So this has been a week of getting our social media back on track! Just click the LinkedIn logo to the left to see my professional profile. You can see a little more about my background and expertise. A great site for networking.
Winter has been very busy & it’s that time of year again (Spring) when we need to disconnect and go on a holiday ourselves! This is actually a honeymoon vacation and we’ll be visiting Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria as well as New South Wales. As always, looking forward to starting work feeling refreshed. We plan to be back in Tenerife by July 5th, 2013. We’ll still have internet / email access so feel free to submit your bike reservations during this time… Thank you, Leslie.
Some of you might like to know that we just opened up a Twitter account. I used to make fun of Twitter, but I’ve slowly come to realise that it has become a great (fast) way of providing up-to-the-minute info. So there you have it. Only time will tell if it works for us or not…
You know, I first knew about the website “Tenerife Bike Training” over a year ago while I was searching for my own site. I wasn’t too worried as they weren’t in the top 10 search results anyway. Why give them additional exposure?
Although, I have to say for the record, initially I wasn’t too pleased because apart from partly copying our original name Tenerife-Training, they actually copied the names of our own routes! Too bad I don’t have a screen shot to show you. Neither does it appear on thewaybackmachine.org. Anyway, they’ve since rectified that issue.
But then, earlier this year, they actually called me up pretending to be part of some questionnaire for La Laguna University. And when they started asking too many questions about bike hire, I responded that I wasn’t going to reveal too much information without knowing exactly who I was talking to. They promptly hung up. Great.
What continues to annoy me about their site is their authenticity. They make claims and show you photos of racks of Focus bikes for example. They appear to be stock photos to me. Perhaps they get their bikes from Bike Point. Or perhaps they can’t supply any bikes at all. Who knows?
More worrying is that a quick search of their business number reveals this:
| Denominación: | DELGADO GONZALEZ ALBERTO |
| Domicilio Social: | AVENIDA A… |
| Localidad: | 38003 SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE ( Tenerife ) |
| Forma Jurídica: | Empresario individual |
| NIF: | 78610109-L |
| Actividad Informa: | Salones e institutos de belleza |
| CNAE 2009: | 9602 Peluquería y otros tratamientos de belleza |
| Fecha último dato: | 18 de Enero de 2013 |
| Popularidad: | Esta empresa ha sido consultada por última vez el de de y 1 veces en total |
So it’s registered to a Beauty Salon franchise:
Whether or not they can provide the bikes they advertise, I think potential customers who do go out on training rides with them should ask themselves what is likely to happen in the event of an accident. Are they covered? Do they pay taxes? Do they contribute to the social security system? Because from where I’m standing they don’t appear to be a legitimate business at all. They don’t even appear to have the correct business activity registered. Looks to me like they are using their DNI in place of an actual CIF number.
Oh and while I’m at it, no I don’t think cycling in Tenerife is for everyone. I wouldn’t agree that it’s for beginners. It’s the world’s third largest island volcano for fucks sake. Stop the lies people.
(you know, two of the most popuar sitcoms in Spain are essentially based on lies: “Aida” and “Lo Que Se Avecina”. And tell me – where do the main characters always end up? They’re almost always worse off)
For what it’s worth, I often refer people to other cycling websites in Tenerife, but the way it stands, I simply cannot recommend these guys to anyone.
In case you weren’t aware of it already, the local weather authorities have recently issued yellow & orange wind & rain alerts for most of the Canary Islands. Wind gusts up to 120km/hr are predicted in La Orotava and Vilaflor municipalities. There is even a red alert situation currently in place in La Palma (Wind gusts up to 130km/hr!) It’s definitely not safe for cycling over the next 48 hours or so until the storm passes, for two main reasons:
Generally it is windier as the altitude increases as the mountains are more exposed to wind. Coastal regions tend to be more sheltered although the seas are also affected by this weather. Should be interesting to watch cloud formations continue to develop with this webcam. For more info, see this link.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had top-down radar view of all oncoming traffic in our cars just like they have in those little learning to drive manuals? That way we could effectively ‘see’ around corners and we could drive accordingly. It’d also come in extremely handy when parking wouldn’t it? Well until it arrives, here’s my advice: if you can’t see around a blind corner, don’t risk any fucking insane overtaking manoeuvres!
Yes of course you’re supposed to give cyclists a full metre or more of space when overtaking. Here in Spain, it’s the law. Now here’s the catch:
Unlike somewhere like Australia where the continuous white and double white lines are seen as some kind of imaginary vertical wall which can and will not be traversed under any circumstances, you are in fact allowed to cross this line in Spain under ‘special conditions’. One of these conditions is overtaking cyclists, with the proviso that you can see what is coming and you’re not endangering either the cyclist or oncoming traffic. So to put it simply, yes you can legally wander into the oncoming lane – but only when it’s safe to do so. Do I even need to spell out that “safety is never guaranteed around corners”? That is why you’ll see drivers in Tenerife patiently waiting there turn to overtake cyclists. They only do it on the straight & level bits of road (i.e. not on the crest of a hill where you can’t see anything either). SO IF YOU FIND YOURSELF ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT AS A RESULT OF BEING THERE, IT’S YOUR FAULT. YOU CAUSED THE POTENTIALLY FATAL HEAD-ON COLLISION. NOTHING MORE REALLY NEEDS TO BE SAID. Why? Because driving safely is all about being predictable. And, for example, meeting an oncoming car in the wrong lane, not just anywhere, but at the apex of blind corner is not really very predictable. Is it?
It sounds pretty simple, right? Not for some… (more…)
I have replaced the re-catchpas which were getting more and more difficult to solve with these fun games from playthru. As a result, it’s now even easier to sign up to the cycling forum and make comments on this bog.
