Cycling Fanatics cycling camp with Jasper Verkuijl review.
Cycling Fanatics cycling camp with Jasper Verkuijl review.
Shortly after I signed up for the Mallorca 312, of which you can read my race report here, I saw that one of my favorite cycling Youtubers, Jasper, was organizing a cycling camp in Mallorca the week prior to the Mallorca 312.
I knew then that doing a big training week just prior to such a big event was probably less than ideal (It wasn’t exactly a “taper”), but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride with Jasper and get familiar with some of the climbs I would face in the event.
So how was it?
What was included
It was basically an “all-in” arrangement for those cycling: Breakfast and dinners every day, guided rides WITH a support car, On-the-bike nutrition from Maurten, airport transfers, and even some evening activities such as a visit to one of the local wineries.
There were also some extras, but I’ll come back to that later.
The support-car with high-quality sports nutrition and drinks was of such great value.
The location
I’ve been in Tenerife and Gran Canaria previously to get some winter miles in, so I questioned Jasper why the choice fell on Mallorca, his answer was that Mallorca had something to offer for everyone. In Tenerife or Gran Canaria, the terrain is pretty much either always pointing up or down, often at much steeper gradients than Mallorca. I have to concur with that statement after spending the week there.
IF you want, you can cram a LOT of climbing into a ride, on day 3 for example we crammed 3000 meters of vertical gain in a 120km ride, that’s a lot by any standard, but especially in 120km. But we equally had some rides with less than 1000 meters of vertical gain on a similar distance. So Mallorca is more accessible for more riders. Not exactly being the “climber” type myself, I was quite happy with the more varied terrain.
The hotel where we stayed was located in the town of “Alaro” which is located a bit more central on the island, it is about 45 minutes away from both Touristic hotspots Palma and Alcudia.
From Alaro you’re just a stone's throw away from the Tramuntana mountain range and so unsurprisingly the town is a real hotspot for cyclo-tourists.
The hotel itself, Petit Hotel Alaro, is a small boutique hotel operated by avid cyclist Mauro and his wife Angela. The hotel has a super chill vibe and Mauro and Angela are very approachable and genuinely good people. Mauro gave me loads of advice on my Mallorca 312 bid which really did help me. The rooms are nice and have everything you may need including a pool to lounge at after the rides…
So for any cyclists looking for a nice location to start their cycling holiday (Cycling camp or not), look no further. Mauro will see me again for sure.
The riding experience
Spoiler alert, the riding was great! Jasper had really mapped out the rides well, we started with a few easy-ish days before we had a super hard ride on day 3, followed by 2 “easier” rides again (although still with plenty of climbing, easy is a relative term here). The last day of riding would be a big one traversing the mountainous part of Mallorca 312. I skipped this one as I would ride the 312 the day after. There can be too much of a good thing…
In conclusion, I felt that the training load was pretty well balanced.
We had as much Maurten drink mix, gels, and bars to our disposal as we required (Jasper encouraged us to aim for 80 – 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour) with regular points where the support vehicle would stop and we could re-fill our bottles and top-up on a few gels. That meant we only had to take what we needed for every 2 or so hours and we didn’t have to fill our pockets to the brim with gels.
This in fact was a HUGE plus for the whole experience. I’ve done some rides in Tenerife where there was also a support vehicle, but it didn’t offer the quality of sports nutrition we had here.
I’ve been skeptical of the products like Maurten, I’ve always viewed them as overpriced sugar, but they really did digest well and as long as I stuck to my fueling plan, my performance didn’t dip at all.
Jasper
One of the big reasons why I signed up for this was of course the ability to ride with Jasper.
There‘s a saying that goes something along the lines of “Don’t meet your heroes” as they tend to disappoint. Not so in Jasper’s case.
Jasper is an excellent cyclist, he can put out some serious Watts, has some insane descending skills and he knows a thing or two about training & nutrition too. He’s also very open and approachable.
Throughout the week, I’ve been able to improve my descending with his tips which helped tremendously on the 312 event, he also drove home just how important fuelling is on rides.
Typically I would under-fuel my rides even though I know better.
I’ve always had this flawed philosophy that if I under-fuel my rides, my body would become more efficient at using fat for fuel; The reality is, that during my rides with Jasper, (At least those where I stayed on top of my fuelling) I didn’t have a decline in performance, very different from my under-fuelled rides. So if you follow his advice you can train harder for longer… while having better recovery and thus adaptations. Lesson learned. Thank you, Jasper.
Jasper on the Velodrome
The Extras
Aside from the unlimited supply of Maurten (not exactly cheap stuff!), we also ended up receiving 2 full kits (I got 3 Siroko SRX jerseys, 2 Siroko bib shorts, sunglasses, gloves, and 2 pairs of socks) and we were part of a photo and video shoot for their marketing purposes. This might not appeal to everyone, but as I had plans for building this blog, it didn’t seem like a bad thing to potentially get some cool pictures I could use myself and perhaps get tagged on their social media platforms too. All in all, a gift with a value in the region of 300 - 400 euros I would estimate.
The jerseys fit really well and I love the bib shorts, I did the 312 events with it (225k event, or 9 hours in the saddle, and everything still felt good, or well, as good as it could feel after 9 hours in the saddle).
Trying my hand on the velodrome in brand new Siroko kit
The price
At roughly €2000 (excluding the flights and bike rental if required), You can’t call it cheap, but it is good value.
If you were to book these things on your own I would estimate it would work out something like this:
4* Hotel with breakfast and dinner for 6 nights: approx. €1200
Guided cycling tours with follow car: Approx. €200 – 300 (taking prices from cycling tour organizers as a benchmark)
Unlimited supply of Maurten for 6 days: approx. €200- 300 (to put this into perspective, I used about €100 euro’s worth of Maurten products during the 312 event alone)
Siroko kit: approx. €300
Winery visit: Approx €50
Total: €2000+
The intangibles: Spending an entire week with Jasper and his wealth of experience, as well as other Velo-guides, like Richard Scales who has been competitive at events like the Haute Route, you could not not come away with some valuable lessons.
On top of that, you got to spend the whole week with the same group of people from morning ‘till evening. The group was very diverse and interesting and a real sense of camaraderie developed throughout the week which is something you would not experience when you just book a few tours on your own. From experience having taken this approach in the past, you also don’t get a cycling guide who coaches you on your nutrition and skills like cornering and descending.
Evening activities like this wine-tasting with a spectacular view were a great addition to the whole experience.
Conclusion
Would I do it again? Yes, and I think that sums it up.
The price was fair, the location perfect, the company was good, and there were nice surprises by way of a photoshoot and free kit; so unless it clashes with something in my schedule next year, I would give it a 95% chance I will go again.
The gang at the top of Puig Major
