A Cyclist's Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Hi
me and my wife are hoping to come out to tenerife, me for some good road training and my wife for the sun.
can you reccommend a quiet resort or villa with pool that is away from the night clubs and package destinations we like to relax in percefull surroundings.
yours
Lyndon and Teana

Hi there,

I’d be only too happy to recommend some places to stay…

It really depends on your budget and how far away you want to be from
restaurants, etc. Are you looking for something like a rural villa, or do
you prefer a resort hotel in a quieter zone but still close to one of the
main resorts?

I’d generally steer clear of Las Americas.

I personally would stay in any one of the following:

* Casablanca, if you want convenient, affordable self-catering apartments
within walking distance to the centre of Puerto de la Cruz.
* Hotel Riu Garoe, in the «La Paz» (means «the peace») zone of Puerto de
la Cruz for a 5-star resort. Restaurants in the Botanico region are a 5
minute walk away.
* La Quinta Roja in Garachico… a boutique hotel in a jewel of a town.
* Hotel Rural El Patio between Icod & Los Gigantes. Again, just look at
the photos of the location on their website… probably some of the best
rides from around here too!!
* Hotel Alhambra in the old town of La Orotava. Only a few rooms, but
absolutely a marvelous place and possibly the best value for your dollar.
* Luxury Villa? Look no futher than Villa Preciosa in El Rincon. I’ve been
there and it’s really «no expense spared».

* Abama, for a 5 star resort all on its own isolated turf (but not if you
don’t like golfers… it’s the furthest resort from us, on the other side
of the island)
* Hotel Barcelo Santiago in Los Gigantes, just because a lot of people
overlook the area around Los Gigantes, Playa Arena Puerto Santiago… I
think this one is the classiest places to stay?

As far as getting away from things even further, go to one of the rural
villas/fincas owned by locals… the closest ones I can recommend are
Villa caya and La Abejera just about a mile away from us, although the
pools won’t be as nice as the aforementioned places as they are generally
at 500m altitude and a lot smaller/cosier.

Please let me know if you need help finding the websites or we can narrow
it down further in the next email…

Thanks,
Leslie

Tags: The Bike Guru // Add Comment »

Hello Leslie,

I will be coming to Tenerife for a week in mid January. I will be bringing my own bike.

I am usually a self explorer, make my own mistakes kind of guy. But your knowledge and expertise is evident and I really appreciate that.

I don’t like hand holding and do like riding at my own pace especially on unfamiliar roads. But I might be up for a day or two of you showing some of your local roads.

It wasn’t clear to me if you are still doing road rides or not. I will be in Tenerife from the 15th to the 24th. Let me know what the current situation is.

Are there good local maps readily available? I found some here (USA), but may not be able to get them to me in time for my departure.

Thanks,
Rich

The current situation is that the bike hire side of things is probably twenty times more poplular than the guided rides ever were. For the time being I won’t be doing them (guiding people onroad) as I have to deal with about 50 simultaneous bike hire bookings…

Regarding the maps, yes they are available here from most tourist/newsagent type of shops usually selling suncream, etc. Here’s what the best maps look like:

Kompass 233

Freytag & Berndt Teneriffa

You can always contact me closer to your arrival to see if I am freed up enough for a ride…

Thanks,
Leslie

www.Tenerife-Training.net

Tags: The Bike Guru // Add Comment »

Hello Leslie,

First of all, I would like to tell you that you have a fantastic website !
I suppose you know that anyway as a lot or people will be congratulating
you.

We plan to go to Tenerife for a cycling holiday (2 pax) from 2nd to 10th
Jan 2010. As there are no organized rides, is there a way to get in
contact with other cyclists in Tenerife in order to plan group rides ?

I signed in the forum on your website, but need to wait an e-mail from the
administrator before I can log in.

Thank you for your help if you have the time and any suggestion.

We do not need bike hire as we travel with our own bikes.

Kind regards,
Flora

Hello Flora & thanks for signing up.

Also a big thanks for your kind praise regarding the website.

