A couple more questions:

Training: Having done the race several times do you have recommendations on how to train and what’s worked best in the past for you? In particular, I’d be interested in whether you think it is necessary or helpful to generally do weekly or bi-weekly 6+ hour mega-rides or focus more on overall volume (ie 6:30 ride Saturday and a 1:30 easy ride on Sunday vs 4:30 ride Saturday and 4:00 ride Sunday)? If you do the mega-rides how big do you go and how often?

Pacing: Any suggestions on pacing to make sure you make the cut offs comfortably? I can see you probably want to average overall around 15 mph to make it in 13:00 but that does not include rest stops or the fact that all the climbing is in the first half where I’d guess the pace is quite a bit under 15 mph. Can you suggest any particular junctions/landmarks/rest stops that you’d want to hit by X time in the first 2/3 of the ride to stay on track?

Nutrition/Hydration: Any information on what they usually have at the aid stations and what it makes sense to carry yourself? The aid stations at La Marmotte last year were real mob scenes until near the end and cost me some time but I need to refill the bottles and kinda had no choice. Also, did you shoot for any particular amount of calories per hour?

Thanks again.

To try to answer your questions:

Training - I am not a coach! But each time I have done the race I finished in the top 50 - this was always the longest race of the year for me by far - but I did no specific long, long stuff in training - just my regular 3-4 hr rides. Also the old guide of “you do not train for a marathon by running a marathon” probably applies here too - so I think no need to do any mega days in training, but some 100-150km rides in the 4-6 weeks preceding would seem sensible.

Fuelling - the first stop at Gorg Blau is just water and toilet - but the rest are very well supplied - water, coke, some sort of isotonic liquid. Lots of real food, sweet and savoury. Even beer - non alcoholic and regular at the last stop in Arta - amazing atmosphere here, ebbed a brass band playing, seems like the whole town turns out for the spectacle Lots of volunteers at every stop, have always found the stops to be quite user friendly. Toilets at each stop too. But no mechanical support.

Pacing is tricky because the first half is slow due to all the climbing, 2nd half is fast as much more rolling terrain. So can only suggest to keep it steady and keep well fed and hydrated.

They do a good job with photographers around the course.

The race jersey that comes with the entry is nice - mine actually get used regularly post the event which is unusual for freebies.

To get a good spot on the start line, best to arrive 45-60mins before the start.

Important to mention is that you can choose your distance during the race - if you feel good after the first 100km, turn right and do the 312km - if the legs are weak turn left at the junction and head back to Alcudia and finish the 167km. Hard to say how many do each distance, but my rough guess would be maybe 40% do the 167km and 60% do the 312.

Super atmosphere at the finish when the time cut is made after 13 hrs. Fireworks, crowds, beers etc…

When do the entries open for the 2021 version?

…usually in September/October.

Have sold out quite quickly in recent years.

But hard to tell what the demand will be on these Covid times. Probably more than 50% of the field are from overseas, so not sure how keen people will be to travel and mingle with 5-7k other starters. So they may have difficulties filling the entry list for the Oct 2020 and April 2021 versions.

To reiterate what the others have said, this is a great event and amazing value for money!

  1. Get in the pen early. We didn’t and spent a lot of time overtaking for the first 20-odd miles and the 1st aid station had nothing there as we were quite late getting to it.

  2. The first 90-odd miles in the tough hilly section, after that it’s flat or rolling.

  3. Our little group stopped at all the aid stations and we had a couple of mechanicals, so near Alcudia we got swept by the ‘sweeper’ group, this was incredible and was essentially a super quick group ride with 200-300 people bumping shoulders…great fun!

  4. Arta is cool with beers and celebrations, but we didn’t have time to stop due to chasing cut offs.

  5. On the training side, none of us trained specifically for this event, we were all ‘bike fit’ but we hadn’t done mega long miles in the saddle.

If you get the chance to do the event, take it, you won’t be disappointed.