Mount Teide, how does it work?

jerry3571
jerry3571 Posts: 1,532
edited June 2015 in Pro race
Just wondering how this training destination works. I have been to Sierra Nevada in southern Spain and the Ski resort is at 2500m. So an athlete would sleep at the ski resort and then train lower down near Granada at the lower 800m altitude. This is based on the "Sleep high, train low" training regime.
I've been on my Hols to Mount Teide where the Mountain is lower and there didn't seem to be any buildings anywhere near the top or even close to the altitude of Sierra Nevada. Both locations have good weather.
So why do they go to Teide? :)
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”- Albert Einstein

"You can't ride the Tour de France on mineral water."
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Comments

  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,706
    Just wondering how this training destination works. I have been to Sierra Nevada in southern Spain and the Ski resort is at 2500m. So an athlete would sleep at the ski resort and then train lower down near Granada at the lower 800m altitude. This is based on the "Sleep high, train low" training regime.
    I've been on my Hols to Mount Teide where the Mountain is lower and there didn't seem to be any buildings anywhere near the top or even close to the altitude of Sierra Nevada. Both locations have good weather.
    So why do they go to Teide? :)

    You must have missed this:
    http://www.parador.es/es/paradores/parador-de-las-canadas-del-teide

    At about the 2200 metre mark.

    When I went up Tiede the other week, the weather was 23C up there.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    Cycling in Tenerife, Mount Teide, or no Mount Teide, is awesome.
    Love it.

    2501r44.jpg
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    edited June 2015
    This was a hire bike, not great but did the job;

    33nuhcz.jpg

    The climbs are awesome, they just go on for ever;

    2qrzx28.jpg

    This was my second visit last year, 2014, went again in February 2015, didn't remember camera and I did some longer rides and got way up in the mountains.

    As said the roads are good, drivers are more considerate, weather is great...
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    So why do they go to Teide? :)

    Better Roads, better road quality, low traffic on Tenerife vs (IMO) terrible roads and crazy drivers in Sierra Nevada, plus Mountain Ranges have storms and snow in the winter.
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • andrewjoseph
    andrewjoseph Posts: 2,165
    be careful to pick your time of year, we went in march two years ago and the roads near the top were shut due to snow. we had to wait until the last two days of our holidays to get to the top. Team sky were snow bound for a few days.

    the ride to the top was worth it though.
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • Never mind the altitude, the weather, the roads, the traffic etc etc, what's the beer like......
    I'm not getting old... I'm just using lower gears......
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  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    I went to Sierra Nevada last year - and am just booking another trip this year. But I "live high, train high". It's a bit harder, but a bigger boost.

    Basically ride down the hill to the bottom and climb back up - then stay up top at night. Repeat. Repeat. And so on.

    Some days I train at the lower altitudes (but it's still between 700-1000m) so not exactly sea level.

    I found this (for me) to be far better than "live high, train low".
  • Why Teide?

    I think the loonies in the Clinic will say people go because it's relatively inaccessible for dope testing so it's where Froome and friends (and now other teams too) do all their mysterious drug stuff.
    Giant Trance X 2010
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  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Why Teide?

    I think the loonies in the Clinic will say people go because it's relatively inaccessible for dope testing so it's where Froome and friends (and now other teams too) do all their mysterious drug stuff.

    Nah, they can do it right in front of the testers and the tests won't pick it up these days.
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,095
    Why Teide?

    I think the loonies in the Clinic will say people go because it's relatively inaccessible for dope testing so it's where Froome and friends (and now other teams too) do all their mysterious drug stuff.

    AG2R were at the Lauteret - a landslide on the Briancon end and a tunnel collapse on the Grenoble end meant no dope testers getting in. :-)
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  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    Bit upset to be honest that no-one has commented on how nice my pictures are.
    Cut me and doth I not bleed...
    :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    don't think the mountain does any work. It's very lazy and just sits there doing nothing :mrgreen:
  • Crozza
    Crozza Posts: 991
    Bit upset to be honest that no-one has commented on how nice my pictures are.
    Cut me and doth I not bleed...
    :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

    I found it amusing that you moaned about having a crummy rental bike
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Surely this thread title is an open invitation to our resident geologist to write 1000 words about volcanos.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    Hot rock, goes bang, makes island, The End

    ;)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    Hot rock, goes bang, makes island, invites lots of chavs and opens several mobility scooter rental shops, The End

    ;)
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    This was a hire bike, not great but did the job;

    33nuhcz.jpg

    Tell thee, the handy bike stand sould have been deployed.
  • rabk
    rabk Posts: 182
    be careful to pick your time of year, we went in march two years ago and the roads near the top were shut due to snow. we had to wait until the last two days of our holidays to get to the top. Team sky were snow bound for a few days.

    the ride to the top was worth it though.

