A Cyclist's Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

I have just returned from a sunshine holiday in the south of the island and as a keen cyclist saw the potential for cycling especially in autumn winter and spring.

I would be grateful for any information you can supply me with this in mind.

I look forward to hearing from you

Glad to see you’re interested in a cycling vacation in Tenerife. Feel free to peruse the main website for further information about cycling in Tenerife including ride descriptions. You’ll probably notice there is a heavy bias on rides in the North of Tenerife. There’s two or 3 reasons for that:

1) North = more scenic (ALL the photos & videos were taken in what’s considered the North of Tenerife)
2) Road quality is generally better in the North than in the South.
3) We are based in the North so I don’t have much time to go riding in the South.

I’d love to explore the South further, but I just haven’t had time. Creating an online business is super time-consuming. In an attempt to get over this obvious bias, I’ve recently initiated a cycling in Tenerife forum. It’s a place where you can post questions, photos, ride descriptions, ask questions, contact other riders, etc. For now, it’s not very active, but still, if you like, I can register you + set the board language to English? Otherwise you’d need to know spanish in order to register…

Also remember to use the search function. I have previously written one article on rides departing from Los Cristianos…

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Dear Leslie:

Thank you very, very much for your help.

I was wondering whether we would be better off staying in Santa Cruz de Tenerife since we will have a car to get us out of the city and to any of the rides we would be taking. Would the variety of choices for night life and restaurants etc. be worth the hassle of staying in the city ?

We were also thinking of going to Gran Caneria and possibly La Gomera and maybe even La Palma. Do you have any opinions regarding the bicycling and/or nightlife on those islands ? If so we’d really appreciate the benefit of anything you are able to share with us.

Depending upon the baggage allowances and the cost of excess we may opt for not bringing our bikes and instead just bring our saddles, pedals, shoes and aero bars and rent from you. I am in the process of trying to find out the various weight allowance of the various airlines and charges for excess.

If we were there between 23 February and 23 March would you have a 58cm frame available for me and a 53 cm frame available for my wife both in a road configuration ?

Thanks again for all of your help.

Hello,

Great to hear from you again,

Truth be told, I haven’t really fully explored the night life of Santa Cruz. I think if you don’t speak Spanish you might find it a bit awkward outside the main centres with the language difficulty (but that could also be part of the fun!). Firstly, don’t miss Calle Castillo and Avenida 3 de Mayo for shopping in central Santa Cruz. There are quite a few [expensive] places to eat along the sea front between Plaza España and La Rambla. You should also check out the trendy area they call «la Noria» (located towards the lower end of calle Ramon y Cajal).

Regarding cycling, I’ve actually been meaning to include a new ride for cyclists in Santa Cruz on the main website. Santa Cruz has a nice coastal route which is popular among local cyclists since it is totally flat. It’d also be nice to ride along the central part of La Rambla…

The old town of La Laguna is probably a better bet if you’re into Culture + Architecture, etc… although it’s all too easy to get lost walking/cycling around there. The main shopping zone (at least for window shopping) are the two parallel pedestrian-only streets Calle Herradores and Calle Obispo Rey Redondo. If you’re looking for some real night life action, look no further than «El Cuadrilátero» in La Laguna. Right next door to the local University, the density of discos/bars around here is just about higher than anywhere else in the world. Think crazy, young Spanish uni students with absolutely no sense of tomorrow… there’s no such thing as «too late» around the cuadrilátero. It peaks during the summer months just after (and even slightly before) the exam period!

I can’t comment on the life in La Gomera as I’ve only been there (twice) during the day; it looks like an excellent blace for biking though. I haven’t been to La Palma yet, but it’s far less touristy that the other islands. Also fantastic for cycling I imagine – but be warned that the roads are said to be a lot steeper than Tenerife.

