Three days in Mallorca
434 km. 4,990 m elevation. 22 hours of pedaling. The pacing got better every day. The fueling didn't keep up. I tracked every bar, gel, and sip across all four rides to see what I actually take in versus what I think I take in.
In March 2025, six weeks before Seven Serpents, my lab test came back at VT1 208W and FatMax 174-198W. I had a solid aerobic base. The second half of 2025 was about other things. I couldn't train consistently, and I shouldn't have been. I had to cancel Badlands after trying three years in a row to get a spot.
My April 2026 spiro told the story: VT1 160W, FatMax 108-143W. The ceiling held, the floor collapsed. This was the first real volume since then.
Day 1
First ride after the flight. Supposedly a rest day, but I felt good and went anyway. That's usually where the trouble starts.
NP 153 W, IF 0.67. On the surface, a controlled effort. VI 1.39 on hilly terrain with lots of coasting. But then I looked at decoupling: 12.1%. That's my cardiac system slowly losing efficiency over the ride. EF started at 1.23 and drifted down to 1.01 by hour 7. Each watt was costing more heartbeats as the day went on.
Fueling: 309 g carbs total, 41 g/h. A bocadillo and Coke in Llucmajor, some bars. I didn't bonk, so I thought I was fine. I wasn't. 41 g/h on a 6.5-hour ride is under-fueling, and the 12% decoupling is the receipt. NP faded 9.8% over the ride.
Sodium: 2,495 mg across 6.5 hours. That's 380 mg/h, which I now know is too low.
Day 2
Shorter than Day 1 on paper. Much harder in practice. This is the interesting one.
NP 145 W, IF 0.63. Lower power than Day 1 across the board. But my legs were carrying yesterday's 228 TSS, and day-2 legs don't lie. NP fade: -14.6%. The worst of all three days, on the easiest route. That pattern is interesting. It tells me the fade wasn't about the ride. It was about what I didn't eat yesterday.
Fueling: 210 g carbs on-bike, 35 g/h. Even lower than Day 1. I ate a solid breakfast (70 g carbs) and a proper dinner that pushed total day carbs to 474 g. But on the bike itself? Another deficit. I keep making the same mistake.
The café stop in Bunyola was the last refuel option before Col de Honor. I had cake and coffee at the café, grabbed a bocadillo to eat on top as a reward. But real food takes 30-45 minutes to absorb, and by then the damage was done. Two C30 gels in the second half couldn't make up for 4 hours of under-fueling.
Day 4 - Königsetappe
Same legs. Different strategy. I finally got the fueling right, and the numbers tell the story.
The first bottle was a Flow Gel 300. That's 300 g of carbs dissolved into 750 ml, basically a syrup. I kept it in the nipper and sipped on it throughout the whole ride, diluting it with water from bottles I bought along the way. It's a strategy that removes the "I forgot to eat" failure mode entirely. After that it was MON bars (4×), gels (3×), Cola (3×), salt sticks, and at hour 8, pickles and a Twix.
Total on-bike: ~575 g carbs, ~57 g/h averaged across 10 hours. Still 33 g/h below my 90 g/h gut cap. Not where I want to be. But compared to 35 g/h on Day 2, it was a different universe.
NP 155 W, IF 0.68. Higher intensity than both previous days, on twice the elevation and nearly double the duration. The terrain was relentless. VI 1.44 tells you Puig Major doesn't do flat.
And here's the thing: decoupling was 2.9%. Over 10 hours. NP fade: 0.0%. First-half NP 148 W, second-half 148 W. Identical. EF held at 1.38 throughout. My cardiac system didn't flinch. I don't fully understand yet why the numbers were this stable when I was still under-fueling by 33 g/h. Maybe the front-loading bought enough buffer. Maybe the answer is that 57 g/h is adequate at this intensity and the gut cap is just insurance. Something to dig into.
Sa Calobra wasn't in the plan. I was descending from Puig Major at hour 6 and the turnoff appeared. I felt good, so I took it. Added roughly 20 km and 600 m of climbing. The famous corkscrew descent to the coast, then the wall back up. The numbers held after that too.
The cramp moment
Hour 8. Climbing back up from Sa Calobra, close to the top. My right thigh cramped, inner quad, sharp and sudden. I've read enough about sodium depletion to recognize the pattern, but knowing the science doesn't help when your leg locks up.
What helped: pepinillos en vinagre from the Tankstelle in Lluc. The famous gas station where every cyclist on this route refuels. Roughly 1,000 mg sodium plus acetic acid. There's research suggesting the vinegar triggers a neural reflex that calms the cramping muscle. I don't know if that's what happened or if it was just the sodium hitting fast. What I know is that within 15 minutes the cramp was gone. Salt sticks and a Coke on top. Two more hours of riding, no recurrence.
Pickles aren't in any fueling guide I've read. I think they should be.
The numbers side by side
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | 133.7 km | 118.8 km | 181.8 km |
| Elevation | 1,118 m | 1,141 m | 2,731 m |
| Duration | 6h33 | 5h30 | 10h05 |
| NP | 153 W | 145 W | 155 W |
| IF | 0.668 | 0.633 | 0.677 |
| TSS | 228 | 191 | 365 |
| Carbs/h | 41 g/h | 35 g/h | 57 g/h |
| Decoupling | 12.1% | 8.2% | 2.9% |
| NP fade | -9.8% | -14.6% | 0.0% |
| EF | 1.23 | 1.27 | 1.38 |
| VI | 1.39 | 1.32 | 1.44 |
Day 4 had 2.4× the elevation of Day 1, 54% more TSS, and 53% more time in the saddle. Every efficiency metric was better. The difference isn't fitness. I didn't build fitness in three days. It's fueling and pacing.
What I'd change
- Eat more from the start. 35–41 g/h is what I'd eat on a casual weekend ride, not a training camp. 60 g/h minimum for anything over 4 hours. The decoupling and NP fade on Days 1 and 2 are what under-fueling looks like in the data.
- Sodium from hour 1, including off the bike. PH tabs in every bottle, salt caps every 45 minutes, and an electrolyte drink in the evening and the next morning. The cramp on Day 4 was preventable. And if it still hits, pickles at the next gas station. 1,000 mg sodium in 60 seconds.
- Concentrated carb bottle. The Flow Gel 300 dissolved in the nipper worked. Sip, chase with water, repeat. Almost like having a gel always available without unwrapping anything. Kept the intake steady all day.
The pacing was right by Day 4. 2.9% decoupling over 10 hours, I'm genuinely happy with that. The fueling is getting better but still isn't where it needs to be. 57 g/h with a 90 g/h gut cap means I left 330 g on the table. That's probably the cramps, and almost certainly the headache at km 165.
The engine is there. I'm still learning how to feed it.
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