Sa Calobra KOM

A classy acknowledgement by Ed Laverack as well (forget which comments I saw it on).

Apparently TP took the KOM up and down?

45 minutes here. Had a great ride by my standards, lots of other riders on the road which provided great motivation to constantly chase, some sneaky undertaking of buses on hairpins so as not to lose momentum.

Thought I would have bettered it on subsequent years but no.

He was a way off the fastest on the descent but was fastest on the down then up segment, beat me by over an hour but I don't think he stopped at the cafe!!

Christ. Almost exactly ten minutes better than my best.

Still never been able to break 30mins.

That is bonkers. He is clearly taking it nice and easy in the wind down to Christmas.

34.06 is my best, average heart rate 174bpm, but that was back when I was 42. Don't think I'd get near it now.

I don't think I'd fancy following him down it either.

It honestly took me longer than 22 min driving up that climb in a car :o) Well done Tom.

That is bonkers 😲 😮, 52 minutes here*,thought I was flying 😆 🤣.
Fantastic climb though,and always fun timing it 'just right' through the corners with tour buses on the way down.
* a younger/fitter me. 😉

Similar to TLR, think I was about 32 or 33 mins, but that was when I was light….65kgs and an FTP of just over 300. I did aim for a sub 30 but I always struggle when it’s hot. Couple of team mates did really fast times, I made the mistake of following them at the start and then dying half way up. And in my defence it wasn’t our first or only climb of the day…..got to get the excuses in!
Nowadays, I’d be lucky to get up it on an ebike though!

I didn’t like the descent though, took me about two days…..buses everywhere, cyclists on the wrong side overtaking others etc. was a pretty nuts descent….I just plodded down praying the brakes wouldn’t melt the carbon rims!

40:52 here, 169bpm 241w...fairly certain I could take a minute or two off that yet but not likely to go sub 23 😂

I did the descent in 12:07 and nearly killed myself, won't be trying that again!

35:56 here, 80kg ish though!

Can't see me ever getting near that again tbh. Who knows

31:45. But that was 8 years ago. Managed a short 33 in 2018, not been back since.

I heard he was training for the giro. He's probably fatigued as he's been doubling up on CX for the last few weeks as well. It's been noted he's taking gels during races which is unusual. Probably doing a massive endurance block to get ready. It's about 6.6w/kg. My guess would be he could probably go a lot harder in a focus event! He has the right build to be a climber, can TT and has bike skills. I wonder if he has GC ambitions - hope so.

I don't know what my best was but as I still had to ride back to Palma over more hills I deliberately didn't go too hard.

46mins if we're talking about the segment all the way up to Col Del Reis, in June this year. Was staying in Soller so wasn't a huge ride to get there either.

In my defence I had just recovered from Covid about a week or so before, would love to do it again.

I only ever did it with a mate with a massive hangover, we ended up sitting on a huge boulder enjoying the view and chatting briefly to others as they grind up. One of our groups youngest and fittest did it in 44.
It’s mind blowing.

34.40 is my best to get under 30 minutes is really good under 22 minutes is immense. In my defence I didn’t go that hard as I was racing out there the week I did it so was a rest day 😂

My excuse, end of a 400+ mile week and in the middle of a last day 100m blow out...

He has the right build to be a climber, can TT and has bike skills. I wonder if he has GC ambitions – hope so.

Me too, not sure why he is so Classics focused, he's not got the build for it

So which is the 'official' Sa Calobra KOM?

According to his Strava profile, TP now has over 200 KOMs all related to Sa Calobra on the 18th December!   Random spellings, many with near identical distances, etc, etc. I thought Strava had algorithms to weed out duplicates and near-duplicates but it's clearly not working very well.

#excusesinearly

On the third day of riding, of which the previous day was 90 miles/8000 feet I did it in 46 minutes. I was absolutely bollocksed, if I go again I'll do it on day one!

Some tasty times listed above, even if eclipsed by Mr Pidcock.

I've never been up it (or down it) when fit, at best i was 15 kilos overweight (according to the Doctor) and 25 kilos over race weight, so it took me almost exactly an hour.

Got down in well under 11 minutes though, didn't really register that it was a fast time (don't think Strava were accepting downhill KOMs then?) i know i was faster by a chunk than the rest of the group i was there with (three or four of whom got back up it in the significantly sub 30 minutes bracket)...

I'm impressed by Pidcock's HR zones during that ride.

I see Ethan Haytor got 2nd on Down Up Down Up Collapse.