I’m not sure why you are so keen to stay in the capital city… Puerto de la Cruz has more restaurants than anywhere in the North which are open until relatively late. Well after 12pm into the night… in fact they’re probably more likely to shut everything sooner in La Laguna & Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is more spread out, and, well, uglier in my opinion. For that reason I find it a bit depressing sometimes, so I tend to stay away. Theft of bikes is also more of a problem in the cities.

I can definitely provide some suitable road bikes then; please send me your heights (or else further frame measurements, eg top tube length) for a better size match. How long where you thinking of hiring the bikes for? I can provide cheaper rates for extended bike rentals…

Hope to hear from you soon,
Best wishes for the new year!
Les.

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Dear Dr. Brown:

My wife (57 yeas old) and I (62 years old) are considering a trip to the Canary Islands during the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March.

We are both avid cyclists and have ridden in many places all over the world and were planning on bring our bikes. We have older Italian Steel Frame bikes that we have modified by adding a Campy racing triple setup and a range of 50-40-30, in the front chainring and the rear cogset has a 25 on the largest cog. The bikes are further modified with an S & S coupling so that they fit into a suitcase that meets airline regulations. and which will fit into the boot of a car.

We have enjoyed reading your website and blogs about cycling in Tenerife and are a bit concerned as to whether we are actually up to the measure of the riding you have described. We were planning on renting a car and were hoping that there were places on Tenerife to which we could drive and than ride some distance without having to climb in excess of two thousand meters on each ride. We consider a cumulative climb of two thousand meters spread out over the duration of a ride as something enjoyable.

To read some of the blogs of some of the riders who have ridden the various rides sounds like it would be a bit more like punishment for us since neither of us are training for Tour de France or any tour for that matter. Your «Slow-Poke Rodriguez rides sounds like the ideal ride for us and we were hoping to be able to put together more of the same while there. In fact we would be pleased to compensate you for putting together a series of rides that we could do that would fit our criteria (if that is even possible). We have the AA Tenerife Island map with a scale of 1:50,000 and also the Tenerife Bus and Touring Map.

Additionally we do like night-life and very much enjoy dancing and were trying to determine the best place to base ourselves. Santa Cruz de Tenerife was our original thought but we had also considered staying in Puerto de la Cruz. We don’t really want to be in south with all of the «package people».

Any thoughts that you are able to share with us would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your help.

Hello,

Well I can certainly suggest suitable cycling routes and having the car helps as it will cut out a lot of climbing and shorten the rides considerably. Your bikes sound adequately geared for most climbs although I’d still consider a 26 or 27T rear cog in addition to the triple. This of course depends on where you go… some parts of the island are steeper than others. I think with experience on your side, you’ll both be okay.

You’re in luck because tonight and tomorrow I’m not all that busy & since you’ve asked, I’m happy to suggest some routes for you. I don’t ask for payment, but then I don’t knock it back either ! 😉 You can always make a donation with paypal to «cycling@tenerife-training.net», any money you provide goes straight back into the website itself, running the new cycling forum & blog, or else the actual rental bikes + equipment.

I try to continually improve upon things, but it is a slow process. I’m really the only one running the whole enterprise, and times have been tough but I’m just managing to hang in there financially.

So anyway, on with the rides. The furthest part of Tenerife from the South is Anaga. That’s your best bet for intermediate climbs away from package people. By «intermediate», I mean that each climb is never higher than 1000m, but some of the roads approach 10% average gradient, that’s why I suggest you find a bigger rear sprocket.

The roads here are truly awesome & there’s suprising little traffic considering how close it is to Santa Cruz. Start from either Las Mercedes or San Andrés. The top part travels along the spine of Anaga and is pretty flat. There’s a lot to explore; unfortunately there are no loop roads but it really doesn’t matter… there aren’t too many places to eat, and they generally don’t serve food until after midday. The difficulty of the climbs is in the following order (easy to hard): batan de abajo, Las Carboneras / Taborno, Afur & finally Taganana. I haven’t cycled up from the Southern San Andres side (only down) but I can say that the road + scenery is fantastic there too.

