Australian customs & quarantine. Importing used bikes into Australia. What not to do.

Welcome to my new YouTube cycling channel!

I’m back! This time I have called myself «Fat Pinarello Rider» because it’s a stereotype that I never thought I would end up becoming. Perhaps I’ll do a quick video about that, yes.
I have had a long break from cycling due to a serious injury (total foot reconstruction). Perhaps I’ll do a video about that too, definitely.

I plan to make some more videos, I’m not sure how many. I’d also like to do a video about why I quit the www.Tenerife-Training.net cycling business for instance.

My intention is to make completly honest reviews (with no script).

Reason being, I don’t really like a lot of the fake videos that you see on some of the more successful YouTube channels. Yes they are well-edited and «professional» and filmed on location and everything, but they seem to me to be very staged and they are almost awkward to watch. I prefer to come across like I am in the same room as you simply talking about cycling. I would call it a «warts and all» approach.

I would also like to reveal what I personally like and also what I don’t like. I’ve noticed that YouTube videos with paid content are almost never critical of anything and I don’t like that.
I’d also like to document or capture my training progress, some of the hurdles I have faced recently and how I am overcoming them. I think this makes for interesting viewing.

The more views and subscribers I get, the more videos I’ll make it’s as simple as that really.
I already have #2 and #3 google rankings for the search term «Fat Pinarello Rider» (it was actually #1 a few days ago)… or maybe that was for the search term «FatPinarelloRider«. Hmm.
That’s something to be proud of I think.

That’s my update for today anyway. I hope you can join me.

P.S: I also have another Youtube channel about learning languages here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/learnalanguagewithleslie.

That has 154 subscribers as of today. 🙂

«Is a helmet worth it?» (it’s worth more than pizza!!)

When I was working at Tenerife-Training.net delivering rental bikes, I saw a lot of things. One of the not so nice aspects of running that business were the accidents…

No one ever ‘plans’ on having an accident. That’s why they’re called ‘accidents’. Because they’re totally unexpected. Accidents happen when you least expect it. That’s the very definition of an accident I think.

One time a dog ran across the road and a cyclist tried to swerve around it and consequently broke his leg. Another time a man skidded off the road into some bushes while he was looking at the scenery.

Other times people were so keen to go fast that they didn’t even moderate their speed according to their own abilities!

This happened to my friend while we were riding. He literally flew right over the top of the safety barrier, narrowly missing two trees (as well as many volcanic rocks). I saw the whole thing. And the ambulance officers had some trouble climbing over those rocks with him on the stretcher.

This happened more than you’d think. With over 20 bikes in my fleet, accidents were a regular occurrence. It was almost inevitable that every season there would be some kind of accident.

One of my «unwritten business rules», was that if a person had an accident that was bad enough for them to end up in the hospital, then I would go and visit them.

Far from the usual rental service that sees an accident like some kind of business opportunity to make more money, I saw the accidents as very unfortunate incidents (especially while on holiday in sunny Spain). And so I thought that the least I could do was offer some kind of emotional support.

I can tell you that at least one of my clients was saved by his helmet. He inadvertently landed up-side down on his head and the entire helmet split in two right down the middle like a walnut shell!

So I’m going to share with you a very interesting link written by a personal injury lawyer about some bicycle accident statistics and brain injuries. This link was kindly provided by Lisa. I think it’s worth a look:

Is a Helmet Worth It? How Brain Injuries Affect Different Body Functions

Luckily, no one ever died while renting a bike with us. But I think it was only a matter of time before a much more serious (and permanent) accident happened. This worried me a lot. The last thing I need is to be sued because someone has died on one of our bicycles.

Besides, I would rather be eating pizza than visiting people in hospital (or attending funerals). And so I ask you to ensure that you always wear a helmet when you are riding or scootering and please take care!

You never know when you will have an accident.
Because they usually happen when you least expect it!

-Leslie

P.S this post is sponsored by Carey Davis at learninghaven.com. Thanks to this post, a young girl named Lisa is going to get pizza! Not just her but the whole group! Yay! How could anyone say no to that? Enjoy your pizza! This is not just one link, but a whole blog post dedicated to you!

-Leslie

Hello,

My name is Carey and I volunteer at a youth center with a safety program for kids. I came across your website https://www.tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/cycling-links-updated/ while discussing cycling, bicycle safety, and the importance of protecting one’s head. I want to say thank you!

One of my girls, Lisa, did some web searches at home and found this page that she brought in for me to see – https://www.dandalaw.com/is-a-helmet-worth-it/

I suggested that she share this with you because it had such great information and I also want to impress upon all my students that by reaching out and simply asking others, like yourself, things can be accomplished that the girls might not otherwise think can.

Would you please add the link to that resource for them to your webpage? They would be so proud to see that you included it. I also don’t think it hurt that I promised the group a pizza day if you did! Please let me know if you’d be willing so I can share the exciting news with them!

Thank you very much in advance.

Carey

————–
Carey Davis
davis.carey@learninghaven.com
Teacher | Volunteer
Behold the tortoise that only makes progress when it sticks its neck out!

 

Pro Bike Hire for sale!

Dress for success cartoonPro Bike Hire is a well established business based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. We have a proven track record of success which can be verified on paper. We have a large base of satisfied repeat customers and have created a very strong brand identity.