As you can see, the forum is not very active, but don’t give up hope for an answer… We generally get over 1000 visitors daily on the site! The whole idea of setting up the forum was for cyclo-tourists to hook up with eachother. I suspect with time, more people will join up and use it for its original purpose… so I definitely encourage you to make a few more posts. At the very least I myself will respond within a few days (I tend to let other members reply first now).

There are almost 100 members, most of them are lurkers and so not all of them active. But it takes time to develop the level of trust & input needed for a forum to work.

You might try contacting some of the clubs in this list.

Most of them speak Spanish though…

Thanks,
Leslie

www.Tenerife-Training.net

Tags: The Bike Guru // 1 Comment »

Hi Leslie,

Seasons greetings hope you have had a good one. As you know we are going to based in the south of the island, with this in mind do you have cycling route maps for the area or recommend routes to us. We plan to ride between 3 and 6 hours a day, are there any organised rides near us?

Cheers

Hello,

Yes thanks, we had a traditional spanish dinner on the 24th. Presents aren’t given until the 6th of January here. 🙂

There are no planned rides in the South. There isn’t much organisation w.r.t cycling in Tenerife, hence my website. I’ve also started a new cycling forum here (feel free to sign up & post something, you might just get the ball rolling…hehehe). One aim of my forum is for cyclists to be able to meet up on holiday and ride together (even if they’re not hiring one of my bikes).

I can suggest the ride from Granadilla de Abona via Vilaflor through to the base of Mt Teide, and as far as you dare to go in the direction of La Esperanza. That’s an awesome ride.

Thanks very much,
Les.

Tags: The Bike Guru // Add Comment »

All sounds good! thanks for the advice, price is reasonable and the 12th is fine for delivery since i’ll need the 11th to settle in!

I can hardly belive im gonna do something that was just an idea in my head 2 days ago, training in the dark and rain was driving me to dispair! Im going out 2marrow for the club run at its going to be 7-8°C, its gonna rain and theirs a 14mph wind, but compared to the turbo trainer its tolerable.

Cya in a few days.

Hi,

Well that sounds pretty miserable weather you’ve been having…

So you know, Tenerife experiences even better weather than Mallorca, so the Canary Islands are truly a year-round cycling destination.

Still I can’t guarantee that it won’t rain here though… we almost never have a solid week of rain [apart from the 2009 Winter season that is]. Whenever it does rain, it usually just sprinkles. Usually one or two days every winter we have a massive wind storm that puts snow on Mount Teide.

Since you’re new to the sport, be aware that although it’s Tenerife, it is Winter, and so it is already quite chilly up there above 1000m. *Definitely* bring a windproof jacket, arm + leg warmers and preferably long windproof gloves, if only used for the descents. Lengthy ascents will require single layer clothing, short or long sleeve depending on your tolerance to cold weather. Look here for coastal weather forecasts; looks like local temps of 17-23°C!! It’s never too cold to cycling here!

Like I always say though, at an altitude of ~2000m, frost appears in the morning. Add 30mph wind chill factor onto that plus the fact that you’re not pedalling as much going down hill for an hour and you have a recipe for disaster if you only bring a short sleeve jersey and nothing else.

Last January/February [2008], during the coldest period in Tenerife, we had another guy from Northern Ireland (from Dromara cycling club, pictured on the testimonials webpage) who froze when we ascended past 1500-2000m altitude… he even had a lycra head warmer, vest & toe covers… so it can still get cold.

Thanks very much & look forward to seeing you then.

Leslie

Tags: The Bike Guru // Add Comment »

I was recently asked about «cycling on the big island», and I shot off a reply about the best routes in Tenerife. Anyway, it turns out the person was referring to Gran Canaria. Oh dear. This was more or less my reply:

Sorry I was a little confused there about which island you meant. 😆

Here, at least when I think of «Gran Canaria», I think of the complete name somewhat like when you say «windscreen wipers» or «babysitter». You tend not to think of them as separate words anymore. Your brain just processes the entire concept all as one thing.

