Our first 2023 holiday is booked for April. It’s back to the Canary Islands again but after many visits to Corralejo on Fuerteventura we’ve decided to try Costa Teguise on Lanzarote this time which obviously means I get to ride some new trails.
The first thing that struck me when I looked into bike hire was how much choice I had. We will be staying quite central and there must be 4 or 5 decent bike rental places within walking distance of our complex.
Initially I was going to treat myself to a carbon road bike but having spent some time now looking at where to ride, tarmac is limited and I’m not on a training camp and able to get round the island, I’ll only be riding 2-3 hours at a time so I’ve decided to hire an MTB so I can explore more locally. The gravel trails look very much like Corralejo except there seem to be more of them. Cycling, in general, seems to be more popular there than in Corralejo which was nice but suffers from one road in and out and only two trails in and out of town. It got a bit boring to be honest so I’m looking forward to the change of scenery.
I’ve decided to hire a hardtail 29er with an air fork so I can set it up for the ‘washboard’ gravel roads you inevitably get which rattle your fillings out they are that bumpy. I’m too light to benefit from a coil spring fork. The 29 inch wheels will roll better on the tarmac too.
I just need to get fitter now so I can enjoy it. I have The Mad March Hare Sportive at the end of March so that’s a focus and I have actually begun to get outside on my bike. It took me 3 weeks due to the weather, work and family but I’ve got out twice this week and it’s really obvious the stark difference in ride fitness riding indoors vs outdoors gives you.
I rode 50km yesterday and my legs were fine but I seemed to have niggles everywhere, The tendon in the back of my right knee was sore, my neck started to ache after an hour and my hip was playing up again. You can’t condition yourself for endurance rides indoors. Sounds bloody obvious but it’s the truth. You activate muscle groups in your arms, body and shoulders differently. Indoors your are under less tension because the bike is static so you lose that bit of conditioning bouncing around the roads gives you.
Anyway I enjoyed it so I’ll be doing more and getting back on track now.
Thats all for now, Adios!
PS. Sally has an offer on if you fancy it. Link here
I’m sure age has something to do with it too
Great to have a sun holiday to look forward to as this shitty end of the year 👌
Interesting to hear to hear you complaining about niggles getting back on the bike outside. I thought it was just me that got that after a break and put it down to getting older 🤣