You may have noticed that we are currently adding some translations to the main website in Spanish, Russian and Finnish. Next to follow will be German. We’ll do our best to finish translating the site as accurately as possible. If you should notice any mistakes or things that don’t work as exptected, we’d be grateful if you let us know of any problems you encounter. Thank you!
We have been working very hard behind the scenes over the past few months on a completely new main website. The new website for desktops and mobile browsers is expected to launch on or before 1st December 2012. (we are just working on some final details) The new website will feature:
We have managed to get a hold of an atlas-sized digital road map of Tenerife. This isn’t your ordinary everyday map. This map of Tenerife is a full 300 megapixels in size, measuring 19,000 pixels wide x 15,800 pixels tall. File size is ~125Mb as a jpeg image! Don’t be fooled by the tiny little vintage map shown here… click the image to download full high resolution map of Tenerife. It doesn’t quite show every single street in Tenerife, but it’s not far off!
Nobody linkes old links because, well, they’re not very helpful. They’re more like a waste of time because you have to sift through all the bad links in order to find a good one. Due to the new webpage which should be ready in a few days’ time, I have taken this opportunity to refresh and reorganise all existing links. Some of the blog links in particular were getting quite old, so only recent blogs will be linked to.
It gives me great pleasure to announce a few more updates. This blog is now even easier to read if you are on holiday in Tenerife as I have just installed a dedicated theme for mobile browsers. It should automatically work with most modern smartphones. Even the new forum also has a mobile version! Enjoy!
Technology has advanced enough recently enabling us to collectively map out all the exact locations of drainage grates in Tenerife. Considering the length of roads here, there aren’t actually that many.
This is an editable map so if you have found a drainage grate you believe to be a road hazard for cyclists, please update the place on the list. I highly encourage you to do so, because once we are armed with the exact location of ~20 or so known hazards, we can approach both the the Tenerife and Canary Islands cycling federations, local councils as well as the Tenerife Tourism department and see if we can get them to modify the design to be more cyclist friendly. The Tenerife deptarment of tourism once asked me something along the lines of “what could we be doing to improve cycling in Tenerife?”. I think eliminating these potential dangers is a simple and achieveable goal.
Thank you,
Leslie
For your convenience, we have uploaded three detailed maps of the Puerto de la Cruz resort area. The first pdf map is an information map which best shows the overall layout of Puerto la Cruz, including the location of El Lago Martíanez. The second pdf map is a detailed street map of Puerto de la Cruz. The last one is a detailled Map of Hotel Locations in El Puerto. You can also download the best digital map of Tenerife Island here.
The local bus network is very extensive & the buses always run on schedule. You can easily recognise these local buses; they’re bright green, and have “TITSA” written on the side of them. Although bikes are never permitted on board (inside) any buses, yes they will usually fit inside lugagge space of probably 80-90% of the buses that circulate -provided that both front and rear wheels are removed. Just to be sure, it’s best if you take off the pedals and lower the seatpost also.
If there is a latch on the luggage door, simply open the door and load your bike on, turningthe handlebars to ensure that it fits. If you’re lucky enough to get one of the bigger “cargo” buses, you won’t need to take off both wheels but you may need to show the driver you have a bike, and then they’ll remotely open the door. If the doors look very small and there are no handles, you’re probably out of luck. The only catch about taking bikes aboard buses is that you’re expected to do so only at major stations (Las Americas, Los Christianos, Los Gigantes, Puerto de la Cruz, La Laguna, Santa Cruz, Granadilla de Abona, Icod de Los Vinos, Güímar) and preferably before the bus leaves, otherwise you hold everyone else up. Don’t expect any bus drivers to stop for you anywhere else. Click here for further information about travelling with bikes on the Titsa buses in Tenerife. (more…)
It’s been a while since I last updated the whole website, so you can expect a new main website some time next week! In the mean time, I’m upgrading the blog software, so you may find that this blog could go offline. Also expect the theme too be temporarily different while these upgrades take place…
You may have noticed that many of the rides we have written about on this website are based around the North of Tenerife, mainly because that is where we are located. No matter where you stay on Tenerife however, there are some truly great climbs.
The most obvious rides from Las Americas & Los Cristianos head in up the mountains to the North-East, up past Vilaflor to Las Cañadas and the base of Mt Teide (where the highest road elevation is 2350 metres above sea level). The best road out of Los Cristanos is probably via TF-28 (although there is another back way via TF-657). If you decide to go via TF-28, expect traffic up as far as La Camella. From there, there are essentially three main routes up to Vilaflor:
Also worth mentioning, you can take the old road TF-28 from Granadilla to Arico, Fasnia, GüÃmar and Arafo. It’s an undulating road and people tell me it is great. I’ve never done it, but if you have your own transport, this would be an awesome route if you are extremely fit.
I was looking for places to stay in Tenerife and your website appeared so I thought it best to ask your advice. I’m after living at altitude for a little while and training on mount Teide and I wondered if you knew any hotels or villas available that would be around 2000 meters above sea level? Also if you knew any that would cater to cyclists in February?Thanks
Hello there,
Without a doubt the highest place to stay and train at altitude is “El Parador”, the only hotel located inside the Volcanic Crater @ 2000 masl.
Thanks,
-Leslie
We mostly dine in the North of Tenerife, so this list is somewhat biased. I’m sure there are loads of recommendations for restaurants in the South of Tenerife. If you have any helpful suggestions or referrals, please post them in the comments below!
Also worth mentioning:
El Monasterio has traditionally been one of the most visited restaurants by tourists. It’s worth a visit but while I’ve found the surroundings to be very inviting, I’ve never found the food itself to be spot on.
Here’s a map I put together highlighting the different zones for bars & restaurants in Puerto de la Cruz.
