Tenerife

Tiesetrotter

Heading out to Tenerife and staying next to the water parks in Adeje for the last two weeks of July.

Researched a few sites and searched ridewithgps. So the longer rides are sorted with Tiede and Masca loop. However be nice to get some advice on some quick 40 - 60km bursts. Any advice?

videoman

I used to live in Tenerife several years ago, end of July will be very hot and sorry cannot recommend any routes as was into mountain biking whilst living there. If you cycle up to Teidi make sure you take plenty of water as none available once you pass Vilaflor and you will certainly need it.

PhilPub

I'm basically a roadie but I would definitely recommend at least a day mountain biking for a change of scenery. Some of the trails around the volcano/tree-line are lovely, and you can book guided tours pretty cheap. I'm not an expert on the island, only spent a day each either road or mountain biking but it doesn't seem to have the variety of roads you'd get in Mallorca for example.

Tiesetrotter

Well for future reference these were the rides I did based out of Costa Adeye:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23306742
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23271893
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23215733
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23206964
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23207032

The island is quite a mix of climbing, but in the main they are all long climbs. The Mt Teide climb is a bucket list job worth doing for sure and Masca is beautiful. Also whilst staying on the south coast is the most practical and really the choice for kids (Siam Park etc.) it is busy and damn ugly. In fact hideous if you are looking for anything other than chips, shit wine and foul beer. Going along either the early part of the north-south coastal road or a lot of the road up to Vilaflor is pretty charmless. However above Vilaflor or going out to the Teide climbs from San Miguel or Grandilla it is all really very lovely.

As you'd expect once away from the coast or the south corner things get a lot quieter and more relaxed. One thing the weather, it is perfect. Middle of July and it is around 30 on the coast and high 20's on the mountain. On my Teide day there was cloud and I was looking for my arm warmers on the descent when I went through them. Speaking of descents, if you do the Teide loop do it the way I did it. The climb after Vilaflor is absolutely beautiful and the top of the mountain is quite spectacular. It is though for the fit, the climb is between 6 -10% for over 25km from Vilaflor and there is a hell of a lot to do before that even begins. The descent out west has just been relaid and is silky smooth with very few bends ....... it gets almost spooky descending for what seems hours at full throttle. I wouldn't climb up that way though as the route through the coast and much of the early climb is pretty ugly and urban and the climb would be endless dead straight drags.

There aren't actually that many choices of roads. So loops tend to be limited, but enough for a few days. I hired a good bike from BikePoint who couldn't have been more helpful. They do organised rides which shuttle you out to places which then gives you a lot more option, but they started too late for me. As I said, the beauty of the island is away from the south coast and BikePoint shuttle you away from there so you get the best out of the island if you do use them and stay in the south.

The crown in the jewel seems to be out west though. The Masca loop I did once past the urban coast has some stunning scenery and views. However the ride is brutal. The gradients jump up and the climb out of Masca makes the Ardennes look easy.
https://www.strava.com/segments/673830

If I came again on a pure training camp I'd definitely stay away from the south coast or use BikePoint to get me away for other routes. It would make the transfers longer, but it is altogether more pleasant. Of course if you have the cash you can always stay in the hotel at the top where the pros stay .......... but good luck getting back there after every ride!

One tip for those doing cheeky early rides before family life kicks in. Sunrise was 7:20 ..... so my grand plan of shooting out as near 6am failed. Luckily my girls are of an age where I am only useful for providing money, non-emotional crisis handling and spider management.

All in all it is a great place. It doesn't have the intimacy of Mallorca, however I bet if I stayed in the west/north I'd change that opinion as well as sample god food and wine. Also the big plus is you get to tick off the longest climb in Europe ......... even though you are really in Africa.