The Teno range is also great. There you can start from Garachico and head to Buenavista (that section is about as flat as it gets along the North coast), then head over to Punta de Teno and back to Garachico stopping for lunch.
I’ve been meaning to update the rides & I’ll say now that from El Puerto to Garachico is getting too busy with traffic to be super-enjoyable, although that’s where you see the most local cyclists (there is a cycle lane). If you prefer to give that road a miss, start from Los Realejos instead which is actually very close to El Puerto. To avoid the steep roads of Los Realejos while you still have the car, make sure you’ve definitely found the start of road TF-342 and begin there. Head along through Icod el Alto, La Guancha towards Icod and back anyway you please.

Another great ride would be to climb from Garachico, loop around the snakey road to Icod de Los Vinos, and back to Garachico. That might not take very long, so stop at San Marcos beach for lunch that day.

Masca is very steep so if you consider doing the Garachico – Santiago del Teide – Masca – El Palmar – Buenavista Garachico route, do it in that order. If you do it the other way around, you’ll run into a killer 4km climb. You can avoid this by cycling in the aforementioned direction. The 4km climb then becomes a 4km killer descent!

Teide: Start from either Aguamansa or La Esperanza and head up the 5% grade as far as you feel like going, and then simply do a 180° turn and coast back to the start point!

Slow poke Rodriguez is definitely a flatter are than most of Tenerife; if I were you I’d start in El Sauzal or Tacoronte and explore that region (Guamasa, Tejina, Bajamar, Punta de Hidalgo, Tegueste). What I call Slow poke rodriguez is okay I guess, but nothing spectacular (remember: when climbing, you’re usually rewarded with great views!).

I think you’d find El Puerto more interesting that Santa Cruz. While it is a resort, it has a small-scale feel to it. [Read more →]

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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hello Les

Can you provide maps of the island or is that something we can pick up easily when we get there?

Regards,

Hello,
Check out this link to download a free online digital map of Tenerife.

I can also provide various paper maps for 4.50 Euros which have enough information for most cyclists. While they show about the same number of roads as the free map, the elevation scales are marked which is really handy. See here for more details. There are several different types and yes they are easy enough to get when you are here.

The really detailed maps cost a lot more (13.50€) and are more difficult to get here. Most of the time I just have my own personal copies.

Thanks, Leslie.

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We will be in Tenerife later in the year and are interested in biking on the island. Do you have any single or multiple day tours?

We are staying in Los Silos, and might bring our own bikes (Calfees with couplers) if there are good routes, or we might rent road bikes.

Please advise.
Thank you.

Hello,

Great to see you’re interesting in a cycling in Tenerife! 🙂

Sorry for the late response, this last week has been the busiest of the year and your email kinda slipped through the net until now. Yes, there are some good rides around Los Silos. Several rides come to mind:

1) The ride to Punta de Teno (but you’ll need a torch as there is a very dark tunnel along that road)
2) Ride to Garachico and the climb up to El Tanque.
3) Ride to Masca / Teno Alto.

If you’re feeling particularly strong, you might try to tackle the Tierra del Trigo climb which I label «Die another Day» on the website, right on your back doorstep (starts from Los Silos).

The answer is that we mostly do road bike hire these days, not guided road rides, mainly because that’s what people request. That will hopefully change in future, but for now, that’s what we tend to offer most people. We’re also doing MTB hire & occasionally guided offroad rides too. [Read more →]

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Hi,

I’m thinking of getting away from the Irish wind and rain in February and going training somewhere warm for 10 days or so. Its possible i will be on my own and also possible a small group from my club might join me.

I’ve been told Tenerife could be the place to go. Is it true you have one of the hardest climbs in europe on the island?

Can you tell me if the weather is suitable for training in the Tenerife mountains in february? Also how much is your bike hire and guided training spins?

All the best,

Hello,

Firstly, sorry for the delay, I was inundated with bike rental queries this last week. I’m normally not that slow with email.

