A Cyclist’s Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

I was reading this article in an Australian newpaper yesterday, and I suppose I’ve been ignorant of just how far the gaming world has become…it told of people entering virtual worlds… there are 5 million worldwide regular subscribers to online games of these sort… In the game “Second Life”, not only do they pay a subscription fee, but they actually buy “virtual gold” called Linden dollars to help their progress in the game… what’s the point?

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Tags: Mental Anguish by Synchronicity
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A Shanghai online gamer has been given a suspended death sentence for killing a fellow gamer. Qiu Chengwei stabbed Zhu Caoyuan in the chest when he found out he had sold his virtual sword for 7,200 Yuan (£473). The sword, which Mr Qiu had lent to Mr Zhu, was won in the popular online game Legend of Mir 3. Attempts to take the dispute to the police failed because there is currently no law in China to protect virtual property.

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Tags: Mental Anguish by Synchronicity
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Last Sunday, we weren’t permitted to film within Mt. Teide National Park; “special permission” is required from Santa Cruz - something which we weren’t aware of. A representative from “ministerio de medio ambiente” promptly arrived on the scene as soon as we set up the tripod, and then kindly waited for us to pack up all the video equipment and leave. I think they patrol that whole area with an almighty telescope…

Its not really fair, because the videos are still what we’d consider amateurish, and it is for the benefit of Tenerife. We don’t make a single cent from the videos we produce. To aquire the permit, they ask for a security deposit of €300-3000, which they refund if the park is undamaged after the unedited material is submitted… Since there’s never any guarantees with regards to such deposits, we’ve decided to abandon the shoot in that zone. For future reference, further information concerning video permits in Tenerife can be obtained here.

Tags: News Reel by Synchronicity
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Call me ignorant, but I had no idea how popular myspace had become. Just take a look at the growth statistics over the last year! Incredible! It makes me wonder: where have I been?

The best thing that happened to me today was that Stuart O’Grady added me as a friend on myspace. If you know anything about cycling, you know who he is! Thanks Stuey!

Actually, most of the content (pictures, videos, etc) can be found scattered all over the original www.Tenerife-Training.net page. I’m primarily doing this (networking) to increase web-traffic. Because more web-visits equals more customers. So if you’re on myspace, and you’d like to help, please consider adding me as a friend! It all helps! Thanks!

http://www.myspace.com/quintessentquirk

Tags: News Reel by Synchronicity
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This week, we’re busy filming a new MTB video!!

We still have another day of footage to shoot. And then it’ll take about a week or so to edit the video. A special thanks goes to Iván, a proffesional videographer who works for channel azul, who lugged his heavy camera + tripod all over the North valley of Tenerife (with the bicycle) during the filming. I lost count of the number of takes, and also the number of times he unpacked and re-packed his camera.

For some reason I can’t embed the existing videos (even though I previously embedded that funny once lottery video advertisement in another post). Its a little frustrating… anyway, here’s the link to my youtube video page:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=quintessentquirk

Tags: News Reel by Synchronicity
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I recently asked my aunt-in-law what are the true symbols of the Canary Islands. Sadly, these things are completely forgotten with the conversion to mass-tourism. Together, we came up with the folllowing list authentic symbols of the Canary islands and of endemic wildlife of Tenerife.

FOOD:

• Corn Flour (Gofio)
• Potaje
• Bananas
• Potatoes
• Grapes
• Honey obtained from Palm Trees (and the drink made from it, Guarapo)

TRADITIONAL CULTURE SYMBOLS:

• Mount Teide
• The Spiral from the Guanches
• Traditional Traperas & Costumes:
• Calados (embroidery)

NATIVE / ENDEMIC  FLORA:

• Canary Island Pine Tree
• Canary Island Date Palm
• Tajinaste
• Retama
• Margarzas
• Violeta del Teide
• El famoso drago de Icod de los Vinos

NATIVE / ENDEMIC  FAUNA:

• Pinzon del Teide (blue Canary)
• Guirres / Aguilas (Canary Island Eagle)
• Native Canary Islands Dogs (perros)
• Lizards

Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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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!