    I was there the same week (first week in March 2013) - there was a hellish storm the day after we arrived - it was a bit grim tbh

    that being said, it's a great place to train..... the same week in 2012 was circa 30 degrees centigrade
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,570
    be careful to pick your time of year, we went in march two years ago and the roads near the top were shut due to snow. we had to wait until the last two days of our holidays to get to the top. Team sky were snow bound for a few days.

    the ride to the top was worth it though.

    I was there the same week (first week in March 2013) - there was a hellish storm the day after we arrived - it was a bit grim tbh

    that being said, it's a great place to train..... the same week in 2012 was circa 30 degrees centigrade

    so its either stormy or too hot? i'll stick to yorkshire... and majorca
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • curium
    curium Posts: 815
    Is it not quite windy?
  • jerry3571
    jerry3571 Posts: 1,532
    OOH! Lovely photos of Tenerife. :wink:

    Some years ago, I worked in a Doctor's Surgery where he said about sleep high, train low. This was so your red blood cells increase overnight and when you train low you can increase your power with larger amounts of oxygen and your increased red blood cells. Training high where there is not much oxygen means your muscles aren't being worked hard enough. When I went to Sierra Nevada, I ducked under the barrier to go up to the 3400m height where I was spinning a tiny gear and was hardly going anywhere plus not generating much heat so I froze my butt off. Almost got hypothermia up there.
    I spent a week in Los Cristainos and Teide did seem to be in low cloud quite a bit.
    The altitude does work especially if its 10 days to 2 weeks and is way cheaper than a new bike. :)
    “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”- Albert Einstein

    "You can't ride the Tour de France on mineral water."
    -Jacques Anquetil
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    OOH! Lovely photos of Tenerife. :wink:

    why, thank you, yes they are nice aren't they...
  • andrewjoseph
    andrewjoseph Posts: 2,165
    578367_576552179023606_868083683_n.jpg?oh=e181e0ed716e2f393fd725bc8afbdcb8&oe=55EDC90D

    first attempt, got to villaflore,

    3rd attempt, got up to top, some pics on the way.

    382184_576550715690419_2142384873_n.jpg?oh=1e98a915c5c5ffa9cb74083cbed07b49&oe=55E71F47

    374401_576550569023767_873165814_n.jpg?oh=52b0b0955b44e43f979fc3561e18db1e&oe=5623D0BE

    484919_576550339023790_840089794_n.jpg?oh=aaf1d65afc8a1ddfc093189fdf094085&oe=55F54C96

    on the way back down, had to pass through the area of strong winds and clouds.
    734423_576550132357144_808885830_n.jpg?oh=2c374d0509cc2335dd84b9658b473b2d&oe=5627EE97
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    you have the hips of a lady...
  • andrewjoseph
    andrewjoseph Posts: 2,165
    you have the hips of a lady...

    that's no lady, that's my wife!
    --
    Burls Ti Tourer for Tarmac, Saracen aluminium full suss for trails
  • harry-s
    harry-s Posts: 295
    I spent a week in Tenerife earlier in the year, and went up Tiede a few times, from the Los Christianos side. There were quite a few of the pro teams to be seen on the road, and I managed to have a quick chat with some of the Sky guys. They were staying in Vilaflor, but were moving up to the Parador later in the week, - it seems like rooms there are at a premium, and the place isn't big enough to meet the pro demands. They did all of their training between Vilaflor and the caldera lip, and didn't really venture to the lower slopes, - so for them it was about training at altitude, with some hard reps near the top.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,535
    Hot rock, goes bang, makes island, The End

    ;)

    Oh come on, shouldn't there at least be a subduction zone in there somewhere?
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  • jerry3571
    jerry3571 Posts: 1,532
    Vilaflor seems about 1500m and Parador about 2300m. Seems odd to me to train high as the muscles aren't working that hard due to the lack of oxygen. I'm sure they're right though. :)
    The pine trees up there have special long needles which collect the mist and then the water drops off to the ground where it waters the ground. Not much rain but a fair bit of low cloud up there. :)

    Map of tenerife- http://www.tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-Road-Map/Detailed-Tenerife-Road-Map.gif
    “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”- Albert Einstein

    "You can't ride the Tour de France on mineral water."
    -Jacques Anquetil
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    I guess you can achieve the same with bunk beds.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    Hot rock, goes bang, makes island, The End

    ;)

    Oh come on, shouldn't there at least be a subduction zone in there somewhere?


    Nope, the Canaries are a hot spot - same as Hawaii
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver