Almáciga | Tenerife | 13.19 miles | 614 ft. climbing
ROUVY Says: Conquer the twisting mountain roads of Tenerife to the coast at Almáciga. Climb past Roque Negro and Taganana, with sweeping Atlantic vistas and lush Anaga forests making every turn unforgettable.
WE say: Time for the downhill!! 😂😂🤦♂️. Yep, i feel everyone who just read that feels the need to remind me about that horrible start and those other kickers that added to over 600ft of climbing on what really looks like a route with a downhill profile on the pictures! But hey, its a different route to the other 3, a challenge route and We will try and race on any route thrown at us so lets see who joined us over the 8 races.
177 different riders joined us and set a time for this race! That’s such a great number! Thank you everyone but we now have to remove all the riders who didn’t supply heart rate data, all the males riders under 60kgs and anyone who averaged over 5.0w/kg. The final number is: 136!
It’s getting busy now! Nearly 200 registered for the most popular time slot tonight which is great to see and we really do appreciate everyone joining us for these races, especially with so many races and events popping up more and more as we move into the busy months.
As you can see from the top 100 leaderboard, the 2 riders with the most Ballast (Bare and Karel) who were hit quite hard in the first race, now feature higher up after 2 events totals added up. It does show that although the ballast figure looks high, these guys can handle it!
We usually say completing all 4 races gives you a great chance to finish in the top 50 but if we keep getting these numbers, that might not be as true as before. So keep pushing, especially for the next 2 races!
Thanks again everyone for the support, and a special thanks to all that read this to the end.
co-founder of muckersworldwide.com and race organizer! Been into cycling since a kid and spent most of the time on BMX and mountain bikes. Took me longer than most to get the road cycling bug but I was bitten around 5 years ago when I finally got a fully fledged road bike that fitted and I let the flat handled road bike go...
To the rave, to the dance. Properly warmed up after hard workout before the race, we entered this route, which was actually much harder than anyone expected! All out effort after start, where only ~12 riders stayed. Few got back in twisty descent, but next slight uphill established group of ~7 in front.
We pushed hardly over those few kickers, yet the penultimate left me with flyingskywalker behind top riders. We almost managed to get back, but there were millions switchbacks. Final kickr, fifth place, very happy with that. Thank you all who joined us!
tried to pace the start climb so i was still pulling decently over the crest, but even averaging over 300 watts all the way up, i only crested the climb in around 75th!!! So that’s that race ruined then lol. Usually a nice downhill profile means i and the 4 spokes can start reeling riders in but switch back after switchback just ruined that as well. So it was just ride as fast as i could to the end. 61st to 59th isn’t the jump up in the GC i was hoping for either, but head down, keep pushing Mucker and hopefully next week gets me the jump i need to keep this month on the right trajectory. 🤞🤞🤞🤞
Really interesting reading all the positive comments here and on Strava about this route as when i was accelerating out of what felt like my 100th hairpin, i was thinking to myself “i am gonna get some grief over this route later!”
But its also nice to see that people recognize we try to use as many varied routes we have from the challenge routes available at the time.
Well, that was brisk. Fortunately I was able to find my asbestos lined bib shorts before the start. I was planning to be able to say nice things about mucker mates and others I raced with, as I like reading about that in other comments, but I was spinning my little legs so eyeballs out all the way that afterwards I couldn’t remember a thing. As far as I can remember, which I can’t, it was lots of fun. Cheers, and looking forward to next week.
One Mucker suggested this was a route for the heavy weight champs on the chat so I decided to pack the Rouvy Bike away and dust off the Trek, found some wheels (not the 4 spokes, I still have my cycling morals you know 😉) and warmed up.
That start was so hard, I could see the Top 40 riders starting to slide away, I had the power to bridge but my heart was about to explode so I had a little luxury of waiting for the next group including Mick_Michel, Squalo_delle_Alpi and Duckman2 to catch me and gave it everything to stay with them. It was a great group as keeping the chasers at bay down those switchbacks and up the kickers took some effort. My appreciation to the group.
Back to the Rouvy Bike now, I still feel it best matches my outside performance but it’s nice to ‘give it beans’ on a fast bike every now and then. Really enjoyed the race tonight.
Here’s your reminder, Neil; yes, there was a hill at the start. It took me two minutes to get to the top, and even though I had my best 2 minute power of the last three months, I was still not in the top 60. Worse, I was gapped and by myself for the descent. But you are right: a variety of courses gives everyone a chance to excel at what they excel at. Like, for example, a certain German also with the initials MH. But it is what it is. I got together with rouvy1bryon and together we caught MNHROUVY and a few others. I actually don’t mind descending switchbacks and corner braking; there’s a way to use it to one’s tactical advantage. Just haven’t quite figured it out yet. But, hey, guys: hope you looked up and admired the view, it was really nice!
In the afternoon I was very impatient to ride, I think that I can a good performance for the timetable…. The result?
I take my target to stay under top 50th, but I’m very happy to work with Michael, Duckman2, Steven (great performance) and Slyfly (nice to see you again).
I try to put always in front my group to catch everyone in front, and they work very good as a bike team 😎, I know that I must to hold many concentration especially in the kicker…. But in one of the last I can’t do as 3 of my group, and lose I think 25 mt … shit….
In downhill I try to shoot all but I know that Mr Big Smile is the best to ride here…. At the end I’m very happy to work with them but I must to improve more.for me ambition. Now I’m first in my cat and is a great result.
Thanks a lot to all and we look forward to the next very difficult ride 👋💪🦈
Probably good we didn’t have to do this race IRL. A “Muckers Special Downhill-All-The-Way” with some sharp kickers on small roads with steep drop to the side. Thankfully Rouvy hasn’t implemented crashes yet.
So basically everyone went max from km zero on the horrible 1 km climb where everything completely exploded and the 7 in the front group got away. Some 100-meters behind the front a second group was formed on the kickers in the middle and we stayed together until the second last climb where Nelson, Velobuch and myself got a short gap on the rest of the group.
As always it may look easy but you have to be prepared to suffer a lot when you least expect it …. I can see I had an average bpm of 152 ON A DOWNHILL ROUTE with more than 6 1/2 minutes spent in the maximum bpm zone 🥵 A semi-compact 52-11 as maximum gearing also made me run out of gears (as everyone else of course … perhaps with the exception of Niels with his 58-10 TT gearing). But thanx for a fun and very FAST race guys 👍🏻
It’s great to read how the strong competitors struggled on this route just like me. They tried harder and harder, but they struggled. It motivates me that we’re the same way, just at different levels 🙂
Special greetings to Stelviobound, whom I started catching up the hills and got closer and closer, but he kept pulling away. I did this a few times :)))
I’d love to repeat the route, but a little slower to enjoy the views.
Greetings, pretty new to these races, but really enjoyed the 2nd race.
The 1st race I rode a 06:30 UK timeslot, there was only 3 of us, and I was plumb last, although still a podium I guess 🤣
I had high hopes for race 2, but like others, gave it more than full beans, for what felt like a decent length of time, hoping to come out in the mix inside the top 50, but was actually about 75th 🤯
Settled in from there, recovered as much as I could, and ended up in 64th place I think it was.
Good hard racing though, great ‘entertainment’ trying to catch riders up the road, and or monitor gaps back to riders reeling you in.
Plus of course trying to keep in a group, catch attacks etc, completely enthralling 👏
Looking forward to this week’s course, though a significantly longer one I seem to recall 😬
hey, thanks for dropping into the comments! You did really well and once you get the bug, you’ll love the way races make you think and ride! But yes, next weeks is a biggy so remember not to bonk or hit a wall too early!!! Thanks again and good Luck next week!
To the rave, to the dance. Properly warmed up after hard workout before the race, we entered this route, which was actually much harder than anyone expected! All out effort after start, where only ~12 riders stayed. Few got back in twisty descent, but next slight uphill established group of ~7 in front.
We pushed hardly over those few kickers, yet the penultimate left me with flyingskywalker behind top riders. We almost managed to get back, but there were millions switchbacks. Final kickr, fifth place, very happy with that. Thank you all who joined us!
tried to pace the start climb so i was still pulling decently over the crest, but even averaging over 300 watts all the way up, i only crested the climb in around 75th!!! So that’s that race ruined then lol. Usually a nice downhill profile means i and the 4 spokes can start reeling riders in but switch back after switchback just ruined that as well. So it was just ride as fast as i could to the end. 61st to 59th isn’t the jump up in the GC i was hoping for either, but head down, keep pushing Mucker and hopefully next week gets me the jump i need to keep this month on the right trajectory. 🤞🤞🤞🤞
Really interesting reading all the positive comments here and on Strava about this route as when i was accelerating out of what felt like my 100th hairpin, i was thinking to myself “i am gonna get some grief over this route later!”
But its also nice to see that people recognize we try to use as many varied routes we have from the challenge routes available at the time.
Well, that was brisk. Fortunately I was able to find my asbestos lined bib shorts before the start. I was planning to be able to say nice things about mucker mates and others I raced with, as I like reading about that in other comments, but I was spinning my little legs so eyeballs out all the way that afterwards I couldn’t remember a thing. As far as I can remember, which I can’t, it was lots of fun. Cheers, and looking forward to next week.
