I’m going back to Corralejo, Fuerteventura in March for 10 days. It’ll be our fourth time. Great vibe, chilled, good weather, no bar street, no loud music and no pissed up morons. Its very civil and a fave destination of ours.
The last couple of times I’ve hired a bike while I’m there. Road bike first, MTB the last time which I wrote about at the time.
The first year I rode there, the wind was so strong one day I had to ride downhill in first gear and took an hour to ride the last 8 miles home. It broke me
This time I’ve decided to take my bike to soak up up some true gravel. To be honest given the explosion of gravel riding in general, I’m surprised the island hasn’t tried to capitalise on it (light bulb moment! maybe I should?). At the moment it has a fairly established road setup down South as its greener and hillier than up North where Corralejo is. The North is like a desert with gravel trails set amongst extinct volcanoes. MTB’s are very popular and despite the odd Triathlon on the island, the events tend to be more MTB orientated. I think its accepted other Canary Islands like Gran Canaria and Tenerife have better terrain and infrastructure for road cycling and have that side of the sport wrapped up.
Anyway, I’ve got the Mad March Hare Sportive booked in for the end of March so getting some riding in for that is essential. Having ridden the gravel there on a cheap MTB last time I know a gravel bike is going to be a great asset and I can probably cover more ground. The cost of shipping my bike on the plane (circa £100 return) is the same as a hire bike so it kind of makes sense.
I’m there for 10 days but its not a training camp. Just 90 mins a day hard with a few days off will be enough to keep me fit. I just hope its warm enough to get the tan sorted!
Look out for the inevitable blogs!