As regular visitors to the Island of Lanzarote I know each road for cycling better than my home town in the UK. It was time for a change and Tenerife seemed the perfect choice, the opportunity to climb the legendary Mt Teide in the footsteps, or wheel tracks, of many a famous name.

Our resort was Palm-Mar, a relatively small resort with approximately 10 restaurants, about 15 minutes drive from the popular Los Cristianos, Las Americas and Costa Adeje hotspots. The main thing that hit us immediately was the number of people and cars on Tenerife, probably 10 times more people and 100 times more cars than we experience on Lanzarote, traffic jams seemed commonplace daily.

My intention was to conquer Mt Teide, our apartment host implied this was foolish late November as it could snow at the peak and be 0⁰C. We could see the peak from our balcony and I must say, it looked grim. I decided to do a half distance, half height reconnaissance to Vilaflor in my summer kit, what could go wrong? Well, it rained, it rained harder … like needles, the sky went black, then like ‘Mordor’ in Lord of the Rings it started to thunder with lightning bolts landing around the mountain. I sheltered under a shack for 15 minutes then decided to risk being frazzled alive to complete the final 2 miles to Vilaflor and immediately descend in torrents of flowing water back down. Interesting first ride.

Prior to arriving in Tenerife I had communicated with another ‘Rouvy’ rider, Ruben (Roeboe), agreeing to meet and join for a ride. Over a meal with Ruben, who was on a course of antibiotics for an infection to his neck, it was decided he would not be fit enough to join me tackling the full climb. The next day looked clear, I was ‘going for it’ and Ruben would be my ‘Call a Friend’ if I had any trouble. Loaded up with spare gloves, arm warmers, rain jacket, croissants, gels, hydration tablets and jellybeans I set off at 8am, incredibly busy until I reached Arona and some higher gradients in the early miles, you need to be 10 miles into this climb before you can relax, enjoy gradually improving vistas and start to feel less vulnerable to lunatic drivers. 

As I approached Vilaflor my phone started ringing, it’s either ‘Spam’ or a family emergency, I don’t do verbal telephone calls. I finally dug my phone out of my back pocket … “Hi Steve, it’s Ruben, where are you?”. Ruben was on his bike and only 10 minutes behind me. We stopped and had refreshments while he convinced me he was going to return back, but he wasn’t doing a good job of convincing himself, when we returned to our bikes he suddenly announced “OK, I go with you”. This one decision made the day much more enjoyable and was reassuring for my wife, Deb, to know I wasn’t alone on the mountain. 

From Vilaflor to the highest ‘road’ point of Mt Teide the experience is superb, amazing views, steady 6% gradients and smoother roads. Traffic is much reduced and more respectful and you become more aware of cyclists sharing your challenge. You reach the main ‘photo opportunity’ of the Teide National Park before the top so grab your picture. Then a fast downhill before you turn towards the Cable Car station and begin climbing again. Ruben had identified a spot (Mirador El Tabonal Negro) about 3 miles beyond the hotel used by the Jumbo Visma team over winter and beyond the Cable Car, it was hard work after 4 hours climbing but we needed to be sure we were as high as we could cycle.

Then back down, you won’t be surprised to hear I broke my 25 mile PB time. We picked a great descent towards the West coast down to Chio, hardly any corners or switchbacks requiring no braking. At the bottom we met another Rouvy rider, Roman (The Romain) for coffee in Chio after he gave us another crazy speed downhill lead out. It was at this point we found I had a broken spoke and the probable cause of the weird ticking noise that was annoying me the whole day. I can barely give this climb the justice it deserves, an absolute classic and deservedly a ‘bucket list’ climb for any keen cyclist.

If I was a fitter man, or on a cycling specific holiday, which I wasn’t, I would look to do the other alternative ascents, there are about 5 options. However, it must be noted, in 2 weeks, there were probably only 2 days when the mountain top looked appropriate or nice enough to attempt. On the other 12 days it was in thick or hazy cloud and likely had poor air quality too. This needs to be considered, in late November we had sea level temperatures of 29⁰C and mountain level about 16⁰C. Summer would present better mountain top temperatures but the lower climbing would be very hot.

Now here is my issue. Unless you are based up the mountain, very unlikely unless you are paid by a professional cycling team, you are going to experience vast amounts of traffic at lower levels by the main resorts. Also, completely opposite to my experience in Lanzarote, the car driving is too often very scary, I was more scared than in the UK, where I am petrified, I was confused and surprised by this. To deal with it, I found myself putting the bike in the hire car and driving out to remote areas free from traffic and with fabulous cycling routes. I did a 50 mile out & back ride on the TF-28 from Valle De San Lorenzo heading north towards Guimar, it was a lovely ride but every mile was like the next mile, nothing changed and I started to get a little bored.

I once saw a documentary on a professional cyclist, he was out training on a stunning road in Tenerife. I wanted to ride that road one day but had no idea where it was … then I found it by accident. Every bit as stunning as the climb up Mt Teide was the Masca Valley from Santiago del Teide down to Punta de Teno via Buenavista del Norte and back via Las Cruces. Descending single track smooth tarmac laid like spaghetti down the valley, utterly mesmerising and I challenge you not to keep stopping for your camera … get to the lighthouse before 10am or they close the gate for bus access only beyond this time. A difficult ride for my 95kg body with 6000ft climbing in only 40 miles but for me this was a ride worth doing. 

In total I did 5 rides during this trip; 236 miles with 24,800ft elevation. Mt Teide alone was 7,348ft in a single 31 mile climb.

In summary, how would I compare my Tenerife experience to my old favourite Lanzarote. Well, it offers Mt Teide and a number of other stunning zig-zag climbs, if you are a team rider or in serious training I completely understand the reasons to come to Tenerife. However, the car and truck traffic is unbelievable by comparison, as is the level of respect you (don’t) receive. The geography of the mountain reduces route options to out and back journeys or extremely long 100+ mile routes, we ventured onto some mountain ‘A’ roads in the car that would have been horrendous by bike, making Garmin route planning a bit of a lottery for cycling. Almost all main Lanzarote roads are smooth as glass and it’s easy to create 20, 30, 50, 70, 100 mile looping routes. I find it easy to create routes with 5000ft ascension over a single ride and the wind provides all the resistance my training requires.

If my front door turned left for Tenerife and turned right for Lanzarote each time I jumped on my bike … I would turn right 19 times out of 20 … and throw it in the car for that ‘1’ time in Tenerife. Maybe Gran Canaria and La Palma are next to try, your opinions would be gratefully received.