The main reason for the sale is that I am now living permanently in Australia. I’d like to finalise the sale of the business before the end of September. That would give adequate time for you to prepare for the next high season which starts around mid-October.

Our most recent offer is fast bottoming out at only €28,500!! Considering that we get daily bookings & enquiries for bike rentals and the van and bikes are included, I think this is an extremely good price… [Read more →]

Expect cars & buildings in Tenerife!

DSC_1262_DxOI still get the odd complaint (or rather, observation) that there are a lot of cars on Tenerife. So in keeping with this being an information site, I’ll be totally honest and admit that, yes, there are a lot of cars on this island. I still feel a little responsible for this perception as I took all the photos on the website and being a photographer, I often wait until all the cars are out of a scene before taking any snaps. It doesn’t really make sense to promote a cycling website by including a load of ugly cars in the photos, does it? My point here is that you won’t see many cars or trucks on any tourism website cycling or otherwise.

Generally people used to cycling in city traffic will find local drivers are very polite towards cyclists here. If you live in the country though, it might not be for you. [Read more →]

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…


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

The right way to overtake cyclists in Spain

Give cyclists 1 full metre of space while overtakingWouldn’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… [Read more →]

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!

Biggest map of Tenerife ever!

biggest digital road map of TenerifeWe 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!

Puerto de la Cruz Hotel and Street Maps:

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.

Catching the local bus in Tenerife with bikes?

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. [Read more →]

Tourism Tenerife Video

Top 10 places to eat in Tenerife

Recommended restaurantes in the North of TenerifeWe 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!

  1. «La Bodegita de en Frente», Cuesta de la Villa. This has a cosy atmosphere and everyone is greeted with a welcoming handshake.
  2. «Pizzeria Bacco», Garachico. This is a small quality Italian restaurant only open on weekends. «Rugantino Pizzeria» also in Garachico and «La Rucula» located in Puerto de la Cruz are also owned by the same family. They all cook to a fantastic standard.
  3. «Indian Palace», Puerto de la Cruz. Wonderful Indian food. Actually more like amazing.
  4. «El Valle», La Orotava. This cosy little place serves mostly brushchetta-style Spanish tapas. El valle is actually a taverna specialising in traditional spanish tapas, local cheeses & wine with some other alcoholic beverages available. You can also ask them to cook you a small meal also. It’s my favourite bar.
  5. «The noodle and sushi bar», Centro Comercial Gran Sur, Torviscas Alto. (I’m yet to try the famed Japanese restaurant in Abama, so until then, this remains my favourite Japanese spot)
  6. «Tito’s Bodeguita», Puerto de la Cruz.
  7. «Ali Baba Kebab», La Laguna
  8. There are many, many»Guachinches» here in Tenerife. They serve cheap, local Canarian food in a simple setting. We don’t tend to go to them as much as other poeple as we can cook some of this type of food at home… a good example of one is called «Tasca El Parralito» in La Corujera (Santa Ursula).
  9. La Azzurra, La Orotava
  10. Timanfaya Kebabs, Puerto de la Cruz

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.

Where can I get a massage in Tenerife?

Best massage in TenerifeThere was an important quote by Lance Armstrong regarding chefs, masseurs and chiropractors, but I thought in light of recent events I’d skip over it. Let’s just say that massage has become an intrinsic part of multi-stage races. Not only does it hasten muscle recovery but it also relaxes the riders. And we all know that this world is ever-more stressful.

I had a great, authentic Thai massage yesteray as a gift for my 35th birthday. I came out feeling 5 years younger and about 5cm taller.

First a note about Thai massages. They are given while you are fully clothed, long pants and long shirt. Just so we know, I’m into innocent relaxing massages, not of the erotic variety. There’s nothing to be ashamed of here.

The hour long massage was nothing short of amazing. It’s as if the masseur worships your body. It’s very hard to describe their technique, but I’ll try. The scientist in me is compelled to say that «pressure comes in the form of carefully modulated, overlapping waves». [Read more →]

Tenerife Ring road to be completed by December 2013

Tunnel Road Canary IslandsIt looks like the new highway between Adeje and Santiago del Teide has been delayed again. However, governmental funding has been approved, work can now continue and hence the expected completion date has been postponed until the end of 2013. This coincides with another part of the island loop («anillo insular» in Spanish), the stretch between Icod de los Vinos in the North of Tenerife and Santiago del Teide. The two new roads represent a 400 million euro investment for the island of Tenerife. [Read more →]

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 NorteSantiago 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.

Fires in Tenerife 2012. Which roads are affected?

Hi,I am due to be coming to South Tenerife next week and wondered what effect the fires had on mountain biking and road biking? I wanted to ideally bring my MTB but I hear there may not be any where open

for riding. If this is the case would the road from las Americas up Tiede be open? I was looking to ride up through vilaflor to the summit on my road bike.

Thank you for your help.

Tim Hulbert

Tenerife Fire Coverage.Here is a map where the fire took place, showing the fire boundaries.

I am really not sure about MTB. I expect a lot of offroad trails will be closed (in the South). Everything in the North is still open.
The main climb to Mt Teide from the South which passes through Vilaflor should definitely already be open, as will practically all other roads with a TF designation. You can always call the roads information centre which is operated by the Cabildo de Tenerife on 901 501 901. If there is an emergency, you can contact them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 900 210 131.

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!!