Great to see you’re interested in cycle-training here during the winter!

Difficulty is a subjective thing. The main differences are the cumulative ascent and the gradient. Obviously none of the climbs in the Alps start at sealevel, so the climbs in Tenerife and Gran Canaria can be much longer. European climbs often start at anywhere between 500 and 1500 m altitude and go up to 2000 or 2500 m or so.

In Tenerife, there are two places which reach 2350 m altitude (Izaña and the Teleférico), so if you start on the coast they’re instant 2350 metre climbs -greater height difference than some of the biggest European cols!

There are four or 5 different onroad ascents to Mt Teide as well as many offroad routes. Each one is hard in its own way. The Southern approaches are hot during Summer months and are psychologically difficult at the top especially when you can see a long straight road ahead with no shade (dry, harsh volcanic terrain above 2000m altitude). The North approach from La Orotava is steeper and you will see the same «3km winding road» signs about 7 times.

Puerto de la Cruz to Izaña via Aguamansa, 0 to 2360m in 41.5km = 5.7% average.
Candelaria to Izaña via Arafo, 0 to 2360m in 41.2km = 5.7% average (steeper in places because it is not a constant climb).
Bajamar to Izaña via La Esperanza, 0 to 2360m in 54.2 = 4.4% average.
Los Cristianos РLas Ca̱adas, 0 to 2356m in 48.2km (4.9% average)
Los Gigantes РLas Ca̱adas 0 to 2356m in 50.9km (4.6%)
Almáciga / Taganana to Anaga, 0 to 620m in 5.8km (10.7% average)
Afur to Anaga, 225 to 765m in 6.7km (8.1% average)

Of course those are actual roads, but you can easily find much steeper streets approaching 15-25% average gradient!

For comparison:

Mon Ventoux starts at 300 m and peaks at 1912 m (7.4% average gradient)
Alpe d’Huez starts at 700 or 750 m and finishes at 1815 m (4.9 to 8.1% gradient depending on the route you take)

Col de la Madeleine starts at 500 m and peaks at 1990 m (5.5 to 8.0% gradient depending on the route)
Col du Galibier goes from 1400m to 2640 m (6.9% average slope)
Col du Tourmalet (Pyrenees) begins at 1260-1400 m and climbs to 2,115 m (7.4% average gradient) [Read more →]

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Having looked at a map of Tenerife (for almost the first time) its larger that I thought, also you appear to be about 45km away (I’m down in Golf Del Sur). I don’t think everyone else I’ll be with would be very happy if I pinched the car for a whole day, so I’ll probably hire a moped and shoot over – I assume I can hire one near where I’m staying ?

If I bring my camelbak and gloves, will you supply everything else ie helmet, inner tubes, etc ?

Hello,

That sounds like fun… be aware that by spanish law, mopeds smaller than 125cc [I think] aren’t allowed on TF1, TF2 and TF5, so you’ll have to come up over Teide via TF21, or else around the other way instead (via Santiago del Teide & Icod) -this might be better- ‘cause then you’ll see more of the island!

Yes it’s quite a hike, that’s why I have to charge 18€ for the delivery service, but as you can see, it ain’t worth delivering a bike for just 1 day. (18€ for 3 to 4 hours’ driving!)

It isn’t like Italy which is inundated with scooters, but you should be able to locate something in the South easily enough. The overwhelming majority of rental vehicles are cars, and the rates are very, very cheap. Motorbikes & scooters are another kettle of fish. After a pretty extensive google search in English, Spanish and German, I managed to find several places that rent mopeds, scooters as well as motorbikes.

I haven’t been there before, but keep in mind that Golf del Sur is a pretty isolated resort complex, so you might find it more difficult than you think to rent a scooter. I’d ring up the place where you are staying and ask them about moped
availability — in spain mopeds/scooters are called «ciclomotores».

