A Cyclist's Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

 

Almost every week I’m inspired something. This week I’m inspired by Rosemary Crane of the United Kingdom. Back in September ’06, we rode together for one whole week, all over Tenerife. She’s the only cyclist who I can confirm has ascended over 10,000 vertical metres in less than a week of riding. She also takes the honour of being the first client to cycle with www.Tenerife-Training.net!

Rosemary is a self-confessed cyclo-tourist addict. She’s been everywhere from the French Alps to the Himalayas, and never fails to take a bike with her. Pictured here is her and with her beloved DeRosa road racing bicycle at a place called «Casas de la Cumbre» (Houses of the Peak), in the Anaga Mountains. She says it’s the best way to see a foreign country…

Here’s what she had to say via e-mail afterwards:

THANK YOU for all the brilliant rides and for being so patient with such an old woman and I hope it wasnt as bad as you thought it might be having to spend 5 days with a grandmother and that you did not hate it too much having to go so much more slowly than you like to go …… the ride to Taganana was lovley as they all were a brill selection all different and yet all with their esoteric attractions. So many people just go to Playa de las Americas and that is ablout the only place I did not see and never want to. I feel sure I saw all the best parts. — Rosemary Crane, 62. September 2006.

And seeing how she was the first ever client, I had to get her to sign my personal guestbook on her latest return visit:

I have had such a BRILLIANT 5 days cycling with «Tenerife Training» been up & down such spectacular hills + enjoyed scenery that 99% of visitors to Tenerife never see. Leslie, you have been amazing. So kind and considerate… to an old grandmother cycling fanatic. THANKS — à bientôt or hasta luego

— Rosemary

Despite the arduous terrain here, she never complained, not once. Not even when the grades reached 10% or more! Rose, honestly, it’s been a pleasure riding with you. Have a great christmas, and I wish you all the best in 2008. Also, thanks because you’re an inspiration to us all!

—Les.

Tags: Inspiration., Island Life, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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www.Tenerife-Training.net now caters for extra small riders! We’ve recently purchased some 16″ extra-small MTBs. These can be easily converted from a WSD hybrid style of bike (pictured below) to a conventional cross-country MTB.

Amornrat «Meow» Vatanatumrak of USA now takes the record for the shortest www.Tenerife-Training.net client, measuring 5’0″ (152cm). The previous record holder was Elena Lazkano of país vasco (Spain), who stood 5’1″ (155).

Link to the tallest client so far

Tags: Inspiration., News Reel, Ride the Volcano!, Sales Pitch, That's Business by Dr. Leslie Brown
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1. To provide the most reliable, professional-quality bicycle hire service which accommodates for all manner of cycling enthusiasts and their associated needs on the island of Tenerife.
2. To provide an accurate, well-organised source of information about all aspects of cycling in the Canary Islands.
3. To effectively & courteously communicate with all of our potential clients.
4. To take advantage of the unique combination of Tenerife’s fantastic climate & mountainous terrain for physical training purposes.
5. To minimise our impact on the environment by saving energy, reducing waste, reusing, repairing & ultimately recycling materials wherever possible
6. To support the local Canarian culture whenever we have the choice. We firmly believe that «small is beautiful»Â We endeavour to show these principles to all visitors.
7. To inspire people the world over; if you can cycle here, you can do almost anything.
8. To demostrate to other businesses that you don’t have to be big, you just have to think big.
9. The ultimate goal of www.Tenerife-Training.net is to be known by the entire worldwide cycling community.
10. To demonstrate the superior efficiency of the humble bicycle whilst encouraging cycling as a simultaneous form of transport and exercise to everyone else.

Tags: Inspiration., Island Life, News Reel, Ride the Volcano!, Sales Pitch, That's Business by Dr. Leslie Brown
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That’s right. This giant german man who stand 2.03m (6’8″) tall, rented one of our XL Mrazek BOH Road bikes just yesterday. The day before, he test-rode an XL 22″ sized Decathlon MTB, but found the seatpost was still ~5cm too short.