Tenerife is actually the biggest island with 2,034 km² surface area according to wikipedia. Gran Canaria has 1,560 km². Like I care, because I am Australian, and Australia has 7,617,930 km²). The highest point of Tenerife, Mt Teide at 3718m, is also much higher than the highest point on Gran Canaria (only 1950 metres hehehe). I think this is where part of the resentment comes from…

The thing is, if you read the local Spanish paper El Día, both sides continually debate the use of the term «Gran» in Gran Canaria. They reproduce historic maps of varying antiquity with and without the «Gran» in front. Then the other side counter-attacks by reproducing a quote from a hitherto unpublished source. You see, in Spanish, Gran doesn’t just mean ‘big’, it means ‘great’. So the TV show «big brother» is actually wrongly translated as «gran hermano». Anyway.

I can sort of see where they are coming from. I mean look at the map to the left right here – ironically the «gran» pretext is written in small caps! And on some maps it is missing altogether.

But seriously, you would have thought that the locals have better things to debate about… I’ve come to the conclusion that some Canariones have an inferiority complex.

And it’s funny how the English and Spanish versions of Gran Canaria differ in wikipedia. No mention of the debate at all. 😐

Glad I could help you out with the links. Back when I started Tenerife-Training in 2005, there wasn’t much info online at all w.r.t. cycling in the Canaries.

Anyway, seeya round mate!

Tags: Island Life // 2 Comments »

Hi Leslie, I’m looking to go to Tenerife for a week either in Dec or Jan, depending on work commitments it will either be Dec 6th-13th or else for a week early in Jan. I’m 6ft and my own bike is 56cm frame although a taller one would suit fine as well. I won’t know the exact dates for a couple of days, but just sending a preliminary email to get the ball rolling,

thanks,

Hello Ivan,

At this stage, from next week isn’t too busy and neither is the first week in January….. click here to see what bikes are still available.

But those two small windows of opportunity are closing rather rapidly! After mid December, I’m pretty booked out from the christmas period right through to March… it’d be great if you could get back to me regarding the bike rental and I’ll squeeze you in…

Thanks a million,
Leslie.

Tags: The Bike Guru // Add Comment »

Wear Rate:
I bought these tyres on sale at Decathlon some time last year and they have not lasted long. In fact after only a few months use, one potential client looked at the tread and rather cheekily told me «this tyre is no good for me». It was at that point I realised these tyres have worn considerably fast. I won’t be buying them again for my rental bikes because they are just too costly. My own bikes are a different story… (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // 2 Comments »

The Autumn season is finally here! Thanks to all those that are coming to cycle Tenerife! I finally had time to take new photos of the bikes for the webpage, so you can see exactly what you are getting.

All of us here at Tenerife-Training have been anticipating a busy Winter season for quite some time. There are now several current bookings up as far ahead as December, January and even February 2010, so if you are interested in renting a bike with us during that time, please consider booking early!

Tags: News Reel, That's Business // Add Comment »

Things are going good,

So im flying over on tuesday the 11th Tenerif south, then im gonna take a coach up. Just can’t fly to the north from N.Ireland.
and back again on the 18th December.

Im staying in the Masaru Apartment, their december offer is very good. Be nice to have a bike for most of that time 12th-17th would be good.

My frame is a Ridley Boreas 52cm. However i have the seatpost and headset up a bit, so chances are a 54 would still be fine. Its a 50-34 compact crank with a 27-12 gears on the back, so i probably would need a triple in a normal bike. I have SPD clipless shoes.

Been cycling since may this year, so im a beginner, but ive trained hard and im the best hill climber in my club athough the highest ive been up is a 500m climb:) and 100km. but that was back in Sept, and im a bit fitter now. In feburary i was 103kg and now im 79kg, yeah bit to go yet but working hard at it.

So from the info on the website probably a easy-moderate route is gonna be challanging for me. My average speed over a 25 mile run was 18mph. mostly flat, and i run a 10k in 50 mins dead if that helps you reccomend the best route for me. The furtherest ive been on a bike is 100km and the the furtherest ive run is 13km.

