MTB holiday Gran Canaria... anyone been?

mac_man

Looking at booking 7-10 days over Christmas on the Canary islands. Am thinking Gran Canaria might be the better option as the weather looks drier, generally, for that period compared to tenerife. And the trails look pretty good as well.

Need the good weather as am planning some much needed beach time as well.

Just asking if anyone else has been.. where they stayed, where they went riding etc.

Splottboy

Yep, Gran Canaria is great.

Puerto Rico, then go up steep hill near the town centre - to the right of the beach as you're on it - Steep switchbacks, then turns to a jeep trail.

Now...enjoy!!! Miles of great jeep trails and singletrack to go for.
Just take enuff water, food, sparea as there's nothing for Mile and Miles!

Take a coach trip too, amazing inland areas. They got everything, valleys, deserts, caves, mountains, lush forests, deserts.

Its the island I'd go back to asap.

mac_man

cheers splottboy... what time of year did you go and how was the weather?

BenFr

Hi macman.

I own two apartments in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria. In recent years, we've seen a lot more road cyclists coming. I haven't noticed many mountain bikers even though the terrain is begging for them.

If you're looking for accommodation in PR, get in touch. Winter is high season though.

Splottboy

Think we went earlyish, March/April.

The trail I used was into the town, not far from the Tourist Police station, and you went up a steep switchback climb and then onto jeep stuff. From there it's deserted and barren, hilly, rocky, stoney with sparce vegetation and the odd adobe/clay type farm-steads.

Be careful, as to the right of the climb you pass a hotel/swimming pool, with loads of young German ladies swimming, showering and...topless.
Nearly crashed...2 or 3 times!

It was Very Hot, but not too bad up in the hills, with nice breezes.
I used factor 15 - 20, and will do again as we are off to Fuerteventura again, in 3 weeks.

welshkev

i lived in tenerife for 3 years and the weather is pretty much identical, you can see gran canaria from tenerife.

they have the tenerife bike park that looks awsome, it wasn't there when i lived there:

http://www.bikeparktenerife.com/

and they ahve a cool guiding service with lavatrax:

http://www.lavatrax.com/

i was there for last christmas and yes, it did hammer down on christmas day. but in general the weather is hot and in the low-mid 20's

Stevo_666

Weather on those 2 islands is pretty similar, as they are pretty close tto each other, though the North of Tenerife can be a bit wetter. Winter will be good MTB time as not too hot, I reckon both islands will be good. A mate went MTB'ing in Tenerife earlier this year, did an epic 50k descent from the centre of the island to the coast, vertical drop of over 2,000m apparently.

Splottboy

Think there's a great Mtb Marathon race in CG every Spring.

Starts at the Cowboy town centre and think its around 90k or less if you dont do the full course.

Seem to remember the Irish Olympic/Comm Games Mtb rider racing it on the TV few yrs ago.

Always fancied it, so maybe next year, perhaps?

Radixmatrix

To add to below - just got back from Tenerife.

Managed to get a day pass out and did the Long Way Down route, which I think Stevo is describing. About 70km and descends from Mt. Teide to El Medano on the east coast, an enjoyable and technically demanding route made even more so by the heat! It was very, very hot but great fun.

Big thanks to Lava Trax and to Rich who was an excellent guide.

First time to Canaries and really liked Tenerife - keen to go back especially having returned to Derbyshire weather!

essex_stu

Puerto RICO is brilliant. I've been there twice on holiday in 2008 and 2009.it's built in a valley and there are steep hills everywhere. Would love to do a biking holiday there

Splottboy

Shame about the noisy nite life til 3-4am tho, and the cockroaches!!!

As its a valley, the Brits singing - VERY BADLY - was wafted nightly to our digs.

Nearly put me off banging the Mrs from behind, doggy-style.

I said, nearly...

Didn't realise til then that ABBA's Waterloo had a great shagging beat.

essex_stu

There's three hotels across the road from the beach(I've stayed in two of these) and they are just far enough away from the main commercial centre to get a good nights sleep(or it could of been that I didn't hear any noise because I wasn't in bed till 3am and was smashed)

Splottboy

So it was YOU who was singing Waterloo and Dancing Queen then?

The Mrs says, "Thanks!"

essex_stu

Dancing queen yes, Waterloo no

Lavatrax

Thanks for the plugs guys.
Weather is pretty much identical to Gran Canaria over the winter, except in the North and North West where it's a little cooler and prone to more low cloud and damp air.

But in general, the south is dry and warm throughout the year. When we have some rain, it tends to be done with pretty quickly and then normal weather service is resumed

Daz
Lavatrax

welshkev

Lavatrax wrote:

Thanks for the plugs guys.
Weather is pretty much identical to Gran Canaria over the winter, except in the North and North West where it's a little cooler and prone to more low cloud and damp air.

But in general, the south is dry and warm throughout the year. When we have some rain, it tends to be done with pretty quickly and then normal weather service is resumed

Daz
Lavatrax

that's ok about the plug, my rates are very reasonable. all i ask is a free guided ride next time i'm visiting the gf's parents