A Cyclist's Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Just when life seems too oppressing to continue, along comes this nifty little invention. In 15 years of perusing bike products, this is the first bike rack I’ve ever seen that made me want to voluntarily attach it to my own personal bike; most of them all look like identical taiwanese copies with equal ‘functions’ (normally you’d have to pay me to mount one). One look at the Pletscher ORION however makes me want to mount a set of slicks, slap on a rigid fork & embrace the life of a commuter! (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // Add Comment »

Hello blog readers,

You might have noticed that I haven’t written many new articles in the past fortnight. That’s because I’ve been working behind the scenes on a few new simultaneous projects. One of them is called «www.bikenode.com«, a new global cycling links directory. It took almost a full day to create the Bike Node logo… hehehe. Anyway-

The aim is to make it «the fastest growing cycling link directory for the global cycling community». The idea is to help generate exposure for us little guys. Whatever. But the good news is that I am now taking link submissions. So please feel free to add any appropriate cycling-related links to «www.bikenode.com«. It’s easy & it’s free!

There are still a few features I’d like to add, such as an email confirmation of link submissions, an info page, and an easy way for you to add reciprocal links with & without the Bike Node logo (to encourage activity within the directory, reciprocal links are not mandatory but are HIGHLY appreciated).

If you want a bit of extra exposure, a featured listing (highlighted & placed at the top of each category) costs a one-time fee of only 5$ and will result in more traffic to your site. I’ll also ensure that links are added to the directory in a timely manner if you choose a paid link.

If you feel that an appropriate category isn’t listed in the directory yet, you can also suggest new categories for the directory by commenting below.

Thanks,
Les

Tags: News Reel, Sales Pitch, That's Business // 2 Comments »

I must admit that before I moved to Tenerife, I really didn’t fully understand this whole mountainbiking phenomenon. I mean, why would anyone intentionally choose to ride a bike on dirty, bumpy surfaces, in the middle of nowhere? They’re heavier than road bikes for a start. MTB drivetrains wear out quicker. Complex suspension components demand more maintenance. And obviously, they’re much slower than road racing bikes.

The primary reason, I believe, is to escape from traffic, other people and civilisation itself. It’s the single best form of transport to get you out in the wilderness and away from society. (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve // Add Comment »

A while back I sent out a Newsletter, which you can read here in case you missed it. One of the sections went as follows:

Send your photos & win!
If you’d like to appear on the Guestbook Page, please send me any photos you may have taken while cycling in Tenerife. High-resolution photos are preferred, in any format. I’d also love to hear any comments to include as testimonials… The best photo sent in wins a free T-Shirt!

Anyway, that was last month. This month, the best photo has been chosen & hence the winner decided. Judging the competition was a piece of cake, since only one person bothered to officially enter! (somewhat like another promotional flop of mine… I guess that’s what happens when a Scientist organises these sorts of things…) Sure I had other photographs on file from existing clients, but like they say: «you’ve got to be in it to win it». Nevertheless, I think you’ll all agree that the photo on the left is worthy of the title. I particularly like the perspective and composition of this photo, and also the fact that it isn’t taken from a normal location.

CONGRATULATIONS CLAUDIUS FUCHS OF HAMBURG, GERMANY!! You sent in so many excellent photos, it wasn’t easy to choose between the best ones. You definitely deserve a free T-shirt!

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I’ve tried and tested many seatposts over the years in all price ranges. The only purpose of a seatpost is provide support for the saddle & to offer simple adjustments of the saddle (vertical & horizontal seat position plus saddle angle). Some seatposts costing hundreds of dollars do not even meet these simple requirements! (más…)

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Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) simply an extreme degree of hyperactivity, brought about by many complex contributing factors? We’re stimulated (visually) by television and seemingly limitless internet possibilities. Outwardly, we appear to have adapted in various ways to this fast pace of life. But what happens to our brain when we stop all this fast-paced internet work and shutdown our computers and gaming consoles? Our brain continues to run wild at this high pace. Our minds continue to race overtime; not accustomed to stagnating, we dwell & obsess over the tiniest of problems merely for «something to do». Is this something we have control over?

Could a lack of excerise combined with overchoice & overstimulation actually compound certain mental disorders in the early phase of development? In an ever-increasingly stressful world, we’ve simultaneously reduced the amount of excercise we receive! We drive everywhere, use mobile devices, remote controls, pre-packaged «lazy foods», etc. Although most of us still continue to defer exercise. This is a recipe for disaster. Could this be a simple link to many of today’s current mental disorders? (más…)

Tags: Mental Anguish, Science Simplified // 1 Comment »

With the petrol prices rising, the energy crisis looming, and the state of the environment deteriorating, I thought it was time to compile a list of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). First I’d like to say that I’m pretty pissed of that the internal combustion engine is still with us today. I remember when the Australian government told us about 15 years ago that they’d be «phasing petrol cars out». Phasing them out my arse…!! Anyway, it is my hope that one day, the combustion engine will become just as unpopular as analogue electronic equipment now has, and that zero emmissions vehicles will be treated like the new wave of «digital» equipment. I hope that people will laugh at things like exhaust pipes in future. Fuck hybrid vehicles altogether I say… they’re like dual VCR/DVD drives.

