Tenerife....

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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Avspider
Posts: 21
Joined: 2 Sep 2019, 5:27pm

Tenerife....

Post by Avspider »

I am going with the GF on a guided cycling tour in Tenerife in March, we are covering the pretty much most of the island in a week. I am taking my Venge pro disc for 2 reasons, 1; cheaper than renting a bike of that level & 2; Got discs for long downhills. However I am not taking deep section wheels as I am aware it will be windy so it's down to about 7.4kg.
I am currently running 52/36 & 11/30 with an FTP of approx 280 (GF has same set up but an FTP of about 140 but has same w/kg as so light). Is the gear ratio's suitable for over there? IS it really worth the extra ££ to got to a compact front and bigger rear cassette?
We normally cycle around the New Forest so not too many hills here but it's not pan flat.
Edit; we do not have to carry any of our stuff when cycling.
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Btwin 540 commuter
BMC Granfondo 02
Venge pro disc CLX64 :D
sun ra
Posts: 168
Joined: 3 Feb 2010, 11:27pm

Tenerife....

Post by sun ra »

I had this exact same dilemma when myself and wife went on a 2 week fixed based cycling holiday in the Pyrenees. At the time she only had around 5 years of cycling under her belt, and other than a loaded cycle tour in the Scottish highlands (armed with very low gear inches) and cycle holidays in Yorkshire, she had no experience of long sustained climbs using ‘road’ gearing.

I ended up getting her a Sugino OX801 chainset, 46/30 coupled with an 11-32 cassette. My thinking being, that as we’d be cycling every day, some of which were century+ rides with lots of climbing, it made sense to have extra bail out gears.

That sugino sub compact chainset was one of the best cycling purchases I’ve ever made as it made the whole holiday so much more enjoyable. She never had to worry that she might run out of gears on climbs that sometimes went on for 2 hours or more and it also meant we could do long rides, day after day, without feeling burnt out.
CXRAndy
Posts: 50
Joined: 18 Aug 2019, 1:45pm

Re: Tenerife....

Post by CXRAndy »

Ill be there in March too. Ive been half a dozen times, so are quite familiar with the main climbs.

I use Tenerife bike training for arranging my trips

If you're of average weight 70-80 kg. then you will probably get by on with the gearing. Most folk use 50/34 and 11-32 cass. The gradients arent too steep average 6-7%. but can go upto 11% in sections

Im a big rider 100kg and have fitted a triple to my bike 50/36/26. 11-40 cass. I will use the inner ring for a couple of days then usually end on the 36 ring and use the 35t cass cog.

If riding every day take your time to get use to the climbs and distance. Weather can be changeable on top, from glorious to bloody freezing. Take wind gillet , the fast descents are cold, plus gloves. Once above Vilaflor, there are no cafes apart from hotel Parador

The climbs can take a few hours if going to the top of Teide
MattH
Posts: 21
Joined: 3 Feb 2018, 11:02pm

Re: Tenerife....

Post by MattH »

I went back in November and hired a bike. At home my road bike's gears are 52:36 11-28 and generally I prefer hilly rides (live near the Mendips). The rental bike had what I thought were ridiculously easy gear ratios at 50:34 11-34 however there were certainly some instances where I was glad to have them.
Going up Teide I suspect would have been fine using the gears I have at home, the gradient was fairly consistent the side I climbed (from Chio).
I took the bike to "Masca" where I certainly used the lower gears - a fair bit of that climb (despite the 12-13% average) is around the 20% mark in gradient. So it is nice having the option available. Ended that day in Orotava which featured a steady 14% climb up the road toward the town for maybe a mile and with tired legs the low gears got some more use.

Edit: seeing as you appear to be using a power meter, I'll add this: the second time I went up Teide I went around 80% of my FTP for the duration (took around 3 hours) and my legs were definitely feeling it near the top.
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