Thats all i can think off at the moment.

You’ve been a great help and is much appreciated.

Hello,

Well I can say that the «flattest» route is along the coast to Garachico & back via El Tanque. It undulates as it goes past some spectacular green sea cliffs. Most of the locals do that run, but the trafic is getting worse. The good news is they’re very polite towards cyclists & there is a cycling lane most of the way….

With a triple crank setup you can go just about anywhere, and things only start to get difficult on steeep climbs. The 52cm Mrazek has 30/39/53 – 12/25 gearing, which makes the easiest gear 5% lower than what you’ve got now!

I think if you can cycle 100km, you should now class yourself as an enthusiast and not a beginner. 😉

If I were you, I’d take either the 345 or 348 bus straight up to Aguamansa (1000m), and then start the climb to the base of Mt. Teide (2300m) from there (I can explain it further upon bike delivery). That way you can avoid any traffic, and get to see the more scenic parts as well. Try to at least get to the next rest stop «El Portillo»; marvel at the horrible coffee and equally horrible service 🙂 Then simply ride 35km back down hill !!!!!

You’ve lost a lot of weight, so you’re to be congratulated. For the first time in my life, I’ve actually put on close to 5kg this summer. I’m scared to weigh myself. I dare not.

You’ve got the bike for your requested dates. 6 days’ rental comes to €140. I can throw on a set of SPD pedals too. Delivery on the morning of the 12th will be best for me. At this stage, I’ll set the delivery time to 8:30am, OK?

Masaru is a great place; I’ve stayed there with my partner, a great new place with good service and you can’t beat it for value either.
Cheers,

Leslie

Tags: The Bike Guru // Add Comment »

Not so much a review, this is just my first riding impressions of SRAM’s new Rival shifters for 2009. Several things bugged be enough to write this article:

Ergonomics:
Overall, the shifters feel great. The carbon levers have a relatively large section to hold on to when braking and the shift paddle is big enough. I’ve never liked shimano’s combined gear/brake lever, so that’s the primary reason I bought this set. My one single gripe is that there seems to be a soft spot just inside the levers where the double-tap mechanism is housed. It’s like the soft spot on a baby’s head… you know it’s only temporary… because this is not how the final grown up version is meant to be. Peel back the inside of the rubber hoods and you realise there is nothing but a big hollow section underneath with no support. (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // 2 Comments »

These new disc brakes for 2009 represent excellent value for money. They use the commonly available XTR pad shape so you can easily get both sintered and organic brake pads… in fact these are really the old LX calipers with a totally new levers sporting radial master cyclinders.

If you use rotors which are large enough for your intended application, the total available power is good. I used a 203mm front rotor and 180mm rear rotor for this review. With this setup, I felt that the action of the rear brake caliper was quite a bit mushier than the front and I put this down to the length of the rear brake line (both are non-braided hydraulic housing).

Regardless, modulation is spot on and I really like the adjustable reach levers. When it’s this easy to change the reach, it’s amazing how much you use this single feature. (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // 2 Comments »

Confession: I have been using worn out tyres for quite some time now. You know the old story – they’re too good to throw in the bin but they won’t last 2 more weeks. I had half a dozen tyres like this, so on my training bike they went – until they all finally wore out one by one! Cornering at any kind of decent speed with squared-off tyres is noticeably poor (unpredictable) and several of my training partners were leaving me for dead. So with the last tyre well and truly gone, I recently decided to treat myself to a pair of Michelin Pro 3 Grip tyres.

Quite the opposite of their «Race» siblings which come in every conceivable colour combination, with the «Grip» versions, you can have any colour you like so long as it’s dark grey. I don’t mind that, because the only tyres I ever buy are either dark grey and/or black. (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // 1 Comment »

1) If they don’t stop pedalling. This might sound simple enough, but most recreational cyclists stop pedalling for vast periods of time to rest their legs. Meanwhile, cyclists on a misson keep their cadence constant the whole time.

2) They are riding a bike with double chainrings and not a triple chainring or compact crankset.