Note that I haven’t included hybrids or alternative fuels in this list, as all of them still emit greenhouse gases. I also haven’t included any prototypes, impractical or uneconomical cars. The majority of these production cars you can buy TODAY, the remaining few that aren’t are slated for production within about a year, so you can at least reserve with a deposit. I encourage you to leave a comment if I’ve ommitted any ZEVs from the list: (más…)

Tags: Inspiration., That's Business // 7 Comments »

Our current civilisation is growing at an exponential rate. But anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that exponential growth in a finite space is a physical impossibility. So I sometimes wonder how many people this planet can support. (más…)

Tags: Vida Enigmática // Add Comment »

If there’s one thing that has plagued or doomed all human civilisations, it their blatant ignorance during the time in which they prosper. But if you look back on some former civilisations, history reveals they only made relatively minor mistakes (as far as their long-term survival was concerned).

It’s no secret that most people in today’s advanced societies live greedy, unsustainble lives. We directly contribute to the destruction of the planet, and we’re under the false impression that things will never change. When something as simple and uncontrolable as the weather bites back, we’re stunned. Speechless, until the moment we are able to forget and resume our old ways…

The trouble with our society is this: we are well aware that we change the environment on a «small scale». For example, we build roads & cities. We cause local deforrestation. We pollute rivers. So we can see clearly enough that what we are doing also affects the surrounding ecosystem negatively. But then when we move up to thinking about the global scale, our thought patterns are no longer logical. But many of us simply do not accept that our home, the entire planet Earth, is in jeopardy. We either quickly change the subject, ignore it altogether, or go into a major case of denial. It’s a problem of scale, which our puny minds cannot yet comprehend.

So I put this to my readers: if we can accept that we as a society are changing things on a local scale, and we can also grasp the fact that humans now populate every single country (albeit some regions denser than others), why can’t we accept the inevitable conclusion that we are also collectively changing the entire face of the Earth, on the global scale? (más…)

Tags: Vida Enigmática // Add Comment »

The main road TF21 to Las Cañadas is currently receiving an upgrade around the Aguamansa region, for a distance of approximately 300 metres. That brief section is currently not sealed. I feel obliged to point out that beyond the cafe’s in Aguamansa, the road to Mt Teide resumes as normal (just in case cyclists think that the horrible road surface continues the whole way up). It is possible to bypass around the workzone, but it is not marked as an official detour. (más…)

Tags: News Reel, Ride the Volcano! // 1 Comment »

This budget model fork can be had for as little as €120, so it is not intended for downhill or competition use. The model we tested boasted 120mm of travel, although at the softest setting, only about half of that was effectively utilised (even after a substantial break-in period). (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // 5 Comments »

Many famous names in professional cycling come to Tenerife, including Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantani and Miguel Indurain. A longer list of professional cyclists that have trained in Tenerife can be seen here.

Tenerife is one of the seven Canary Islands, a volcanic island chain belonging to Spain. Tenerife is located in the Atlantic ocean, about 250km off the African coastline (Western Sahara).

Tenerife, the world’s third largest island volcano, is an ideal training destination for serious cyclists as there are several continuous 2300 metre (7000 ft) ascents which commence from sea level. Mt Teide, rising to 3718m can often be seen rising above the surrounding terrain.

Many professional cyclists choose to train in Tenerife during the winter season when the rest of Europe experiences much cold temperatures. The Canary Islands are generally regarded as the Sothern-most part of Europe; Tenerife’s local climate is obviously a lot milder than what the European mainland experiences, even despite the mountains. So much so, cycling in Tenerife is possible all year round.

Professional cycle training camps are often based at Las Cañadas in the centre of Tenerife. El Parador, the only hotel allowed within the entire El Teide National Park, is located at an altitude of 2100m. From here, cyclists are able to become accustomed to high-altitude training within the surrounding volcanic crater; the elevation in this region always exceeds 2000 m.

Tags: Island Life, Ride the Volcano! // Add Comment »

To date, there have been 185 «special edition» Google logos, which can be seen here. I, like many people, use Google to perform internet searches almost daily. I missed a lot of other trivial logos shown previously. So here’s my chance to comment on this one before it’s too late! (más…)

Tags: Mental Anguish // Add Comment »

I recently watched this video of an elephant drawing a ‘self portrait’. I was amazed. I was also amazed at some of the responses this video provoked on youtube. It really opened up a can of worms. People on one side were saying how cool it was, others were protesting everything from to «stop animal cruelty!» and «it’s a robot hoax» to «he’s following the outlines». I’m sure this has already been said, but is this any different from the way that some humans paint by numbers? (más…)

Tags: Inspiration., Vida Enigmática // 4 Comments »

– A typical Spanish breaksfast consists of an expresso coffee … and that’s often all there is to it.

– The main meal is usually served between 1:00 and 2:00pm in the afternoon. This is sometimes accompanied by a first course consisting of soup. Three course lunches are the norm for the all-important weekend family get-together.