I rode it once as part of an 80 mile effort, I think it was about 41 min. It didn’t feel that slow on the day, but clearly it was! I think under 40 would be easy enough.

For all you guys getting closer to 30 min than 40 what kind of w/kg are you putting out? Couple of my club mates did it last year and were about 38 min and put out about 4.2. I would have imagined you’d be around 5 to get anywhere near the 33 min mark no?

He has the right build to be a climber, can TT and has bike skills. I wonder if he has GC ambitions – hope so.

Me too, not sure why he is so Classics focused, he’s not got the build for it

I assume he mainly does the racing that he's excited about and sees the classics fitting in well with his XC and CX commitments?

I'll be a bit disappointed if Ineos don't put him up as leader for one of the grand tours next year though. It's not like they've got an embarrassment of riches in GC hopes now.

I didn't have a power meter back then, but Strava estimates 4w/kg for my 34 minutes, which sounds about right for me at 70kg.

I couldn't do 5w/kg for 34 minutes.

Never done Sa Calobra - on the one occasion I've been to Majorca we stayed at the other end of the island and the weather was too shit to get all the way out to SC.

Just been talking to Nick Craig about it though, he's been out there loads. He says his best time was a 28' but that was 10+ years ago.

@tpbiker
No power meter for me, I had an FTP of 307 and weighed 66/67kgs on a 6kg bike (was defo 6kgs, rim brake Trek Emonda SLR with Dura Ace and 1250g carbon wheels). I was racing a lot (road) and being coached. About 4.4 to 4.6w/kg for the climb would have been about normal for me at peak race fitness.
My FTP was 4.65 w/kg. Fairly accurately calculated. I was a decent climber, I trained a lot in Snowdonia, so was very used to riding at or above my FTP for 30 to 40 minute climbs.

I did think at the time that I was fit enough to do a sub 30. Though I was obviously very wrong! A good number of my group managed it. We had some really good climbers.

57 minutes for me , But I am 51 unfit and about 15 kg's overweight. Its a beautiful road but I much prefered the descent back to Pollenca . Sa calobra was too sketchy in that you could go round a blind corner to be made with a stationary hire car or bus.

I’m out there for a week in the spring, Tom, hold my beer! (I suspect it’ll be very warm by the time I get it back…😀)

I just did the Cambridgeshire equivalent, Cambridge to Cambourne. Still took well over 22 minutes, more like an hour once you include stopping at the traffic lights. Which is about the time I took for doing the real thing.

Nice breakdown from Lanterne Rouge

Just checked my time out of curiosity. 45 minutes. That was pretty steady just enjoying the ride at a nice rhythm, maybe I could have done 40 flat out... I'm not built for climbing but it's mental to think that even then I'd be just past halfway when TP is sailing over the top.

There's several Sa Colabra segments. Which one are you all referring to?

Edit: found it with some difficulty on my phone.
Hmmm, 50+ minutes for me but in my defence, I was also shepherding my missus up the climb (and battling numerous tour buses). I'd by happy with sub 40mins now...

I’ve been watching a few of Ed Lavericks vids after seeing him at the national hill climb champs

I’ve been watching a few of Ed Lavericks vids after seeing him at the national hill climb champs

I’ve been watching a few of Ed Lavericks vids after seeing him at the national hill climb champs

I thought Strava had algorithms to weed out duplicates and near-duplicates but it’s clearly not working very well.

Not IME of using it. When creating a VERY similar segment Strava just suggests using an existing one from a list but still allows creation of a new segment.

Happy days, actually took the time to check, 38:46, puts me in 7th in the STW Forumites Strava club 😂

More importantly I'm in the top 5% in the 85-94kg category, I wish they categorised real competitions by weight 🙄

I see that Tom's average speed up a mountain is pretty similar to what I would average on a nice Sunday ride. Blimey.

Get some practice in https://my.rouvy.com/virtual-routes/detail/84771

35 mins for me, with a heart breaking headwind for the last couple of Kms. Want to get nearer 32/33 mins when I go back this year

Flagged I’m hearing

any reason? Not against the rules to be paced as the Ed L video gently speculates is it, wouldn't a look at the traces from the other IG riders give a clue (they did 29's and 30's so did they bury themselves for the first bit and then cruise up?)

The whole activity flagged though?

Good, my holiday is booked for April I can hire a moped for the day!!

Not sure, probably just someone messing around…pacing would be fair game in my opinion, no different from taking KoMs in road races, bashes etc