For €30/day I can supply everything (helmet, shoes, pedals, tools, innertubes, bottles, etc.)

I don’t supply cycling clothing yet, but I will eventually sell stuff like lycra shorts, arm warmers, etc when I have a dedicated shopfront. Be aware that it is already quite chilly up there above 1000m. *Definitely* bring a windproof jacket, arm + leg warmers and gloves, if only for the descents.

Thanks very much & hope to see you soon in Tenerife!
-Les.

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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I may also want to do some mountain biking – perhaps exchange last 2 or 3 days of the road bike for a full sus MTB? Let me know

Hello,

For now I don’t rent DH/Freeride bikes out without a guided ride because there is more tendancy for stupid riding behaviour when I’m not around. I realise that they’re built to have fun and everything, but I think a high probablility of component failures is associated with that style of riding. When they do get broken, it just isn’t very economical for a business to charge 30€ per day and then have to fork out more than that for repairs 50% of the time. I’ve seen broken derailleurs, broken frames, not to mention the fork rebuilds required, etc.

The other possibility is to do a guided 2000m+ downhill MTB ride with me, in which case you could get to use the dualie the entire time. It has DH-specific rims, 8″ hydraulic brakes + sintered pads, 130mm of front travel & 100mm in the rear. In that case, you’d have to get yourself over to this side of the island (El Puerto) by 8:00am.

Hope you understand, Les.

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Im really starting to admire this place [Tenerife] compared to Northern Ireland where im from in terms how cyclists are treated on the road. Ive give a few examples of what is regular at home.

Being passed by articulated lorries with less than 60 cms of room, on a corner because they cannot be bothered to slow down and wait 20 seconds till the road opens up a bit. I was that annoyed i rang the haulage company and got a lecture about how long it takes for lorries to accelerate again after slowing down for cyclists that should not be on road… and the multitude of gear changes and breaking required for a lorry to wait.. behind.

Ive been passed by mad drivers in very small cars with very loud exhausts at speeds of excess of 100kph on single lane roads.

Ive had drivers in white vans throw bottles at me, shouting tosser.
Many times ive had drivers ahead of me at busy junctions without their indicators on.

Many drivers will also wait for ages getting onto a junction while im behind breathing their lovely disel fumes while they are fixing their hair or playing with their phone.

We do have cycle lanes in some towns, and as a rule i dont use em, because pedestians walking their dogs and children are playing there (they just divide the pavement into 2) and then you have to use a pedestrian crossing to cross a road.

and yet, for 3 months solid before the weather just got totally appauling i cycled the 11km to work and back 5 days a week. I picked one day in the week were id go all out and max my speed treating it like a time trial. Then a longer club run of 50-60km on sunday. I started with a hybrid bike and switched to my ridley one in sept.

cya later

Hey mate glad to hear from ya!

I must say that I really look forward to your latest ride reports… I’ve been pretty busy organising all the bookings lately.

Yes, I’m glad you notice that drivers are extremely patient here in the Canary Islands. In 3 years of riding in Tenerife I’ve never had a problem. Amazing! But I do always try to get out of other vehicle’s paths wherever possible.

You might be interested in reading this article about why car drivers treat cyclists with a lot of respect here (it’s quite long, but it explains a lot).

They’re even nicer in Holland and other places I’m told… and probably any European country like Denmark, France, etc with a strong cycling culture. I have a had a few Germans and Finnish tell me that the car drivers are nicer here than where they live.

Back in Australia where I used to live, I’ve even had firecrackers thrown at me! [Read more →]

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Hi,

I hope you can help with some info and links. I want to know how possible it is to make a trip to Tenerife for a mountain bike trip in February.

I have never been to the Canary islands before so am a bit ignorant. Are there any specialist tour operators for mtb trips?
Any help would be cool.

Regards

Hello,

Yes of course… Tenerife is a fantastic place for mountainbiking; the best place for MTB is probably in the North. Generally the mountainbike trails are wide, rocky and hilly. We can arrange guided MTB tours from Puerto de la Cruz for you… mostly descending through the La Orotova valley (because riding offroad inside Mt. Teide national park is prohibited).

