[TobyD]

Anyone on here done any cycling in Lanzarote? Any worthwhile beta? Almost certainly road mainly, although I might consider hiring a MTB if it is amazing.

[Paul B]

I can't help with direct experience but I've been using Epic Road Rides for help planning other trips and they have an article:

https://www.epicroadrides.com/destinations/cycling-spain/lanzarote/

If you go I'd be really interested to hear how it is (it'd be good to have alternatives to Mallorca, I'm also eyeing up Portugal).

[Aussiegav]

Big groups of cyclists train and ride from La Santa health resort on the north of the island.

[Catcheemonkey]

I did the volcano route (the first one in the link above) on a cheeky day’s escape from a family holiday in Playa Blanca a few years ago.

I had a great day out, but was apparently lucky as it was much less windy than the island is reputed to be. The roads are generally great and there wasn’t much traffic off the main routes.

I wouldn’t head there for a pure cycling holiday, compared to Majorca, as I suspect you’d cover every road in a few days. The scenery is more desolate and moon-like than Majorca but does have some amazing views from the high passes.

I think there is MTBing, but when I was looking into options it looked a bit underwhelming. There might have been more routes developed since I was there though, as the terrain clearly has lots of potential.

[TobyD]

Thanks all,  I'll report back when I've been.  Mixed chilling out and cycling trip, so I'm happy with it being quite small.  I know that its often pretty windy already.  However I've been to Mallorca in the winter before and it snowed... its pretty unlikely to do that in Lanzarote! Hopefully the travel situation will hold up. 

[SA Chris]

Did a MTB trip from La Santa, wasn't particularly amazed was on a rattly hardtail though. None of the descents were particularly memorable. Road biking is great though, great quiet roads and scenery, and yes it will be windy. And good luck getting a KOM anywhere near La Santa.

[TobyD]

Did a MTB trip from La Santa, wasn't particularly amazed was on a rattly hardtail though. None of the descents were particularly memorable. Road biking is great though, great quiet roads and scenery, and yes it will be windy. And good luck getting a KOM anywhere near La Santa.

Cheers Chris, confusingly I've heard from others that the MTBing is quite good. I won't be getting a KOM anywhere, ever, anyway so no danger of that. I am really bad at cycling, but still quite enjoy it for some reason.

[SA Chris]

Admit there could well be better stuff elsewhere, I just went on a guided loop from La Santa, which may well have avoided some great descents.

[Paul B]

In case anyone who posted/read this thread is interested, Peewee and I just had a week of cycling in Gran Canaria which was pretty epic. The topography and accommodation locations mean that most likely the first half of any ride will be heading up and the second half down. Prepare for some serious climbing in any given ride and likewise to be lapped many times by Pros/Pro Teams. Also, there's not a huge amount of connecting roads between the valleys so there aren't many short options.

We stayed in Meloneras which seemed a bit less hectic than the more popular resorts of Maspalomas and Playa del Ingles.

I took most of the information from here prior to booking:
https://www.epicroadrides.com/destinations/cycling-spain/gran-canaria/

It suggests that cafes etc. aren't abundant but I'd disagree. We never struggled and didn't have to resort to cash once.

The coast road between Puerto de Mogan and Puerto Rico is currently still closed as per the article (due to a landslide). We circumnavigated this via putting the totally dismantled bikes into the boot of an ageing Merc sedan taxi after the bus driver refused us a lift. The pros just opted to smash through the motorway tunnels!

My bike was hired from Free Motion after the cheaper local shop screwed me over (cancelling my reservation with about 24H notice).

[peewee]

A further note to the above post, if you do go take warm/windproof clothing with you regardless of whether its 25c by the pool in the morning as I learnt the hard way!

[Nails]

I've ridden road on both Lanzarote and Gran Canaria several times. Gran Canaria is far more interesting both in terms of cycling terrain and surroundings. At nearly 2000m a ride to the top of the island is a longer ascent than pretty much any alpine climbs (Mont Ventoux is around 1500m I think). Potential for intersting loops and link-ups. I'd second PeeWee's comment on warm clothing. I've had full-on snow and blizzard conditions near the top which made for some interesting descending.

Could be combined with a bit of climbing (Tamadaba and Sorrueda would be my recommendations). Obviously good surfing and windsurfing opportunities for a multiactivity trip.

[TobyD]

A further note to the above post, if you do go take warm/windproof clothing with you regardless of whether its 25c by the pool in the morning as I learnt the hard way!

Also the case for Lanzarote,  although I'd imagine much less so than GC. Lanzarote is unbelievably windy most of the time and most of the roads are devoid of any shelter. 

[Paul B]

I actually went again but with Nat rather than Peewee and we stayed in one of the larger Meloneras hotels which was fantastic.

Again, we hired with Freemotion but didn't have quite such a good experience. Nat's bike's front mech was poorly set up and on my second or third ride I had total and complete brake failure during a descent which was less than ideal.

I wouldn't suggest anyone goes down VOTT as the surface is so bad it just isn't very enjoyable but looping through the arch/tunnel and up to Tejeda is fantastic and like another world.

[Paul B]

Just in case anyone is looking for a Canary Island to visit I can wholeheartedly recommend La Gomera (Playa de Santiago). The 'faff' of needing to take the ~45-60min ferry seems to remove quite a lot of people and everyone there seems to be walking/golfing with a few cyclists (hire options are pretty slim though).

The island seemed to me like the northern part of GC, very green and mountainous.