Regular readers of this blog (if there are any) may remember me mentioning back in May when I bought my Canyon Spectral, that my Ragley Blue Pig had emigrated to somewhere a bit drier than East Sussex. We recently bought a small holiday home on the island of Fuerteventura and the Blue Pig now lives out there. During the latter part of July I was back riding on the Ragley exploring the north part of Fuerteventura around the town of Corralejo.
One of the first things I noticed when I arrived on Fuerteventura for the first time that there were cycle lanes everywhere. Generally these are well surfaced, wide, and sit a good distance away from the traffic. Obviously what I was most keen to find on the island was off-road riding, but the cycle lanes looked to be a good bet for getting from one town to another. There are a few official cycle routes on the island (details here) but I only rode one of these. Mostly I was wandering about, making it up as I went along. I managed 8 rides during my holiday, mostly around 10 or 11 miles, but one ride covered 20 miles. As well as the roads and cycle lanes, there are also a lot of dirt tracks on the island and most of my riding was on these.
The terrain is dry, dusty with a lot of loose volcanic rock. A lot of loose volcanic rock. Here and there I found a few short sections of what could be described as “singletrack” but not the sort of trails that have you grinning from ear to ear as you swoop along them. The rides I did would come more under the Cross Country, getting lost, taking in the scenery, style of mountain biking rather than anything adrenaline fuelled. Probably the scariest aspect of my rides was the fact that I had no spare inner tube with me and I was one unfriendly rock away from a very long, hot walk home…
That’s not to say that there’s no fun to be had, I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s on offer and I don’t doubt that I will uncover more and more when I return to the island over the next few years. There’s certainly no lack of elevation, Fuerteventura is a volcanic island and it’s littered with steep-sided calderas. I’m sure there are some twisty descents tucked away right under my nose, just a matter of digging them out.
One of the things I noticed while riding out there was the drivers have a hell of a lot more respect for cyclists than those in England. This might have just been a bit of good fortune, I did get cut up by one motorist, but he also cut up another car and there was a strong whiff of marijuana trailing out of his window. Overall, I found my “local” area, Corralejo, Lajares, Cotillo, to be very bike-friendly, a good portion of the road network has accompanying cycling paths and when they run out there’s often a dirt track running parallel to the road.
Getting back on the Pig felt very weird. The bars felt about half the width of those on the Canyon, the pedals felt like they were in the wrong place, it just felt tiny compared to my 29er. I felt like a gorilla riding a monkey’s bike. I gradually got used to it again but I really wouldn’t fancy going back to it full time. I still think it looks good though.
lardymtb 