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Tags: Ride the Volcano! by Synchronicity
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I’ve finally figured out how to add a decent poll voting system to this site. One that is free, contains no ads, and is customiseable. I’ve also updated the permalink structure, hence the downtime just experienced. Please advise me if something is not working (eg: polls, posts)

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“ Yesterday there were so many things I was never told. Now that I’m startin’ to learn I feel I’m growin’ old” - Guns N’ Roses.

Tags: News Reel by Synchronicity
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Why a post about dogs you ask? Well firstly, there are no native Canaries or endemic “Lorro” Parrots in the Canary Islands and there never have been. The islands were named after the local dogs (canines). I’ve come to despise Lorro Park for this reason (but that will surely be covered in future article “Lorro Park: guilty of guerilla mass-marketing?”)

The podenco as its known is quite common in Tenerife, and they can often be seen hunting up in Las Cañadas every Sunday morning. The local owners cruelly pack them in cages on the back of their utes, and usually feast on lunch after they finish hunting rabbits, while the dogs stand or sit patiently all squished together for at least an hour! So much for being man’s best friend. There’s not enough room for them, and it always upsets me every time I see it. They are surely the most beautiful dogs, and deserve better treatment. One day I hope to own or adopt one (or two!).

There are another types of dogs in the Canary Islands, primarily for goat herding (Perro bardino o de ganado majorero), and another (perro de presa canario) which was bred for dog fighting. They are now sometimes used as guard dogs for the few rich people living in Tenerife.

Shown below are several insignias depicted on the official flag of the Canary Islands, the government logo, and among other places such as the town hall. Look at the evolution of the shield through time, as it tends towards simplification, the seven islands of the Canary Island Chain now being represented by nothing more than simple triangles:

Further information about breeders of native Canarian dogs:

http://www.mydogocanario.com/istoria.php

http://www.elitedogs.us/history.htm

The K9 Animal Refuge Tenerife!

Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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Funeral de Nicolas Amador Bello

Nicolás Amador Bello of Club Taoro Fonteide dies in car accident, age 16.

It really saddens me to report this bad news: I just got a call saying that a young aquaintance of mine, Nicolás Amador Bello, a cyclist in the local Taoro Fonteide team died today in a grave cycling accident. This happened not far from where I live at a roundabout near La Orotava, Tenerife, Canarys Islands, Spain.

Actually although I am not officially a part of that team, I had ridden, trained & spoken with him several training rides… I still hadn’t even memorised his face all that well. I am quite literally lost for words. He was just 16, and this has really come as quite some shock to me.

My deepest condolences to his family, friends, and especially Jesús Martín Pérez (the director of the local Cycling Club Taoro sponsored by Fonteide), who always tries his utmost to protect those young aspiring champion cyclists in club Taoro. I will surely speak with Jesús tomorrow morning.

El joven fallecido en La Orotava pertenecía al equipo de ciclismo ‘Fonteide’ y chocó con un vehículo mientras entrenaba
El joven ciclista del equipo Fonteide, Nicolás Amador Bello, de 16 años, fue atropellado esta mañana en la rotonda de acceso a San Antonio cuando entrenaba. La Federación Insular de Ciclismo de Tenerife ha expresado sus condolencias a los familiares del joven y prevé aplazar la carrera prevista para hoy en el III Trofeo Ciclista en Palo Blanco en señal de luto.
El joven de 16 años que falleció hoy atropellado en la rotonda de acceso al barrio de San Antonio, en La Orotava, era el ciclista Nicolás Amador Bello, de la categoría cadete del equipo Fonteide y sufrió el accidente mientras entrenaba, según informó la Federación Tinerfeña de Ciclismo, que ha expresado sus condolencias a los familiares del joven fallecido.

Nicolás Amador Bello chocó con un vehículo en La Orotava y los equipos sanitarios de la ambulancia medicalizada y de urgencias desplazados al lugar del accidente no pudieron hacer nada por la vida del afectado, que presentaba varios traumatismos de carácter grave.

Tags: News Reel by Synchronicity
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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: Ride the Volcano! by Synchronicity
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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 Synchronicity
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His full name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Clito Ruiz y Picasso!