One Mucker suggested this was a route for the heavy weight champs on the chat so I decided to pack the Rouvy Bike away and dust off the Trek, found some wheels (not the 4 spokes, I still have my cycling morals you know 😉) and warmed up.
That start was so hard, I could see the Top 40 riders starting to slide away, I had the power to bridge but my heart was about to explode so I had a little luxury of waiting for the next group including Mick_Michel, Squalo_delle_Alpi and Duckman2 to catch me and gave it everything to stay with them. It was a great group as keeping the chasers at bay down those switchbacks and up the kickers took some effort. My appreciation to the group.
Back to the Rouvy Bike now, I still feel it best matches my outside performance but it’s nice to ‘give it beans’ on a fast bike every now and then. Really enjoyed the race tonight.
Here’s your reminder, Neil; yes, there was a hill at the start. It took me two minutes to get to the top, and even though I had my best 2 minute power of the last three months, I was still not in the top 60. Worse, I was gapped and by myself for the descent. But you are right: a variety of courses gives everyone a chance to excel at what they excel at. Like, for example, a certain German also with the initials MH. But it is what it is. I got together with rouvy1bryon and together we caught MNHROUVY and a few others. I actually don’t mind descending switchbacks and corner braking; there’s a way to use it to one’s tactical advantage. Just haven’t quite figured it out yet. But, hey, guys: hope you looked up and admired the view, it was really nice!
In the afternoon I was very impatient to ride, I think that I can a good performance for the timetable…. The result?
I take my target to stay under top 50th, but I’m very happy to work with Michael, Duckman2, Steven (great performance) and Slyfly (nice to see you again).
I try to put always in front my group to catch everyone in front, and they work very good as a bike team 😎, I know that I must to hold many concentration especially in the kicker…. But in one of the last I can’t do as 3 of my group, and lose I think 25 mt … shit….
In downhill I try to shoot all but I know that Mr Big Smile is the best to ride here…. At the end I’m very happy to work with them but I must to improve more.for me ambition. Now I’m first in my cat and is a great result.
Thanks a lot to all and we look forward to the next very difficult ride 👋💪🦈
Hi Shark, I was happy to be able to race with you again after such a long time 🙋♂️Slyfly 💪👍
Probably good we didn’t have to do this race IRL. A “Muckers Special Downhill-All-The-Way” with some sharp kickers on small roads with steep drop to the side. Thankfully Rouvy hasn’t implemented crashes yet.
So basically everyone went max from km zero on the horrible 1 km climb where everything completely exploded and the 7 in the front group got away. Some 100-meters behind the front a second group was formed on the kickers in the middle and we stayed together until the second last climb where Nelson, Velobuch and myself got a short gap on the rest of the group.
As always it may look easy but you have to be prepared to suffer a lot when you least expect it …. I can see I had an average bpm of 152 ON A DOWNHILL ROUTE with more than 6 1/2 minutes spent in the maximum bpm zone 🥵 A semi-compact 52-11 as maximum gearing also made me run out of gears (as everyone else of course … perhaps with the exception of Niels with his 58-10 TT gearing). But thanx for a fun and very FAST race guys 👍🏻
It’s great to read how the strong competitors struggled on this route just like me. They tried harder and harder, but they struggled. It motivates me that we’re the same way, just at different levels 🙂
Special greetings to Stelviobound, whom I started catching up the hills and got closer and closer, but he kept pulling away. I did this a few times :)))
I’d love to repeat the route, but a little slower to enjoy the views.
Greetings, pretty new to these races, but really enjoyed the 2nd race.
The 1st race I rode a 06:30 UK timeslot, there was only 3 of us, and I was plumb last, although still a podium I guess 🤣
I had high hopes for race 2, but like others, gave it more than full beans, for what felt like a decent length of time, hoping to come out in the mix inside the top 50, but was actually about 75th 🤯
Settled in from there, recovered as much as I could, and ended up in 64th place I think it was.
Good hard racing though, great ‘entertainment’ trying to catch riders up the road, and or monitor gaps back to riders reeling you in.
Plus of course trying to keep in a group, catch attacks etc, completely enthralling 👏
Looking forward to this week’s course, though a significantly longer one I seem to recall 😬
hey, thanks for dropping into the comments! You did really well and once you get the bug, you’ll love the way races make you think and ride! But yes, next weeks is a biggy so remember not to bonk or hit a wall too early!!! Thanks again and good Luck next week!