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Lanzarote

12th – 19th December 2010
Location: Costa Teguise, Lanzarote

Chasing the Winter Sun

With the weather in the UK getting colder and predicting snow I decided to book a weeks training camp in Lanzarote in an attempt to get a good weeks training in the sun. I booked to go with two of my fellow Welsh mates who were also getting fed up of the ever worsening winter conditions. The predictions were correct and the UK saw a serious dump of snow whilst as we touched down in Lanzarote it was 22 degrees and sunny! I have not visited the island before so had only heard stories of what the training was like out there, windy was the main theme that occurred and wow they were right.

By the time we got to our hotel on the first day and settled ourselves in building bikes and getting our bearings we only had chance to spin around the town in our casual clothing before our evening meal. The next day we were up early for breakfast and excited to head of for our first ride on the island. After a quick look on the map we wrote down some place names to head for and set off on our way in shorts and a short sleeve top. The wind was noticeable straight away along with the continually undulating roads; I don’t think there is a flat road on the island. We managed to get 4 hours in for our first ride to break us in for the week and the time flew by with the sun shining on us all the way round, this was also the begging of the cyclists tan.

The following day we were aiming for a 5 hour ride and were going to meet up with British pro team Motorpoint but after confusion with the hotel (two hotels with the same name, in the same place, owned by the same people and even look the same) we set of on our own. We headed to the north of the island were there is some long climbs which I loved but even more so the descents that were our reward for our hard effort going up. We then headed south west along the coast of island had a quick coffee stop and popped in to a helpful bike shop to adjust my cleats on my shoe slightly. By the time we got back my two mates were suffering where as I finished feeling strong with 5.5 hours on the clock.

The remainder of the week saw us meet up with the Motorpoint riders where we continued to push out 5 hours plus every day averaging 32kph/20mph and that included a shed load of climbing every ride. By the end of the week I don’t think there was a roads we hadn’t ridden on if not both ways as the island is quite small in comparison to Mallorca which is where I’ve been the most to train. It was much nicer riding in a bigger group as some days the wind was brutal as you would be riding at 20kph in to a head wind and then with a tail wind you would be spinning out at over 60kph!

I racked up 32 hours on the bike and almost 600miles in the 6 and half days I had available to ride. I really enjoyed training on the island mainly for the climate and will definitely book to go again next year and possibly again this year if I can manage to get time off work. I have already booked 10 days in Mallorca at the end of March so may need to save some holidays for the racing season.

I hope you have all been managing to train and haven’t all gone mentally insane from sitting on your Turbo trainer or rollers!!!

Ben