By Robert Hughes - TIME magazine art critic

To say that Pablo Picasso dominated Western art in the 20th century is, by now, the merest commonplace. Before his 50th birthday, the little Spaniard from Malaga had become the very prototype of the modern artist as public figure. No painter before him had had a mass audience in his own lifetime. The total public for Titian in the 16th century or Velazquez in the 17th was probably no more than a few thousand people–though that included most of the crowned heads, nobility and intelligentsia of Europe. Picasso’s audience–meaning people who had heard of him and seen his work, at least in reproduction–was in the tens, possibly hundreds, of millions. He and his work were the subjects of unending analysis, gossip, dislike, adoration and rumor.

He was a superstitious, sarcastic man, sometimes rotten to his children, often beastly to his women. He had contempt for women artists. His famous remark about women being “goddesses or doormats” has rendered him odious to feminists, but women tended to walk into both roles open-eyed and eagerly, for his charm was legendary. Whole cultural industries derived from his much mythologized virility. He was the Minotaur in a canvas-and-paper labyrinth of his own construction.

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

He was also politically lucky. Though to Nazis his work was the epitome of “degenerate art,” his fame protected him during the German occupation of Paris, where he lived; and after the war, when artists and writers were thought disgraced by the slightest affiliation with Nazism or fascism, Picasso gave enthusiastic endorsement to Joseph Stalin, a mass murderer on a scale far beyond Hitler’s, and scarcely received a word of criticism for it, even in cold war America.

No painter or sculptor, not even Michelangelo, had been as famous as this in his own lifetime. And it is quite possible that none ever will be again, now that the mandate to set forth social meaning, to articulate myth and generate widely memorable images has been so largely transferred from painting and sculpture to other media: photography, movies, television.

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Tags: Inspiration. by Synchronicity
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Although I deeply respect Canarian culture, a lot of them are already biased against the new tram that runs from Santa Cruz to La Laguna. I overheard one of them saying it was only okay for people that come home after a late night drinking in Santa Cruz (or whatever). In my opinion the density of traffic in that zone warrants its installation; if that’s where its most needed, then that’s where it should go. Are they jealous because the tram doesn’t stop right beside their apartment? Or would they complain either way?

As usual, in the beginning the media had a field day with all the negative aspects of the new transport system… how only one line was functioning initially and the number of vehicles (both car and bus accidents) that had crashed with the new tram.

They also all seem to be dead-set against the proposed North-South train link. Why do they love cars so much, and seem to despise anything that runs on rails? :-S

Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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Interesting Internet Statistics:

Click here for a current traffic report of the global internet communications network!

Within the last decade it seems, the internet has grown to contain ~1 trillion pages. There is ~1 Petabyte of total information storage (a billion Gigabytes). What is the size of the internet?

Tags: That's Business, Science Simplified by Synchronicity
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I’m sure the local Canarians people could cope quite well but I invite your comments!

Tags: Mental Anguish by Synchronicity
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Boy I must be getting old… I can just picture my future son or daughter responding in disbelief: “You mean when you were a teenager, the internet never even existed???!!”. Its funny just how rapidly the internet has infiltrated our lives. We communicate with the internet (email, chat, forum posts, blogs) instead of the old fashioned ways (conversations over the telephone and in person); we do our banking online; we buy and sell online; we make new friends online; we learn new things online; we watch “television” online (youtube videos); we get the latest news and weather online. In other words, we essentially work and play online. A quick look at your favourites folder conveys some sense of the reality.

What people did before the internet ever existed? When we had to write an essay or a homework assignment, it meant a trip to the library (at the university, school or local council library). Or your family was lucky and your home had a full-colour encyclopaedia set! Neither computers nor colour printers were around, so you had to stick pieces of paper with glue… hence the expresson “cut and paste”. I’m sure that phrase has been lost on the current young generation! Information simply could not be accessed almost instantly like it can today. We played outside, so there was more chance of being exposed to sunlight for one thing… life, in short, was simple.

I for one would like to see an annual ”world without internet day”. What do you think about that?

Tags: Mental Anguish by Synchronicity
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BARCELONA, Jan 2, 2004. This is a naming and branding epic.

Spanish candy maker Enric Bernat Fontlladosa died in Barcelona on December 27. He was 80 years old. Born to a family of candy makers, Bernat bought Granja Asturias S.A., a troubled Spanish confectioner, back in the 1950’s. He took the advice of an article in the December, 2003 issue of the Harvard Business Review written by Nirmalya Kumar, Director of the Centre for Marketing at the London Business School. Kumar makes the case for eliminating unprofitable brands and focusing on the clear winners. He points out that many corporations generate over 80% of their profits from fewer than 20% of their brands. And he explains how hard it is for companies to kill their unprofitable brands. 

