Winter Riding Destination
TomHuttonMTBGuiding
Posts: 4
Looking for recommendations for a week's riding in the winter Dec/Jan. Would like to get some real km in, but not looking for huge climbs like we would usually.
Tenerife - too hilly really, will be coming back after 6 months out with injury
Lanzarote - fancy it but been told the wind ruins it?
Majorca - wrong time of year I guess (and perhaps too hilly?)
Anyone been anywhere they'd recommend?
Cheers!
Tenerife - too hilly really, will be coming back after 6 months out with injury
Lanzarote - fancy it but been told the wind ruins it?
Majorca - wrong time of year I guess (and perhaps too hilly?)
Anyone been anywhere they'd recommend?
Cheers!
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Comments
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Can't speak for the other two but I wouldnt go to Lanzarote. Although it's a great place I'm not sure there is really enough to keep you amused for a whole week.
One day in the south volcano park and one day in the northern area, followed by a day riding around the wine region and you'd have covered it all really. If you re an Ironman training for a race and doing interval training then it would be great but for fun...meh. If you alternated days cycling with days on the beach however then it would suit better.
I have some friends that really liked Majorca but I'm not sure it's less hilly than TeneriefeWe're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
Mallorca is mostly flat.
The hills are easy to avoid unless you stay in Valdemossa or Soller.The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
I can't comment on the riding in Lanzarote but it's windy as hell and I'm pretty sure it would ruin a cycling holiday.Advocate of disc brakes.0
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Mallorca is mostly flat.
The hills are easy to avoid unless you stay in Valdemossa or Soller.
I'll second that. Although there is most likely going to be snow in the mountains, the weather in the lower lying areas will be more like British spring. Take warm kit and be prepared to get wet.To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.0 -
Don't do Lanzarote. I've been 4 times in the past 3 years (friends living out there and family holiday or i wouldn't have bothered).
I can honestly say that I've only enjoyed 1 or 2 of 40 or so rides out there.
It's the damn wind. Relentless. Dangerous. Stupid.0 -
What is Cyprus like at that time of year?
What the cycling like on Crete?0 -
I'm going to northern Finland in February for a bike race :-)Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
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lanzarote is windy, but if you stay in playa blanca you've got two routes north-east, the steep one via femes, the flat one up the lz-701, been there many times, even on deep rims it's rare that it's too windy to go out, tends to be steady rather than gusty
why playa blanca? head wind out, tail wind back
cummulatively i've been there maybe 200 days, out of that not even ten days were too windy to go out, but certainly days where i'd avoid the exposed descents
road surfaces are mostly very good, drivers tend to be excellent giving bags of space when passing, plenty of cafe stop opportunities
imho the built-up east coast around arecife and puerto del carmen is best avoided, i find it ugly
to enjoy the volcanic scenery, you need to be able to appreciate bleak, i can, so it's ok, especially when the sun is shining and the sky is blue
the weather is about as reliable as the uk's, you may have sun, you may have weeks of cloud, you may have the worst rain in recorded history as happened last november, strewth, it was wet, but that's unusual, 'winter' temperature is rarely ever low enough for a uk rider to call it cold, mid-high teens more typical, if it's sunny you're into the twenties and laying by the pool after a ride
if you hire a villa, going in winter you'll find plenty to choose from, the "costa papagayo" area has loads of nice ones and it's a short walk into playa blanca for supermarkets, shops, restaurants etc.
