Friends and long-time partners, The 5th Floor cycling team, have recently returned from their annual training camp. His legs having recovered, team captain Rudy summarises the trip and relives the short but sweet experience.
-- RF.
We at The 5th Floor try to get away as a team at least once a year and this year was no exception.
Heading to Mallorca, we treated the trip as a cycling camp – an opportunity to get in some mid-year training and miles – but also as a cycling holiday. The distances matter, but the latter was most important to us; an opportunity to go away with friends, have a good time and enjoy the rides.
Mallorca is the Disneyland of cycling. It’s a bit of cliché, with vast numbers of riders making the yearly pilgrimage there, but it’s a cliché for a reason. Just a couple of hours on a plane from London, its roads are smooth, its climbs iconic and its scenery close to unparalleled. We enjoyed coastal views, mountain passes and winding Spanish lanes both on and off our bikes.
The distance we covered wasn't huge, it was the vertical metres of climbing that were tough. 361 horizontal kilometres were covered, but within that was 6,783 metres of climbing in just four days – the equivalent of heading to the top of Mont Blanc one and a half times.
One of the best part of the trips was hanging out and spending time with friends. Dropping back and helping each other out if anyone wasn’t feeling particularly strong; making each other breakfast; preparing lunch – everyone had different duties, helping and contributing where and how they could.
My duty most days was to make our morning coffee. I took a large V60 dripper with me and would brew up a couple of 1-litre batches for the six of us to enjoy as we went about our pre-ride preparation and rituals before finally rolling out.
Grinding coffee for six people with a hand grinder was challenging, but fun – all a part of what became a morning ritual and allowing us to appreciate our morning filter event more.
To read more about The 5th Floor’s trip to Mallorca, and to keep up-to-date on their latest races, news and updates, you can visit their website.
Rudy and The 5th Floor team were brewing our Los Altares filter coffee using our ceramic Porlex Hand Grinder and a V60 drip filter. You can purchase some of the last bags of Los Altares here and find everything you need to brew the same way at home in our hardware section.
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