Soon after he took over Granja Asturias, Bernat made the brave move of axing most of the company’s 200 products to focus on a line of caramel-filled lollipops. Bernat picked a strong brand name that would appeal to kids: Chupa Chups. It comes from the Spanish verb “chupar–to suck.” In English the product name might be “Sucky Suckers.” The lollipops went on sale in 1958, and ten years later his friend Salvador Dali designed the current logo which you can see in the picture. The festive display was an important part of the merchandising, and shopkeepers were told to keep it right next to the register, a fresh idea at the time.

Within five years, Chupa Chups were sold at 300,000 outlets in Spain, and Bernat renamed the company after its flagship brand. The Chupa Chups Group produces four billion lollipops a year which are sold in 40 flavors– including mango, chili and lychee–in 170 countries. Bernat’s three sons are now in charge, and Chupa Chups are the second biggest confectionary product brand in the world after Hall’s, with over $700 million in sales. And it all goes back to having the courage to kill off weak products and focus brand development on one good idea.

Tags: That's Business by Synchronicity
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You can hardly escape the reality of these two graphs:

With so much bad news about the environmental & financial crisis the world is suffering, and knowing it is only going to get worse, how can we ever hope to maintain a positive outlook for the future? I am of the opinion that both drugs and religion give us a false sense of “hope” or “faith”. People will continue to turn to these methods to maintain their false sense of optimism. But how long can people fool themseves as climate change comes into effect, the state of the environment worsens, society decays, and even the latest stock market crisis comes into effect? When all hope for the future of the world (the environment) is lost, severe conflicts will surely arise the next generation, and the rest will be history. What are your thoughts on this?

Tags: Mental Anguish, Vida Enigmática by Synchronicity
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What is happening to the world? In short, most people refuse to ACT, because they’re be too busy justifying their need for a high standard of living, blaming goverments for the situation, & avoiding the underlying social & environmental crises. This sounds like an inescapable viscous cycle to me.

Yes its all been brought about by greedy 1st world nations. Blatant consumerism- which capitalises on the latest scientific advances and all the while fueled by governments who only think in short term economic gains. The first need is to communicate the problem. The next requirement is change. People are afraid of change, but to me it seems the world is changing for the worse anyway.

Anyone who has read Schumachers book “Small is beautful” will know that over the long term, what we are doing to planet Earth surely must be considered uneconomical. Are people so afraid of change now that they’re willing to bury their heads in the sand about the future repercussions? I think where we’re headed, the changes will be alot more daunting than the thought of giving up our most prized possessions. Chaos will be surely covered in one of my future articles, but who wants to live in a world without nature?

TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC WORKING PRINCIPLE:

• There is a general consensus that a fundamental source of weatlth is human labour
• Businesses & Governments maximise profit, consumption and therefore economic growth
• Employers maximise labour effort (bosses expect their “pound of flesh”)
• Employees minimise labour effort (to work is viewed as a sacrifice of one’s leisure and comfort; wages being a kind of compensation)

BUDDHIST ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE OF WORK:

• Work gives each person a chance to utilise and develop their [unique] faculties
• Work enables humans to overcome their ego-centredness by joining with other people in a common task
• Work provides the goods and services needed for a becoming existence [creativity activity is vital]

The former, in short, tries to maximise consumption by the optimal pattern of productive effort, while the latter tries to maximise human satisfactions by the optimal pattern of consumption. It is easy to see that the effort needed sustain a way of life which seeks to attain the optimal pattern of consumption is likely to be much smaller than the effort needed to sustain a drive for maximum consumption.

It is not wealth that stands in the way of liberation but the attachment to wealth; not the enjoment of pleasurable things but the craving for them.

But what can we actually do about it? Firstly, don’t replace things before we need to; repair them if necessary, use them until they can no longer be repaired. Yes, there is some real satisfaction to be gained by owning things that last through time. Do we need the latest 3G phone or mobile electronic device? A phone is a phone for Pete’s sake!