3) One way to estimate distance that someone has cycled is by looking at the amount of water they’re carrying. Two 750ml bottles and they’re out for a few hours. Two 750ml bottles + a 2L camelback, and they’re doing some serious training mileage. How can I be so certain? ‘Cause no one carries that extra weight unless they need to. 😉

4) They’ve shaved or waxed their legs. A lot of good cyclists do this for many reasons. Foremost, because it looks good. Second, because it feels good. Third, because if you crash, you don’t create a very painful composite (human hair fibres in a blood matrix). If they’re really good they’ll shave their arms too!

5) They’ve left their leg hairs grow proudly. (that’s right, the presence of leg hairs is never a true indication of the fitness of an individual)

6) They’ve got mis-matched tyres. Why? Because it means they can’t be fussed with th look of their bike. They’d rather be out cycling than waiting or looking around for a new pair of same-brand tires.

7) A far better way to tell if they are a decent rider is to see if they use genuine cycling socks… white for road, black for MTB.

8) They’re out cycle-training in Tenerife… because there are no easy rides here.

9) They’ve got tattoos. Because everyone knows that tats are associated with drug-use and they’re probably taking EPO.

10) They’re passing you as you note all of the above.

Tags: Learning Curve // Add Comment »

With 276 km² and more than 10000 inhabitants, El Hierro is the smallest island of the Canary archipelago ( Spain ). The island has its own electricity grid; it is totally isolated as the significant sea depths make any interconnection impossible. Till a little time ago , the electricity demand, which accounts for about 65% of the internal energy consumption, was mainly covered by a conventional thermal power station (10MW diesel-fired system). The contribution of renewable energies to the electricity grid was
less than 5% and came from two wind turbines installed close to the main town (100 kW and 180 kW).

El Hierro, the smallest island of the Canaries, is staging one of the most ambitious island projects regarding energy self-sufficiency through the use of renewable energies. In a few years, El Hierro will become one of the first islands in the world to meet its energy demand using RES (Renewable Energy Sources). Considered as one of the most audacious actions of the strategy established in the European Commission White Paper on Renewable Energies, the project is already a reference for other islands, such as Crete and Madeira…

Tags: Inspiration., Island Life // Add Comment »

If you’re truly open to another culture, then once you move out, you’ll never look at your homeland the same way again. Because you’ll soon be able to recognise the faults or flaws that exist in your own country. You also won’t be so quick to take for granted many things that you might have done before. Be prepared to literally become a different person. If you have always felt like you don’t fit into your own society and secretly wanting to expand your horizons, that’s the best reason to distance yourself from it.

On the other hand, if you’re a stubborn person not open to change, then you probably won’t gain much by living somewhere else. Moving to a place because it has sunny blue sky is a pretty shallow reason to settle in another country, especially if it means you have no incentive to integrate. Really question your motives for moving to another culture. If you have no interest in learning Spanish or any other foreign language and your only intention is to take advantage of the local people, then you’ll only find deep-rooted resentment amongst them.

One problem expatriates persistently face is that you can never really experience both places at the same time. You’re either in the one place or the other, living one of two different «life modes». It’s commonly believed that you can look at everything with two alternative yet opposite perspectives: optimistism and pessimism. It is my belief that living in another country amplifies the bipolar nature of this thinking pattern. What happens first is that you’ll constantly be comparing your new home and your old one and then asking yourself if your decision was the right one. You can either look at the big move as something positive or negative. (más…)

Tags: Island Life, Mental Anguish // Add Comment »

I’ve had this draft here lying around for too long so I thought I’d share it. I believe these are not my own words, but I think being aware of several current theories about stress is interesting in light of one of my other posts.

Hans Selye , one of the foremost stress scientists, found that stress uses «adaptation energy» that depletes us of our resources. He also found that, in general, stress is good but that it turns against us when it is uninterrupted.Alvin Toffler , a sociologist, found that in our present society many suffer from over-stimulation, too many changes, cognitive overload and decision overload, while our classical means of coping are not adequate for these conditions.