So when this road bike became available the following day (effectively 60cm center-center; 62cm center-top), I set the pro road seatpost to the maximum allowed height «safety height» mark, which resulted in a saddle to center-bottom-bracket measurement of a whopping 96cm. He attempted to straddle the bike and said «Ahh, you got me!» and we lowered the seatpost a few more cm to make it fit correctly…

Mathias Lohse of Germany (2.03m / 6’8″) now snatches the previous height record from Andrea Delcuratoro of Italy (1.93cm / 6’4″). Congratulations Mathias, and we hope to have some extra-long cranks available for our rental bikes in future.

 Link to the shortest client so far

Tags: Inspiration., News Reel, Ride the Volcano!, Sales Pitch, That's Business by Dr. Leslie Brown
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I stole this from www.ciclismotenerife.net, but it gives you some exposure to the local cycling scene:

C.D. ACHINECH

C.C. TALAVERA

C.C. ONCEDIENTES

C.C. NIKO-MOTOBIKE

C.C. BALLESTER

C.C. A-NARANJO

C.C. SPORTING NAVA

CC.A-ALVAREZ

C.C. CICLO 2000

C.C. CHAVEÑA

Escuelas de Ciclismo de las provincias de Tenerife, Gran Canaria y La Palma

C.C. Escuela BENTOR

C.C. Escuela TAORO

C.C. Escuela IRUENE

 Team Xerox!

Tags: Island Life, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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I’m sure you can think of a few reasons not to hire a rental bike in Tenerife, but here are 16 legimate reasons you should:

1. Reduce your carbon footprint!! Assuming you take an extra 15kg of bicycle equipment (bike + case) as checked-on luggage, you’ll save between 100~200kg of CO₂ emissions for a typical return journey (LGW – TFS is 5800km). To emphasise how much greenhouse gas this represents, 100kg of CO₂ gas occupies 50,930 litres at standard atmospheric pressure!! My calculation is based from various sources, statistics and news sources. 
2. We have all sizes available, and can offer a custom fit service.  
3. Our bikes are very well maintained, and also provide low-range gearing suited to mountainous terrain. 
4. Save € by not paying any excess baggage fees for the additional weight of your sporting equipment!
5. Save $ by not having to buy a dedicated bike case!
6. It’s obvioulsy more convenient to travel around without a loaded bulky bike case plus all that cycling equipment.
7. There’s no risk of being refused check-in at the airport through carrying too much luggage.
8. There’s also zero risk of airport ground-crew damaging your own bike during transport if you leave it at home.
9. Neither do you need to worry about someone stealing your own highly-prized expensive wonderbike while on holiday!  
10. There’s no need to spend ages packing your own bike, hence more time to ride on the first and last day!
11. Should anything go wrong with one of our bikes, we obviously provide free servicing, free spare parts and/or a replacement bike!
12. We offer a refund for each day that you aren’t able to ride due to mechanical failure.
13. There’s no need to clean the bike afterwards. Let us worry about it!
14. Your own super-light weight bike may not actually be as reliable as one of ours.
15. Make it seem more like a «family holiday» & gain bonus points with your spouse!
16. Help support our green eco-friendly business and the local economy.

Tags: Ride the Volcano!, Sales Pitch, That's Business by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Introducing the new www.Tenerife-Training.net forum! I hope you can take a look, sign up & post something:

The English/Spanish cycling forum is HERE!

It’s primarily dedicated to local Canarian cyclists, but it does have an English forum section and everyone is welcome to sign up and post away. We’re currently a very small community of local bike riders. I’ve put lots of work into and hopefully before too long it’ll be a busy place where we can all chat about bicycles. 😀

Tags: News Reel, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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It takes a lot of time communicating the bike hire & equipment needs of my clients. Normally it takes between 3 & 5 emails to finally confirm everything -for example- the size of the type & size of bicycle they want to rent, thier name, contact number, height, the name + location of their hotel or apartment, dates of stay, dates of bike hire, number of days of bike rental, and any other questions they may have.

