Ian and I have just spent a week in Gran Canaria. We organised it through a contact we found on the Internet. Petra is an Austrian woman who has lived with her family in Gran Canaria for 15 years and seems to have a role in organising and promoting cycling events and holidays. We took our bikes and she arranged a very nice hotel where they didn't mind us carrying the dirty bikes through the lobby after a days riding. We had a good time and rode on five out of the six days. We left the hotel around about 10.30 and usually had a 6 kilometre ride to get to the start of the mountains. From there it was uphill and there were certainly some hills! The Island goes from sea level to 1900 metres in about 20 miles so the hills are steep! Mind you, coming back is always downhill. The picture is of me riding up one of many hills on the first day. The track on the right of the picture is where we have just come from.
We did about 40 kms on average most days with a fair bit off road. It was also unusually hot for Gran Canaria (which usually has a perpetual spring like climate)and in the sun the temperature was 35-40c with no shade. On our first ride we almost ran out of water! Most evenings we got back to the hotel, showered, went to dinner early, managed to drink one beer and then couldn't stay awake past 9.00pm. We usually slept through until 8.30 the following morning. It felt quite natural to be so tired and to sleep for so long and to wake up feeling mentally refreshed (even if my legs still ached some mornings. Once back here I was soon back to later nights and a less peaceful sleep!
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