Temporary closure in June 2013

on-vacation-closed-signWinter 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.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

twitter-tweet-little-birdSome 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…


Is “Tenerife Bike Training” a bogus company?

tenerife-bike-training

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.

Orange wind alert Tenerife

yellow, orange and red alerts in Canary Islands 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:

  1. Gusts of wind make riding in a straight line extremely difficult and may blow you off your intended course.
  2. Debris will scattered on road surfaces and could possibly hit you.

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.

ellow, orange and red alerts in Canary Islands

New catchpas installed on blog & forum

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.

Website translations in progress

language translationYou 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!

New website Launch!

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:

  • An overall much cleaner look.
  • A new navigation menu vastly superior to the old website.
  • Interactive altitude profiles (this page automatically generates elevation profiles of any route chosen).
  • New information about weather & weather prediction.
  • Faster overall load times, especially for the route maps.
  • Improved access to perform a “global search” of the entire contents of the www.Tenerife-Training.net site (homepage, blog and forum).
  • A mobile version of the website to facilitate the access of information from mobile devices.
  • We have also taken the opportunity to upgrade the forum, which is already online.

Cycling links updated!

New cycling links!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.

New mobile versions of blog and forum now online

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!

Drainage grates in Tenerife

Bicycle-Hazard-Symbol-Sign-Drainage-GratesTechnology 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

Website updates planned.

another software upgradeIt’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…

Klein frameset for sale!

Klein alloy framsetNormally I don’t post items for sale on here. But this is a pretty special frame which is currently for sale on ebay. It’s from a classic era, now considered retro I suppose and is in fantastic condition. No scratches or dents to speak of. Inlcludes an alphaQ fork and token headset. Current bid is only US$81 and I was hoping to get a bit more than that. Granted, the auction hasn’t ended yet -it ends in two days- but I thought I’d give it a bit of a push anyway.

Can you recommend a swimming pool & gym for triathlon training?

Gym membership in La OrotavaThere is now an excellent sports training centre in La Orotava called Complejo Deportivo el Mayorazgo (Mayorazgo Sports Complex). Main facilities include 25m indoor pool and gymnasium. The gym has both free weights and cardiovascular equipment (exercise bikes & treadmills). Pool measures 25 metres by 21 m wide with six lanes. Numerous blood pumping activities are scheduled each week: cardio, gap, spinning, aerobics, step, ‘total training’ as well as other more relaxing classes: pilates, yoga, taichi, dancing (several types including tango, salsa and other latin ryhthms), stretching and relaxation.

Physiotherapy-Centre-TenerifeCD Mayorazgo also offers a massage service, physiotherapy and aquatic physio. They also have a great physiotherapy centre called Fisio-Natura.

This all new sports complex wouldn’t be complete without a well-stocked cafeteria with an assortment of sports drinks, energy bars, gels and protein powders available. Basic swimming equipment is also for sale at the front desk (googles, swimwear, swimcaps, etc) and there is also a dedicated fitness shop located inside. Needless to say, free changerooms, lockers and ample parking are all an important part of the complex.

Staff are very friendly and the doors are open to all visitors, tourists included. Their phone number is 902 102 395 and email: info@cdelmayorazgo.com. Most staff at least speak a basic level of English.

Rates are very reasonable (€6.42 per day, €47/month) and the standard is very high. In fact you can join for one whole month for less than the cost of going to the T3 “tenerife top training” centre for a single day! Click here for the rates (just remember to add %7 IGIC tax to those prices).

Firefighters still battling in Tenerife blaze! Road closures…

Current Perimeter of August fires in Tenerife Fire August El Tanque Erjos Monte del Agua FuegoSo far the fire has affected 369 hectares, although favorable conditions have allowed road TF-373 (San Jose de Los Llanos-Erjos) to re-open. Roads TF-82 (Icod de Los Vinos, Santiago del Teide from kilometer 17.5 to 21.5) and TF-436 (Buenavista del Norte-Santiago del Teide from km 10.3) both still remain closed. Please note that Titsa bus lines 60 and 325 are also suspended. It is strongly advised that locals and tourists alike avoid the surrounding areas in order to help firefighters extinguish the blaze. 