On my sister’s advice, I decided to create an online bicycle hire reservation form for specifying everything online, but like every new task, it always takes longer than you think. It’s a typical revenge effect: Setting up any automated system in the hopes of saving time, initially requires even more time to be invested!! It also sometimes requires further human involvement, to keep it in check!

The main glitch was that I wasn’t getting sent any data at all!! But there were lots of other bugs to fix too. This has taken hours and hoursto sort out (I had to learn new html form tags & some php code), so I hope this will eventually save some time. It’s now finally up and running…

Online bicycle hire reservation form now available here!

Tags: News Reel, Ride the Volcano!, That's Business by Dr. Leslie Brown
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The best and worst maps of Tenerife:

Tags: Island Life, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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I know it’s probably too late for everyone, but I’ve uploaded the 2007 cycle racing events calender. It is in pdf format & you can download it HERE. I’ll be sure to upload the 2008 calender of cycling events asap. 😉

Tags: Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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We really had fun making this. A special thanks to Iván – I couldn’t have done it without you man!

Tags: Island Life, News Reel, Ride the Volcano!, That's Business by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Tags: News Reel, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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I am currently «testing the waters» in regards to organising an annual, single-day amateur bicycle challenge event some time late in 2008:

The “Teide Extreme Climbing Competition”, a sealevel – 2300m climb over a distance of 35 km!

I’d like to ascertain the level of interest before pursuing this idea any further. Please express your interest in this event by casting your vote in the poll below. The Exact Date is also yet to be decided… a vote on that would also be appreciated. Tell your friends & stay tuned!

 [poll=2]

Tags: Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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1. Head for the hills – there’s no cheating yourself here, because you can’t draft behind other riders, and it forces you to keep pedalling continuously. This is our philosophy.
2. Get your cycling equipment ready the night before – so you have no excuses in the morning not to go. That way, you feel extra guilty if you sleep in, and you won’t miss all-important weekend training sessions due to «general morning laziness».
3. Become an «instant fixer» – don’t procrastinate & delay any bicycle repairs. Fix it ASAP, because a broken bike gives you one more reason not to go for the next ride.
4. Increase your mileage to improve endurance – for example: rather than go for daily 1 hour rides, go for a 2 hour ride every other day, or 3 – 4 hour ride twice a week. This also eliminates a lot of wasted preparation time.
5. Get out quick before you change your mind – clouds looming overhead? Computer not working? Cycling jersey still in the wash? Pacing & wondering whether to go or not? If so, you’re procrastinating. Don’t think, act! Just go already, even if the conditions aren’t ideal! Even if it rains, once you’re wet, you can’t get any wetter. 😉 Provided that your habitual bike position doesn’t change, if you make the time to ride, you will get fitter & you will enjoy cycling more… with plain old tap water or with sports drinks; with or without knowing the distance you’ve travelled or the current speed you’re doing; wet or dry.
6. Go for a short ride – we all have other important commitments besides cycling. If you don’t have time for a long 3 – 5 hour ride, don’t obsess over not being able to go. I.e. don’t suffer from «all or nothing syndrome». Go for an hour. Go for 20 minutes. Its still better than nothing! If you’re really serious, treat it as a «rest or recovery day».
7. Ride to work – exercise while you commute. Also great for the environment; no further explanation necessary.
8. Join a bike club – the commitment to meet with other cyclists at a specified time and date helps your motivation level. You’re less likely to bail out of a training session, because you let other people down as well as yourself.
9. Don’t set unrealistic goals – because when you fail to reach them, you’ll lose motivation to continue with your training plan. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you skip a day or a week or even a month. Even professional cyclists need rest periods. And lastly, remember that half the fun of excercising is feeling the gradual improvement in your own fitness level. If you haven’t ridden for a looong time, there’s only one way to go, and that’s to be fitter. Maintain positive thinking.
10. Don’t be a slave; embrace change! – this applies to heart rate monitors, cycle-computers, training schedules, ride routines, clothing, food, etc. We’re all humans, we’re all fallible. All routines eventually become boring and «samey», and then they fail. Hence change is the key. Plan a new ride once in a while.