We can also arrange mountainbike hire… we have some great quality bikes in many sizes & they can be delivered anywhere in Tenerife (there is a minimum of 3 days’ rental for delivery to the South). Delivery to Puerto de la Cruz area is free…

If you are interested, please get back to me with the following information:
-your accommodation details
-will you bring your own bike & equipment or do need to rent a MTB from us?

One last thing, February is one of the busiest months for bike rentals, so you will need to book early…
Looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks very much
-Leslie

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Hi, Leslie thanks for the initial feedback.

We were thinking of renting a car (big enough) to get the bikes in so we can easily get to the sites to do some mountain biking, although my partner had a severe skiing accident and hence should really just bike on forest rough track, volcano trails etc but not really «pure and dure» off road with all the shocks that come with it (the injury – the knee ligaments (cross ligament torn) and the rest (knee) in good stable rehabilitation building up muscle and strengthening the side ligaments. – hence I was almost contemplating for a triathlon bike ! although we just want to have some exercise to see the «paysage». Anyway, that is were we are currently with our thoughts.

We are thinking to check in to : Gran Melia Palacio de Isora en Alcala so we can have all the exercise and possibly some comfort as well. First time in Tenerife, so we are just taking our bearings………..Possibly you can recommend a good hotel accommodation close to the mountain biking areas…………..on the web site I did see your indicated routes.

We are both about 1.72 cm tall and would need a medium frame.

Also, we were thinking possibly to make outing to Gomera and take the bikes with us !

Some thoughts appreciate your input as to where would be the best location to find accommodation to be close to the mountain biking actions. If we have the car to transport the bikes, perhaps that is not so much an issue. What do you think ?

Yes we would need two bikes from March 22 to 26 – 5 days.

Unusual, Dr. Leslie renting bikes………………are you working on your next book ?

keep smiling –

Hello Carmen,

Nice to hear from you again…

Gran Melia Palacio de Isora is certainly a grand hotel, but I don’t think it is in the best location for cycling trips. It is an isolated hotel away from all the resorts. It is similar to the Abama hotel in that respect, so have a look at that one too if that is what you are looking for: http://www.abamahotelresort.com/ (it has less cement outside and is greener than the Palacio de Isora). What’s the difference between the two hotels? It’s like the people who own Abama said «Let’s create a nice 5 star hotel» whereas the people who own the Palacio de Isora said «Let’s show people what we can do with all our money». That’s just my opinion…

Personally I think the best mountainbiking is in the North of Tenerife. It’s more scenic & there are more tracks to explore.

For instance, there are about 5 flat roads that cross the La Orotava valley & it is mostly sheltered by the trees so it doesn’t get too hot. These are simple tracks with just a few small rocks and they won’t present any problems for your partner. Of course there are also other roads which have a greater difficulty level…

The only problem with taking the car is that you need to do a loop to go back to the starting point where the car is … this sometimes means lots of climbing is involved if you don’t plan it well (unless you are lucky enough to have someone drop you off and pick you up again). [Read more →]

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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I will be in Tenerife north between 20 to 30 July and would like to hire a mountain bike during this time. What cycling trips will you have available during this time and how much would they be? What locations would they be in, what grade and for how long?

The offorad cycling trips depend on the fitness of the other riders, but I can say that normally they are about 40km long and mostly «downhill». We almost always start from 2000m altitude and head back down to sealevel over that sort of distance. The routes are mainly firetrails, with some rocks. Maximum ascent is usually 300 metres or so. We usually complete the rides in 2 to 3 hours.

Where we go is not set in concrete, and really depends on the day. For example if some riders find some parts too steep, too rocky, too easy, or the weather changes, we will alter the route right there and then. None of the rides are what I’d call «freeride» (so there are no big jumps or dropoffs).