El fuego ha afectado hasta el momento a 369 hectáreas, aunque su favorable evolución ha permitido que la carretera TF-373 (San José de Los Llanos-Erjos) se reabra. Permanecen cerradas la TF-82 (Icod de Los Vinos-Santiago del Teide desde el kilómetro 17,5 al 21,5) y la TF-436 (Buenavista del Norte-Santiago del Teide desde el kilómetro 10,3). Se ruega a la población de la Isla y a los turistas que eviten acercarse a esta zona del incendio a fin de facilitar las labores de extinción. También están suspendidas las líneas de guaguas (autobuses) 460 y 325 de Titsa.

European Police & Fire Olympics 2012 results

European Police & Fire Olympics Tenerife 2012 TriathlonIt gives me great pleasure to announce some unexpected (but fantastic) results obtained by two Spanish athletes using our rental bikes last week. Two gold medals were won in the MTB climbing discipline, one silver medal in the duathlon and another silver medal in the triathlon! Congratulations!!

New delivery van for 2012!

Renault Trafic 2900 dci 150 long wheelbase L2H2I’m pleased to announce that we have a new delivery van this season. It’s a Renault Trafic 2900 dci 150, long wheelbase version with 150 horsepower. These are photos of our new van with the Pro Bike Hire logos superimposed. We’re currently about half way through applying the actual vinyl decals. The final result is almost identical to the cgi mockup.

Renault Trafic 2900 dci 150 L2H2.For those interested, it’s much more comfortable than the small Ford Transit connect that it replaces. It has ample space & power. The only two gripes are that the lower panoramic mirrors aren’t adjustable and that the steering wheel isn’t adjustable for height either (only reach). Despite this, I come home feeling refreshed even if I’ve driven for more than 4-6 hours per day. Insurance premiums actually went down for this van.

Another blog update.

Blog-update-cartoonIt’s been a while since I perused my blogroll, much as I hate that word. To my surprise, there were at least half a dozen dead links. They are now gone. Many of the cycling blogs in the Canaries haven’t been updated in quite some time. It’s almost as if they have been paralysed over the last few years, kind of like the economy. A few decent links remain, so those will stay. I’ll be weeding out the rest over the coming weeks. I may go in search of some better looking links in the time being… if you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks, Les.

Easy ways YOU can help www.Tenerife-Training.net:

Asking for help.

  1. If you have your own blog or website, providing any incoming links is always an enormously big help. Links to the homepage are preffered.
  2. Give us feedback by completing this online survey.
  3. Make a comment anywhere on this blog.
  4. Sign up to the Cycling in the Canary Islands Forum and discuss anything about cycling.
  5. Watch my cycling in Tenerife videos & share them among your cycling buddies. 
  6. Subscribe to my newsletter here!
  7. Add any of these www.Tenerife-Training.net pages to your list of favourites (internet browser, technorati, etc)
  8. Your suggestions are welcomed, and your support is much appreciated.
  9. If you value our bike hire service & webpage, simply tell other people about us! Word of mouth is probably the most important way of promoting a healthy business.

Two more full-carbon road bikes in our fleet!

Planet X RT57We were really impressed with the quality of our most recent Planet X bikes. So we’re pleased to announce that we have some brand new framsets on the way from Planet X in a few different sizes. Here’s what Planet X have to say about their latest generation frame:

The RT57 boasts bang up-to-date features like a tapered steerer tube and BB30 bottom bracket. A tapered steerer stiffens up the whole front end of the bike, improving handling at speed and through corners. It also makes for a larger down tube and the BB30 bottom bracket helps at the other end too, improving the torsional rigidity of the frame and increasing its stiffness against pedalling. What it all adds up to is a quick, stiff road frame suited to fast sportives, shorter Audax rides and racing on quick, twisty courses. It eats hills for breakfast and your mates for lunch and dinner!

When is the right time to go solar?

Alternative energy cartoon. Solar or thermal powerGetting into alternative energy these days has become more feasible than ever before. By that I mean that it is both more affordable (cheaper), you get more value (performance per dollar) and it’s easier to set up (modular construction). Not just have solar cells improved in their efficiency, but there are a whole host of low-power devices (LED lighting the first one that comes to mind) to get the most out of this technology. Of course, photovoltaic cells are improving of all the time by increasing their efficiency – even so, that thought alone shouldn’t postpone you from investing in this wonderful technology now. [Read more →]