Tags: That's Business, Mental Anguish, Vida Enigmática by Synchronicity
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The question that people most often ask me about Spanish culture concerns the siesta. The most significant aspect to be aware of is that the typical Spanish day is split into¨”mañana” (morning) and then later “tarde” (afternoon) or “noche” (night). The distinction between afternoon and nighttime is hazy.

“…researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health … reported that people who took regular 30-minute naps were 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease over a six-year period than those who never napped.”

A SPANISH DAY:

The workday begins at 8:00 or 9:00am depending on the business. Work normally stops around 12:00 or 1:0opm and resumes around 4:00 or as late as 5:00pm. Retail shops remain open until 9:00pm each evening. The exception to this rule is Sunday, when almost all the shops are closed (except the hotels, which obviously remain open). Once again, Sunday is not only a time of rest, but more importantly, a family day to be enjoyed together.

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Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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Once used to be my favourite cycling team. They always had such a big presence at the front of the peleton during the tour de France in days gone by; especially during the team time trial stages, they were always the best-dressed of the bunch. Depending on where you’re from, you may or may not know that Team Once was actually sponsered by the Spanish Once Lottery.

While the lottery is popular in other contries, nowhere is it an INSTITUTION like it is here in Spain. There are tiny telephone-box stalls all over the place. You’ll even see people selling tickets on street corners. Apparantly they can be trusted, because drivers will stop & park their car just to buy a ticket, then continue their journey. Even grandmothers practicing holey catholocism will place a bet each week. The most important time for lotteries in Spain is during the christmas period, when its not unusual for people to spend several hundred euros on a whole run of sequential tickets.

This week, today in fact, is the major summer draw. The person lucky enough to produce the ticket with the winnning numbers pockets a cool €20 million (completely tax free!). Fingers crossed!

*UPDATE* Nope, no such luck. Six Euros down the drain…

Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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First let me say that I’m not a beginner, I’ve been riding for 8 years (no not all in one go!). Yet this book taught me so so much. Thankyou to both Ed Burke & Ed Pavelka!! I thought I knew a lot, until now that is. I’ve bought other cycling books, before but nothing compares to this one. There is no “filler” in this book.

This book is not just concerned with ultralong distance races, it uses words like “the event” and “personal goals”. You can read it and not feel too ashamed that you’re not a pro, if you know what I mean. It caters for everyone. It also has a humurous style, which will make it enjoyable reading. It is very easy to pick up and start reading anywhere.

It has chapters on nutrition, stretching, off-season training, lots on training and technique…and that HYDRATION is the key. Ed & Ed (the authors) give you lots of tips (e.g: about how to maximise your time on the bike when you have other important things in your life; get everything ready for a ride the night before; how to cycle efficiently, etc)

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Tags: Spoke Bed by Synchronicity
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I’m writing this review  because I want people to know how well-designed this product is. I think this is the best bicycle product I have ever bought – simple as that. I didn’t realise how much difference a comfortable bar would make. It definitely deserves the following detailed review.

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Tags: Spoke Bed by Synchronicity
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This is one of my very own personal beasts I use for daily errands around Tenerife. Here’s my review:

By far the best thing about this bike is the power transfer. This baby has 37.4mm chainstays which are quite possibly the shortest in the industry (for a 57cm frame anyway). Delivery of power through the bike’s rear triangle feels instantaneous. The only down side to this is the extremely limited chainstay clearance; with such short chainstays, you must remember to keep your feet in line with the bike, otherwise the heels of your shoes hit the frame on every pedal revolution. This is an old frame (~10 years old?), which I recently bought new on ebay. It was made when Klein was 100% committed to aluminium, so there is no carbon fibre anywhere on this frame. Compared with a modern-day monocoque carbon frame, comfort is practically non existant, but then I only use this bike for a maximum of 10km (1000m ascent) of climbing.

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Tags: Spoke Bed by Synchronicity
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Only a small percentage of my time is actually maintaining, cleaning & delivering bikes. The most common chores are inflating tyres, swapping pedals, adjusting rear derailleurs, cleaning chains, truing spokes, and preparing people’s toolkits before a ride.

You wouldn’t think this, but the overwhelming majority of my time is spent networking. Devising & publicising online marketing campaign strategies (especially during this low season). I also do all of the administration & financial work at the computer. Answering emails and keeping the books up to date. Its a full time job to maintain such a web presence. I’m wondering when I’ll be able to go for a bike ride…

Tags: That's Business, Vida Enigmática by Synchronicity
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The mental health crisis in the 21st century linked to excercise? 