To do the guided MTB rides, we request that you stay in either La Orotava or the Puerto de la Cruz resort area. We also have numerous MTBs available to rent, no problem.

Thanks very much,

Leslie.

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Is it possible to arrange a guided mountain bike tour for 1 or 2 days? Road biking is pretty easy to do on our own, but we have found that with mountain biking it is nice to have some time with people that know the terrain.

Yes I offer guided MTB rides also, provided that you are staying in Puerto de la Cruz; these will cost an additional ~€35 each day per person.

Normally we catch the bus up to 2000m altitude, and start the MTB rides from there so the majority is going down… it is a special bus capable of taking a lot of bikes, but on public holidays & weekends, it is packed with downhillers!! If we don’t take the bus, someone has to go back up to the top to collect the vehicle, or I need to get another driver, and it isn’t so good for the environment either.

Metting point: Puerto de la Cruz bus station.
Departure time: usually 8:30am weekdays, 8:15am weekends.

If you are staying in one of the resorts in the south (Las Americas / Los Cristianos / Golf del Sur / Los Gigantes etc), then I can contact another MTB guide for you. It is more convenient for us if you can stay somewhere in the North of Tenerife, because otherwise we have to charge a small delivery fee to cover the cost of taking bikes to the South of Tenerife.

Anyway, I’m happy to advise you on different routes you can take on the other days you have the rental bikes… I also have some good maps to show you the MTB routes, but like you said it is preferable to do the rides with someone that knows the trails.

Thanks,
-Leslie.

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Do you know of any good cycling shops out there, I couldn’t find any last time I was there, I really like exteondo clothing I think it’s spanish but its really hard to find over here, so was hoping to pick some up in tenerife.

Yes there are several decent bike shops on the island. The most noteworthy are:

– Gofis bici in La Longuera / El Toscal (road & MTBs). This is the one I go to most often!
– Bicistar in Puerto de la Cruz (road & MTBs)
– Bicicletas Gil in La Laguna (road & MTBs)
– Vadabici in La Laguna (mainly mountainbikes)
– Bicisport in Los Cristianos (mainly road bikes)
– Bike Point in El Medano (focus is on MTBs)

Have a look here for the exact street addresses & contact details.

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Hello good day from Amsterdam!

I am planning a trip to your island and I would like to know if you have large framesets (racebike) for hire. I am 1.96 cm and use frames of 65 cm. Do you offer this kind of sizes as rental bike ?

Looking forward hearing from you soon,

We have become well aware of just how tall some cyclists are, especially from the Netherlands and Germany!
The largest bike we have measures 65cm from centre-top. It is certainly big enough to fit you! Actually you might be interested to know that the tallest client so far had a height of 203cm!!

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The directions to the hostal seem a bit confusing. I’ve got to get to la Orotava somehow from the South airport, I’m not too sure how long that will take, maybe an hour or so? add another hour to get out of the airport, probably add another hour or two for getting lost…….

Well I can help you with the arrival. At least I hope this clears things up.

Option 1)
Direct from TFS to El Puerto de la Cruz. Titsa bus 340 is a direct service from TFS airport which also stops at TFN onroute Journey time is approximately 1 hour, depending on how crazy the bus driver is. Yes it’s convenient, but there are only 4 daily services which leave TFS airport at the following times: 09:45, 14:00, 20:00 and 23:30 [last time I checked when I wrote this].

Then there are a fair few regular lines that go from El Puerto de la Cruz to La Orotava. Numbers 101, 350, 352, 353 and 345 are the most common. The most you’ll have to wait in Puerto de la Cruz bus station is 30 minutes. Or you can catch the taxi from El Puerto to La Orotava for about €10-12.

