Bal Harbour

182 BAL HARBOUR WHEN A DEAR FRIEND CALLED and asked if I wanted to go on an all-female five-day bike tour through Mallorca, Spain, I said yes instantly. I had visions of fresh fish and blue water, delicious wine and endless laughs. Never mind that I'd never done any real road biking. I'd mountain biked for years when I lived in Colorado, but I've lived in Los Angeles for years now, which means my biking career has been relegated almost exclusively to beach cruisers. All of that seemed secondary. What was really important were the things we would see, the fun we would have and—best of all—the calories we would burn to counteract the inevitable pastries, pastas and cocktails that are musts of a European getaway. My friend chose DuVine Cycling + Adventure Co. for our trip, rated second on the Travel + Leisure list of Top 10 Tour Operators in 2017. She had traveled with them the summer before on a group trip and loved the experience. This time we would customize our trip: four nights, four days of biking and six friends. Each day would consist of between 20 and 40 miles with epic meals and gorgeous scenery as the reward for peddling our hearts out. Determined to be in great shape and to become familiar with the intricacies of the road bike, I contacted my local bike shop, and they recommended one of their employees as a good ride partner-slash- teacher. A couple of training rides with my patient and knowledgeable teacher, countless spin classes, and several hundreds of dollars spent on spandex later, I was ready for my Spanish adventure on wheels. I flew from LA to Barcelona on a Friday to spend the weekend with a couple of the women from the trip, giving us a few days to acclimate and recover from jetlag. On Monday morning we flew to Palma, the capital of Mallorca, one of Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Surprisingly large in size and population (it is home to almost 900,000 people), it is a vast and stunning destination that is quickly becoming a biker's hotspot thanks to varied terrain and windy, mountain roads. We arrived to our hotel, the Son Julia, to meet the rest of our group and relax by the pool before having dinner and getting a good night's sleep in anticipation of the miles yet to be covered. The next morning we met our guides, Gonzalo and Ernesto, who gave us an overview of what the next few days will entail. When Ernesto told us our first day of riding will be about 50 kilometers, I did a quick math equation in my head and realized that meant more than 30 miles. My longest training ride had been 18 miles. Panic began to set in. Ernesto briefed us on the routes we would take each day, the level

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