La Gomera – mountain biking – 1,484 meters to sea level!

Above the clouds

Winter (it bloody feels like it!) is tough on the old cyclists. Cold hands, cold lumbar, cold knees. What seems like a great idea in the pub (cycling around

Britain on fixies, that is) starts to fade a little in the harsh light of day. What better way to beat those blues than an autumnal break to the Canaries!? Yes, last week saw me and Sorrell off to La Gomera: a beautiful little island of the coast of Africa. Days were 30 degrees plus, sunny and clear. The Island has wonderful national park at it’s centre – which for a place that hasn’t had any significant rain for 2 years is surprisingly lush – all due to “horizontal rain” – 20km from the beach finds Garajonay – 1,484 m – a good 200 metres higher than our own Everest – Ben Nevis! A great place to try mountain biking then! There was a wonderful bike shop in the middle of Valle Gran Rey where we were staying called “Bikers Inn“. Run by a lovely German guy called Axel, who left his bike shop (and MTB team) behind in Germany last year to start this new venture. He has a wide array of tours to choose from (for “beginners” to “freaks”!); as Sorrell and I have never even sat on a mountain bike before, we plumbed for a beginners one – ‘Casa Forestal’.

The "cloud" forests

We arrived at the shop at 9:45 – and Axel sorted out our bikes for us. 2 lovely chunky GT Avalanche hardtails – then in to Carlos’ taxi and up, up, up into the mountains. The drive is amazing – around winding, looping roads, little villages before hitting the forested park, always climbing – even more amazing when we realised that we would be coming down the same road from around 20km (and 1200 metres!) from the sea. Once we arrived at Laguna Grande, the adrenalin was already kicking in. Like I said, neither of us had done this before – so we were both a bit nervous. But Axel was fantastic – a great teacher – patient, full of praise, completely ego-less as we made our way up and down forest trails around the park. The countryside is truly amazing – pine forests, bamboo, vineyards, ferns, mosses, lichens, succulents – all getting their moisture from the clouds we occasionally cycled through. Quiet trails, little dusty tracks, with very few people or cars to look out for. On we went to Mirador del Igualero, with an amazing view – which was getting ready for a fiesta that evening – one which wouldn’t start till midnight!

Getting used the bike was strange – massive frame, huge tires, and front suspension that felt at times like I was on a clown bike! But it ate up the 500m or so we had to climb – and climbing felt a lot easier on this than on my road bike, never mind my fixed. Sore bum though (Axel’s advice was always to travel with your own saddle as you get so used to it – and I would have loved to be sitting on my Brookes).

A lovely bowl of the local specialism – watercress soup for lunch and then the most amazing descent I have ever experienced. It went on for ever, through loops and curving tarmac, through one huge tunnel, missing the other one out by going over the “old” road – a single track with cliffs above and below (about 800m above sea level, with a drop of probably around 300), past little villages, all the way to the sea – and a beer and gin and tonic to celebrate. Sorrell was amazed (and amazing!) at doing the whole thing – and my hands were shaking from pulling on the brakes and the sheer excitement of it all.

A truly amazing experience. Axel couldn’t have been better – full of interesting chat and tales, ever-ready to lend advice or help, and tailored our tour completely to us. The taxi up cost 45 Euros, so he can only do the trip with 3 paying guests, but for the tour, the taxi, the bike hire he only charged us 90! Incredible value for our first mountain bike experience – I’ll be back!

"Let's off-road!"