– Parsely is the mother of all herbs in Spanish cooking. I’m willing to bet that more parsely is consumed in Spain than all other [cooking] herbs combined.

– Spanish rarely eat outside their homes (or at least here in the Canary Islands). The proper place to eat is in the kitchen, while the dining room is sometimes just left for show.

– For some unknown reason, if you’re sharing a plate of food, especially tapas, the fork is left resting perpendicularly on the edge of the plate, with the pointy side curving down. Don’t ask me to explain this strange custom. (más…)

Tags: Island Life // 1 Comment »

Whenever I see this following video clip, I’m simply amazed at the intricacy of each animation scene. This is one of those things I look at and place into the «I couldn’t do this any better not even in my wildest dreams» category. I haven’t had the opportunity to see the movie yet though. Apparantly they’re remaking Akira into a live action film in 2009. I don’t see how they can do better that this though. I would have been blown away had I seen this at the time it was released when I was 11.

Akira is a 1988 Japanese animated film set in a neon-lit futuristic post-apocalyptic Tokyo in 2019. Akira is regarded by critics as one of the greatest animated films ever made. One of the reasons for the movie’s success was the highly advanced quality of its animation. At the time, most anime was notorious for cutting production corners with limited motion, such as having only the characters’ mouths move while their faces remained static. Akira broke from this trend with meticulously detailed scenes, exactingly lip-synched dialogue €” a first for an anime production (voices were recorded before the animation was completed, rather than the opposite) €” and super-fluid motion as realized in the film’s more than 160,000 animation cels.

Tags: Inspiration., Mental Anguish // 2 Comments »

Supermodelo 2008 got off to a quiet start as Operación Triunfo gathers even more momentum here in Spain. The popular Supermodel contest usually rebounds once the Operación Triunfo wake surges (or at least it did last year). But honestly, I don’t know what to make of Supermodelo 2008 this year; half the instructors are in fact French! Readers will be left wondering if there is anything at all to Spanish fashion. Leave that to me. I’ve recently gathered together many un-hitherto unrelated thoughts during my stay here in Spain, and compiled this list describing just what is popular in the world of Spanish fashion:

• Any English words printed on T-shirts. It doesn’t matter what words are printed, they’re just cool. Partly because to be in a position to buy a foreign T-shirt, you have to have travelled somewhere.
• Car tattoos have become fashionable. That’s right. Car tattoos. The average spanish car enthusiast can’t afford to upgrade what’s under the bonnet. Hence, Spanish hoons restrict their engine modifications & instead focus on the outsides of their vehicles. So you’ll see all sorts of customised designs stuck onto cars. It’s just a small part of what’s called «tuning», but here pronounced more like: «toonin».
• The mullet haircut. I’m trying to work out whether mullet haircuts have made a comeback in Spain, or whether in reality they never went out of fashion! Whatever the case, rest assured that at least here in Spain, mullets are alive and well. They just don’t have a name yet.
• I once heard my friend comment that yellow houses were «vasto» or «cutre» (in my time, the appropriate translation is «corny»). Most houses in Spain are either white or yellow and I’ve always wanted to know why.
• Womens shirts with sleeves should have enormous neck holes to compensate for the increased skin coverage factor. If the sleeves aren’t falling off the shoulders, it isn’t fashionable enough. Think of it more more like a tube top encompassing the arms as well. (you can thank wikipedia for educating this simpleton about the many definitions of what shirt’s are and aren’t)
• In Spain, shoes are everything. Spanish men are lucky enough to have a special subset of shoes which are admitedly very difficult to describe. I suppose they land somewhere between the simplicity of those older canvis tennis shoes and the sleekness of modern sneakers. I had to trawl through dozens of pages to come across this picture representing this particular slice of Spanish fashion.

Tags: Island Life // 5 Comments »

Most motor vehicle accidents involving cyclists happen at dawn and dusk. The reason for this is that there are more commuters out there on the road at these times. At the same time, the road visibility is far less than during the day, so the chances of being hit are relatively high. I’ve taken the opportunity to gather together some very interesting products aimed at increasing your safety while riding at night.

(más…)

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As a former postgraduate research scientist, science is one subject I’m qualified to reflect upon. I completed my Doctorate in 2005. The way I look at it, current research science is a system of reliable information harnessing, data processing, followed by speculative interpretation based on well-founded principles & intense scrutiny by fellow peers. It is a method of education for an entire community of very eager-to-learn people. (más…)

Tags: Science Simplified, Vida Enigmática // 1 Comment »

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is a mental disorder of which the primary symptom is the inability to concentrate. While the symptoms are widely accepted, the causes are disputed. Conventional studies of this disease have focused on brain’s ability to produce dopamine, food additives such as colourants, genetic research and environmental factors (including alcohol, in utero tobacco smoke and lead exposure). Meanwhile, the actual treatments are even more controversial, ranging from medication (including stimulants and anti-depressants), to counseling and behavioural therapy.

But recent studies describe a new form of ADHD treatment; how strenous exercise can reduce the symptoms of ADHD, without the need for medication: (más…)

Tags: Inspiration., Mental Anguish // 2 Comments »