Rosenmann & Friedman , MD’s, studied their patients personality and the incidence of their heart attacks and found that an ambitious (type A) personality had seven times the chance to have a heart attack than the more easygoing (type B). (The only problem with the B’s is that they may be disaster prone). It can be said that stress is caused by poor timing of external changes in combination with an exaggerated internal perception.

Holmes, a psychologist, related illnesses to changes that took place in his patients before the illness. From this he developed his «Stress scale», which lists changes in order of resulting stress. Then he concluded that change is not random, but a combination of fate and choice; therefore, change mangement is possible.

Tags: Mental Anguish // Add Comment »

More than a year ago, a topic about Tenerife and the environment came up on the Sun4Free forum. I’ve had this article lying around as draft version, so I thought rather than delete it, I’d publish «as is».

Lets assume that you’re absolutely correct in your statements. What do you suggest that we do to stop the emissions of CO2 in Tenerife? Stop encouraging visitors to the Island? Ban all tourism? BIG savings on emissions with no aircraft coming in. Stop all unnecessary activity on the Island? No pleasure trips by car, bus motorcycle or bicycle?

Here’s what I managed to dig up:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates aviation contributes just 3% to total global emissions of CO2, compared with the 25% pumped out by power stations.

So since I was asked directly, here is what I would introduce:

In the short term (6 – 18 months)

• Firstly introduce a new green Tenerife website outlining all of the measures that are going on.
• Give each resort hotel a «green energy rating» based on their use of electricty, ability to reuse and recycle, etc.
• Introduce transit lanes on the highways
• Make all the coaches use biodiesel if they aren’t already and equip them with bicycle racks
• Target vehicles causing excessive pollution.
• Run several prizes for the most environmentally friendly small businesses within several different categories … ensure they get more exposure through the media.

offer small loans & grants

• Provide small loans & grants for the most environmentally friendly new business ideas
• Educate people via the media about how to recycle and why it is worth the effort

In the medium term (2 – 3 years)

• Introduce a Solar Panel rebate scheme for small businesses…
• Introduce 20¢ tax on each passenger flight. Use this money to plant trees for each flight elsewhere, not necessarily in Tenerife (each tree will save ~1 tonne of CO2 in it’s lifetime)
• Promote the use of scooters as a more economical & environmentally friendly form of transport.
• Encourage carbon-offset websites like this one www.greenfleet.com.au

In the long term (5 years +)

• Prioritise the construction of the North-South train link.
• Phase out petrol hire cars and phase in hybrid vehicles such as the smart car

Tags: Inspiration., Island Life // Add Comment »

In this short article, I’ve estimated the amount of Carbon dioxide emissions from the maufacture of a standard aluminium bicycle frame weighing 1 kg. This is in an attempt to answer the question: «how far would I have to cycle [as opposed to driving a car] to offset the manufacture of my alloy bike frame?»

Alcan Aluminium states in one of their reports that:

14.9kW/hr per kg of aluminium produced.
6.8 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of Al.
1.8 tonnes of perfluorocarbons per tonne of Al.

= 6.8kg of CO₂ per kg of Al.
~ 3786 litres of CO₂ gas produced for a one-kilogram bicycle frame.

I have previously calculated that 1L of petrol produces 2.28kg of CO₂, therefore 3L of petrol yields 6.8kg of CO₂. A typical small car consumes 6L/100km. So you would only have to cycle 50km or so instead of driving a car, and you’ve already «offset» your frame.

So I would say that the humble bicycle is probably the only thing that I can think of that benefits the environment, if only because it’s more energy efficient than walking. I’ll save that calculation for another day…

Tags: Science Simplified // Add Comment »

In recent news, we received a package from Pro Lite yesterday (well 7 actually). Included in this shipment are two new road framesets in 56cm and 60.5cm sizes as well as one 19.5″ hardtail MTB frame. These are manufactured from 7046 aluminium alloy and the weight of the 54.5cm alloy road frame is a respectable 1258 grams! They definitely look like they are worth the money. (más…)

Tags: News Reel, Sales Pitch // 1 Comment »