Last February I spent one week cycling in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. Gran Canaria is well known among cyclist around Europe as a winter training location.
This was my first real holiday on bike but not the last.
Before I started to do cycling I thought that Canaries in winter are only for elderly people and golffers. Well, it is. But there was more to it. As I started to talk with other cyclist in Finland and read discussion boards about winter cycling, I found out that Canaries was an ideal place for my winter holiday.
At the time I didn´t have a roadbike of my own so I needed to rent one. Luckily there is a couple of bike rentals at Play del Ingles to choose from. I asked some advice from a friend of mine who recomended Free Motion for me.
Free Motion turned out to be a very good choice for me. I rented a brand new Cannondale Super Six with Ultegra Di2 and Ksyrium Elite wheelset. That´s the same groupset and wheelset I have on my Rose Xeon RS.
Free Motion has wide range of cycles to choose from. They are in co-operation with Cannondale and all the bikes were new. You can of course rent a mountain bike as well.
Free Motion also arranges pre-scheduled guided tours you can attend to. This is a very good option for a first timer in the Canaries since you really don´t know where to go and how hard each climb is. I bought a package which included bike rent and five quided tours.
Every morning multinational group of cyclists was divided into two groups: fast and even faster. I chose the fast group. I was not the fastest or the slowest climber, but the even faster group would have been too fast for me – I think.
I have booked my next trip to the Canaries in November. I can´t wait to get there again. November in Finland is cold and dark so a week of sun, warmth and cycling is a great spirit lifter!
Project: Passo dello Stelvio 