further north into europe you're less likely to get the wind, but on average it'll be much colder and wettermy bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Wow! Cheers guys - some great info there! Shame it' s a bit contradictory about Lanzarote - one man's meat etc I guess? There really doesn't seem to be a great choice though so it may have to be one of the Canaries. If anyone else has any thoughts or opinions, I'd be keen to hear. Thanks again0
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[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19674897#p19674897]TomHuttonMTBGuiding[/url] wrote:Wow! Cheers guys - some great info there! Shame it' s a bit contradictory about Lanzarote - one man's meat etc I guess? There really doesn't seem to be a great choice though so it may have to be one of the Canaries. If anyone else has any thoughts or opinions, I'd be keen to hear. Thanks again
yep, if you are ok with riding in the wind lanzarote is ok, if you're not then look elsewhere
the wind is usually from the north east, so on the islands with higher terrain there's a screening effect in some areas, but it may not be where you want to ride and of course away from those areas it's the same wind
i usually go out early, the wind tends to strengthen later in the day, most days it's no issue, some it's a grind, and for a few it's not worth it, it's really luck of the draw with the weather, no way to know what you'll get
given that you only want to go for a week i'd aim further north, the average temperature may be lower, but the weather will tend to be less extreme
inland algarve can be pleasant, once you're north of the a22 there're some great rides to be had, i've stayed in loulé a few times, nice loops out to the north on mostly quiet roads and some lovely scenery, or if the sun is out you can ride down to the quarteira area beaches (uphill all the way back)my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
Went to Gran Canaria a couple of times in January. Based in the south there's more than enough to keep you entertained for a week - don't bother with any other part as the trade winds are too strong.
Like the others said though, even there there's days where it was suicidal to get to the top because of the wind.0 -
Thanks fellas... used to windsurf and if I went anywhere on a windsurf trip, there would never be any wind! Must be a way of making this work for me now
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The year I went to Lanzarote was a classic. (I admit that part of this means I got 3 holidays in a year do I appreciate sympathy is minimal).
I went Skiing in Val Thorens where it was too hot to snow and on 2 days was too windy for any lifts to open
Later I went on a camping/Van & cycling trip to Bourgogne, France with ma and pa raver where it rained hard and solidly for 4 days
In September - apparently the best month to go to Lanzarote for wind - I went on a Kitesurfing holiday and i did nt get to hold a single kite all week as it never got above BF 2
That was not a good year...We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
Sicily if you are taking your own bike?
Spent a good deal of 2014 in the west and centre of the island organising my wedding and was gutted I couldn't ride any of it. There's some great climbing, although I imagine if the drivers don't get you, a wet road in winter probably will. Was also surprised to find out it snows in winter too!0 -
http://roadcyclinguk.com/sportive/seven-winter-training-camp-destinations.html/5
This article gives some good suggestions.
My in-laws live in Mojacar in Andalusia which is number 4 on this list and there are some excellent roads around there. There is a bike shop called Doltcini which hires bikes and has a lot of maps of routes in the area.
The weather is great and there loads of cheap places to stay. Ryanair fly into Murcia which is about 90 minutes away from Mojacar.0 -
Morocco?Bianchi Infinito CV
Bianchi Via Nirone 7 Ultegra
Brompton S Type
Carrera Vengeance Ultimate Ltd
Gary Fisher Aquila '98
Front half of a Viking Saratoga Tandem0 -
In a word, Cyprus.
I went for Christmas last year. Weather was a balmy 20^, they drive on the left which is nice if you normally ride in the UK. Good climbs, nice landscape, quiet roads. The only downside is that they follow daylight saving so at that time of the year you don't get many hours of sunlight. I went to Paphos but Limasol looks closer to the vertical action.0 -
In a word, Cyprus.
I went for Christmas last year. Weather was a balmy 20^, they drive on the left which is nice if you normally ride in the UK. Good climbs, nice landscape, quiet roads. The only downside is that they follow daylight saving so at that time of the year you don't get many hours of sunlight. I went to Paphos but Limasol looks closer to the vertical action.
The hours of daylight doesn't depend on the clocks!0 -
In a word, Cyprus.
I went for Christmas last year. Weather was a balmy 20^, they drive on the left which is nice if you normally ride in the UK. Good climbs, nice landscape, quiet roads. The only downside is that they follow daylight saving so at that time of the year you don't get many hours of sunlight. I went to Paphos but Limasol looks closer to the vertical action.
The hours of daylight doesn't depend on the clocks!
Lol no, you're right, but by as I don't get up before 9 and the clocks are shifted, I lose daylight hours.0 -
Lol no, you're right, but by as I don't get up before 9 and the clocks are shifted, I lose daylight hours.
Well the solution to that is very simple.0 -
Lol no, you're right, but by as I don't get up before 9 and the clocks are shifted, I lose daylight hours.
Well the solution to that is very simple.
Shouldn't be an issue for the OP then.0