I personally think the majority of Personality Disorders and Mental Illnesses are what Alvin Toffler was refferring to in his legendary book “Future Shock”, written in 1970. In a nutshell:  when you have a period of rapid social change (in our highly technological post industrial society), with an insufficent adaptation time, this creates overstimulation. Think of it as a type of  ”information overload”. For example going shopping, have you ever just been startled by the number of cereals to choose from, or been completely overwhelmed by the current global internet communication network? This in turn leads to increased stress levels (despite our best coping mechanisms such as avoidance, disassociation, idealisation, rationalisation, regression, repression, supression, denial, fantasy, etc).

This is speculation on my part, but when your anxiety level is increased beyond normal levels, the resulting stress can lead to a whole host of terrible consequences -violence, illness, depression and other mental diseases. In fact there is a already strong link between anxiety and depression. Violence & depression are perhaps the two worst “coping mechanisms” of all. Suprise suprise, stress is also a major factor in heart disease and strokes. I don’t have to remind you that homicides, suicides and heart attacks are the top 3 killers in most developed nations… and possibly all three are due to too much tension in our lives. Stress is now seen as a risk factor in both cancer and diabetes as well!

I think reducing anxiety is the key to better physical and mental health. In today’s world, we don’t rely on exercise as much as we should. The study at the bottom of this page proves that excerise can reduce the effects of some mental illnesses. But could the reverse also be true; could decreasing our level of excerise in an increasingly stressful world actually be causing our mental health crisis? Instead of teaching our children outmoded concepts, perhaps we should be teaching them how to relax. Heres a short Stress Management Article.

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Tags: Mental Anguish, Vida Enigmática by Synchronicity
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For me, moving here definitely made this horrible latent condition [depression] rise to the surface. I just want to say I really struggled in the first 6 months. I fell into a terrible state: a huge, long-lasting rut of terrible guilt & self pity, seemingly with no escape. Living in Australia, I was the typical ignorant person who could never hope to truly “understand” depression itself, always relying on 100% positive thinking no matter what the circumstances. And boy have I changed now. Depression is not something you can just spontaneously pull yourself out of. It takes time to become sick in the first place, but it also takes time to recover.

Within 3 months of moving to Tenerife this is what happened to me:

I’d cry all the time, and not know why. I mean I’d cry silently every few days. And normally I hadn’t cried in maybe 5 YEARS. I felt completely useless. I didn’t even feel like making any telephone calls. I was totally reliant on other people. I felt guilty about that too… I basically felt that I was worthless to society.

I’d eat oranges (vitamin C) and take vitamin B, and eventually it felt like I was peeling oranges just to try to stave off this terrible & almost permanent low feeling. It’s like I had this CONSTANT internal struggle, always fighting for my happiness, but not exactly realising what was happening to me. I just now I wasn’t happy, the outlook was bleak, and I wanted to feel “normal” again. [Read more →]

Tags: Island Life, Mental Anguish by Synchronicity
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You may or may not have noticed - with the help of some other foreign cyclists I’ve been translating the Tenerife-Training site into Spanish & German. The first pages to appear are for bike hire… other pages will surely follow, but may take some time. Thanks for your patience.

I’m slowly getting on top of all my work; I haven’t had time to fix the guestbook yet, but I have added a cool visitor map at the bottom of this page. I’m currently figuring out the best way to add some voting polls (either to the site or this weblog).

Also, please be advised that the online bike hire reservation form does not function correctly yet… please send me an e-mail or call for bike reservations in the mean time.

One last thing: Please remember to update your bookmarks!

Thanks, Leslie

Tags: News Reel by Synchronicity
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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 Synchronicity
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• You see people are only just getting ready to go out at 10:00pm.
• Every week there seems to be another weird festival or holiday.
• Everyone at the table rips into the bread with their bare hands and then starts peeling potato skins.
• After the meal, the olive oil dressing gets transported directly to the refridgerator, but the actual food is left on the kitchen benchtop all day long.
• Someone says “pass the Gofio”… but in spanish, and with a thick Canarian accent.
• You can speak speak perfect castillian, but still can’t understand what the spanish locals are saying.
• You’re walking on a pedestrian crossing, and all the drivers switch on their left indicators at the sight of you. 
• You need to attend 30+ hours of lectures just to pass the intitial driving theory test.
• You forget what a messy desk looks like, and everyone starts cleaning spontaneously.
• The only piece of carpet in the entire house is the bathmat.

Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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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 Synchronicity
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Know any online cycling resources that are not already linked directly to our website?

For example: cycling holiday websites or directories, official cycling organisations, online cycling news information sources, online magazines, private cycling clubs, online bike shops, cycling forums, or personal cycling weblogs.

You can either suggest to the webmaster they add a link to our site (preferable if its a foreign language site), or simply send us their website url or contact details and we’ll chase them up.

Based on their usefulness to us, and to make things interesting, we’ll tally your score with the following points system:

• Each in-link originating from Czech or Slovak Republic = 5 points!!!
• Each in-link originating from the UK/Ireland/Scotland, Holland, Benelux, Germany = 3 points
• Each in-link originating from Spain, Sweden, Finland, rest of Europe = 2 points
• Each in-link originating from USA, Canada, Australia, NZ + rest of the world = 1 point

The person with the most points accrued wins a free set of new vertebrae ceramic gear cables (in black colour). These are valued at US$140 RRP, and are custom-made to the exact length of cable housing that you specify.

Competition closes midnight (GMT) 12th september, so go get gathering & send those entries in to win!

**THIS PROMOTION IS NOW CLOSED**

Tags: Sales Pitch by Synchronicity
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My day normally starts anywhere between 6:00and 9:00am. I never set the alarm clock; for years its never been able to actually get me out of bed. When I’m motivated, I wake up earlier.

I usually go straight to the computer for 5-10 minutes to get the brain ticking over & see what needs to be done today and for the next few days. Then I go downstairs and make a decent coffee using the ubiquitous spanish cafetera method. There’s no such thing as a good Australian coffee, so I’m always grateful for that (prior to coming here I was a black tea drinker).

There’s usually sooooo many things to do, I need to manage my time so I begin by prioritising what needs to be done. I can’t trust my memory, so a great level of organisation becomes the key. I make a lists of everything; I make a list of other tasks grouped separately: Administration (answering e-mails and bookings), Bike Maintenance & Delivery, Updating Website Content & Maintenance, The rest of my time is devoted to marketing, publicity & financial side of running a business.

So what normally happens is,  I go back to work on one or all of these things until my stomach rumbles. Then I go and make myself some late breakfast and look at the view of the Atlantic ocean for usually less than a minute. Then I go back inside and work until I need to make another coffee. Repeat with lunch and dinner, and now you start to get the idea.

I’ve been so busy busy busy with the new website features & other things, I haven’t had time for any bike rides lately. I usually call it a day somewhere between 9:00 and 11:00pm. I must be putting in 80-90 hours plus of work each week, 7 days a week. It takes a lot of work to run a successful business. Quite honestly, there are not enough hours in the day, and its time to go to bed before I know it. Hopefully business will pick up again over the winter, and I won’t have to try so hard to convince cyclists all over the world “Hey, come to Tenerife, hire a road bike and ride up a mountain!”

Of course I do LOVE the job I have created for myself, but believe me its not easy. Canarians have a saying, which I only learned last week: “No es un moco de pavo”. Believe it or not, but the direct translation is “Its not a turkey’s snot”. What it actually means is that its a lot more difficult than it appears, and so it is with Tenerife-Training.

Tags: Island Life, That's Business by Synchronicity
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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 constantly undulating roads; they are simply not accustomed to hill-training at any altitude, let alone 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 Synchronicity
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I have been out a few times in the last week around La Orotava & Puerto de la Cruz with Ivan and his cousin Chiqui… Ivan is a real great modest guy and I can’t wait to see him play the guitar! Its always a fantastic opportunity to practise spanish with someone by maintaining a conversation… Ivan is the guy on the right:

Anyway, this is a relatively unknown band; they’re trying to get out there in the music world! To Meridian Zero, I say Good Luck, but especially to you Ivan! You can check out their official website here: Meridian Zero. They have several albums already, and there AWESOME new proffessional-quality video-clip has just been released:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUtjww4OI78

Tags: Island Life by Synchronicity
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