The Mallorca 312 takes place on April 30. As the name eludes, the ride is 312 kilometers long and is the longest event for cyclists in Spain. Add in nearly 5000 meters of climbing and athletes are in for a real experience.
Events of this nature often become part of your journey of being a better version of yourself. For some, this will be another endurance event ticked off the list. For others, this will be the biggest sporting event they’ve undertaken.
One thing is certain. Nutrition plays an important role for everyone.
Becoming better demands new insights that will guide you. Insights such as glucose control. Glucose is one of the most important factors in endurance sports because glucose has a major impact on your performance and how you feel. We set out to support a group of athletes, all in different parts of their sporting journeys, to become their best at this year’s event.
Introducing: the Supersapiens Mallorca 312 Performance Project.
Ten athletes of various abilities were selected to participate in the program. Loic Robbiani will be doing the event for the second time and is looking to beat his 2019 time of 11h26. At 54, he’s a seasoned endurance athlete who has completed 9 Ironman events. This year he will also be partaking in Bordeaux–Paris, 670 km without stopping.
Mallorca 312 will be Megan Walker’s first ever cycling event. She’s a 24 year-old junior doctor in the Royal Air Force. Last year while in Mallorca on vacation, she spent time cycling with a friend after recovering from a running injury. “Are you doing the 312,” a bike hire shop man asked her. She had no idea what he was talking about. The 312 happened to coincide with her being there. On the day she witnessed the end of the race and saw sweaty, tired riders, a few with ripped shorts, gashing road rash but glowing with smiles.
It still didn’t cross her mind to sign up at this point, but the seed was planted. A couple of months later over Christmas, she had decided to sign up, something she calls “a rather odd Christmas present to herself.”
“A lot of people have called me crazy for choosing 312 km, 16000ft climbing. Why couldn’t you just do a half marathon? Because I know I can do a half marathon, I replied.”
Inés bauza de Grado is a local in Mallorca. As a therapist, she dedicates herself to helping people with disabilities, conducting hippotherapy sessions on horseback. She took up cycling just over a year ago and fell in love with it.
Justyna Sieber calls herself a small woman with big dreams. One who believes everything is possible. Pushing her limits and becoming a better version of herself every day is what drives her. She’s using Mallorca as preparation for the ultra cycling event Race Around Austria. As a scientist and medical doctor, she says noticing how incredibly important nutrition is in her events and made her jump at the opportunity to use our sensors in her preparation.
Judit Szarka loves the challenge of going faster for longer. To date, her 24 hour distance is 421km with over 3000m elevation. Mallorca 312 will be an important milestone in her training journey that leads up to riding from London to Edinburgh and back to London, a mere 1520km in a maximum of 125 hours.
47-year-old Sylvia Taylor took up cycling four years ago when she rented an e-bike on holiday to ride with her husband. After that, she decided to buy a road bike and join a local club. A knee injury has hampered her preparation so she will be tackling the 167km distance and come back for the bigger distance next year
Michele Verdoja is no stranger to events over 300 kilometers. Last year he was the Italian vice champion of the ultra cycling 300-400km specialty. He’s hoping visibility to his glucose will help him improve on his 2018 performance in Mallorca.
Charles Butler already used Supersapiens sensors during the race last year. He says he found the data fascinating and is using the insights this year to take his training to the next level.
Nutrition is a passion for Estée Chiara Larivière. In addition to her day job and training for Ironman Switzerland, she’s currently studying to become a registered nutritionist. Estée already has a good understanding of the impact nutrition has in training and performance and is looking forward to the visibility the sensors are giving her.
Evelyn Nicinski is an aspiring professional. Her goal in the event is to prove that women can be as fast as men. She aims to beat her male friends who are also taking part in the event.
These athletes inspire us to become better. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be tracking their progress, their performance in the race and the role glucose played in it, bringing you insights and learnings on the Supersapiens blog.