Option 2)
Transfer at Santa Cruz. The bus 341 goes directly from TFS to Santa Cruz. It leaves TFS at 15:50, 16:50, 17:30, 18:30, 19:30…. then from Santa Cruz, you have a another choice: go direct to La Orotava (101, 107 & 108), OR go to El Puerto de la Cruz (102 or the 103 «without stopping»). Once in El Puerto de la Cruz, see above on how to get to La Orotava. The 101 bus from Santa Cruz, while interesting, goes via the old road, and stops at every little town along the way (and there are many). It’s the equivalent of an «all stations» train. While it’s a great way of getting to know how to avoid the busy TF5 freeway, I think after your journey, I’d give it a miss & wait for one of the other buses… cross your fingers and hope for the 103! Both the 107 and 108 lines also stop at TFN airport on the way to La Orotava.

It all depends if you like to be on the move or sit around twiddling your thumbs waiting for buses… generally they are on time or running 5-10 minutes late, but they always show up. Not like sydney trains which seem to get cancelled all the time. Hehehe.

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Do you deliver and collect bikes from Torviscus, as I am staying there next week and would like to hire a 56cm road for a day.

Is not usually practical for us to deliver a bike just for just one day since it’s quite a drive over there to the South and back. It means we’d have to either stay in the South until you’re finished with the bike, or else make 4 trips of almost 1.5 hours each. For that reason, we normally request 3 days minimum bike hire.

Most people that do decide to rent from us for 1 day come and hire a bike from La Orotava… for instance, there’s a great climb to the volcano crater just from where we’re located (with ~1850m ascent) that many people do starting right outside our place. They then they return it later in the day on the way back down. Once again, it’s best if you can schedule that, as I’d need to send you some arrival instructions.

Keep in mind that sometimes it is possible to arrange a days’ hire if we happen to be over in the direction over two consecutive days… best to check with us via e-mail in any case.

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Dear Sir/Madam

I am going to stay at Costa Adeje Gran Hotel from Saturday 8th to Friday 14th, and I wondering if your company can help me with hiring two bikes?

Best Regards

Yes we can definitely rent you 2 bikes. Please provide your current frame sizes, heights, and whether you prefer to hire road or MTBs.

Alternatively, you can reserve our rental bikes here.

Do you requre hotel delivery & pickup? (we are located in the North but we are happy to arrange it for you)

Thanks,
Leslie

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Hi Leslie!

We aro so sorry
We should put off our arrival till summer because its a crisis here
my friend lost work
so…its changed all our plans
but i hope we will do smth to change the situation and make it better for ourselves
thanks a lot for your efforts
and hope to visit Tenerife in summer or next year!

Hello,

Don’t worry – there is a crisis all over the world … it’s global … for example one of the weeks in January I had just one bicycle rented! Normally I have 5-10 or more bikes rented then, if not more. Luckily last month [February] was okay.

My Spanish partner also worked for Iberia and her work contract expired early and is now unemployed. Unfortunately she isn’t entitled to unemployment benefits because she hasn’t worked more than 365 days… incredible! Where I am from -Australia- the goverment automatically helps us when we don’t have enough work.

Anyway, that’s one of the reasons I sent the last newsletter – it’s times like these that we have to work harder than ever, especially if individuals & businesses want to survive. Instead of complaining about the crisis and wondering about why the economic situation is the way it is, I always try to maintain a positive, optimistic attitude for the future and keep working to find new clients. I’ve found that it certainly helps if you have clearly identifiable and reachable goal.

Thanks for your email & hope to see you one day in the future training in Tenerife!

-Leslie

Tags: Inspiration., That's Business, The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Dear Sirs,

We are an Italian travel operator focused on sport. Please could you send us as soon as possible offers on bike training camp in 2009?

Thanks cooperation

We are not planning any cycle training camps yet for 2009.
Most of our business concerns pro-quality road and mountainbike hire.

We can of course offer discounts for large groups of cyclists hiring bikes…

Thanks,
Leslie.

[cyclists are of course welcome to express their interest in Tenerife training camps using the comments function below]

Tags: The Bike Guru by Dr. Leslie Brown
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