«Ride your bike. Ride your bike. Ride Your bike.» – Fausto Copi

Tags: Learning Curve, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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1. The mountains are higher in Tenerife than Mallorca (the roads here go up to 2300m, Mt Teide is 3700m)
2. Tenerife is much warmer in the winter months than Mallorca (January, February, March) so you can start your on-bike training earlier in the season.
3. Tenerife has no flat roads, forcing you to train harder.
4. Tenerife is where all the professional pro-tour cyclists do their pro cycle-training camps. 🙂
5. You’re sick of all the beginner cyclists /café-poser cyclist culture in Mallorca
6. You’re a loner, and you’re sick at the sight of all the other cyclists in Majorca! 😛
7. You prefer to end a day’s ride on a black volcanic sand beach than an off-white coloured one.
8. You’ve already cycled through all the roads in Mallorca and cycle lanes in the surrounding Balearic Islands.
9. You don’t know how to pronounce «Mallorca»
10. There are no decent offroad down-hill runs in Mallorca!

Tags: Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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1. You only ever seem to wear out two gears in your rear sprocket: the 25T and the 12T.
2. You realise that you need to replace your brake pads again, but you only changed them less than 6 months ago.
3. The only other bike frames you see are one of the following brands: Orbea, Decathlon, Giant, Scott, Specialised, diTec or Goka.
4. You’re riding within a 10km radius of the Parador Hotel at Altitude and you see professional cycling teams training for the Tour de France.
5. You’re climbing somewhere and people start cheering you and yelling «VENGA!» on the side of the roads.
6. You’ve climbed 1000m already, you can see the Atlantic ocean, and there’s still 1300m to go.
7. You suddenly have to manouvre around a goat-herd.
8. You’ve only cycled 100km at the end of the day, but you feel like you’ve cycled twice that amount.
9. You’re cycling through La Orotava, and some crazy guy in thongs starts chasing you to hand out a www.Tenerife-Training.net business card.
10. You see hard-core downhill bikes in every bike shop which actually get used for more than street-curb-jumping.

Tags: Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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People are often suprised at the respect drivers have for cyclists while riding in Tenerife. They’ll move completely over to the other side of the road when overtaking; if there isn’t at least 1.5m of extra space, they patiently wait until its safe to do so. You never get beeped just because you are a cyclist -even on single lane roads without a cycle lane! Why is this so?

We all know that in Australia, the UK and USA, things are very different indeed. Its as if motorists resent the very presence of cyclists. I have cycled here in Tenerife for 2 years and I’m yet to see an angry motorist. After observing the local Spanish driving culture in general, I believe I can speculate about why this is so:

Firstly, there’s a notoriously difficult theory test, even for native spanish speakers. The average student sits in class for some 10-20 hours before they are able to pass!! All aspects of road theory are drummed into students from the beginning. They are told that anything with more than two wheels is considered a VEHICLE. There are many many references to situations involving cyclists. In total, our instructor must have lectured about the safety of overtaking bikes for probably an hour or so. I’m actually currently enduring many Spanish driving lessons, and since then, the pieces are all falling into place. [Read more →]

Tags: Island Life, Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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Dutch cyclists in particular are always impressed with the mountainous terrain found in Tenerife. But all too often they under-estimate the difficulty of the climbs involved. Obviously the Netherlands is a super flat region in comparison with the Tenerife’s geography; they are simply not accustomed to hill-training, let alone on roads above 2000m.

They often look at the rental bikes we have available for hire, and laugh when they see a triple crankset installed on a road bike. But I’m often told later on when its time to return the bikes that they were thankful for the unusually low gearing, and that they’d used the lowest possible gear climbing up some particularly difficult climbs. All the best wishes to cyclists from Holland, but be warned: Tenerife its not the ideal place for very new cyclists or beginners to learn how to climb!

Tags: Ride the Volcano! by Dr. Leslie Brown
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