Due to a lot of similar questions that appeared after the photos from Tenerife, the next two entries will be devoted to her. First about logistics and later about the places you have to go.

0. In short, 80% of people do not reach half of the text.

You can fly to Tenerife for 1000 PLN (one thousand) for a week with a bicycle. It is not easy, and the more willing you will find this limit is more achievable, but in the amount of PLN 1,500 you can already fit in the grace. The times were gone when the Canaries were an exotic for the few. In Tenerife there is a bomb, because there are great mountains, interesting landscapes, ocean, volcano, good temperature, cheapness. Fly several hundred zlotys with a bicycle in a suitcase or on the spot we take out for 20-40 euros. We travel by rented car. It is worth going for a max week if you drive ambitiously. Depending on the place it is very cold or very warm in December (from -8 to 25 degrees). I would recommend.

1. Why Tenerife?

We were looking for a place where the December weather is certain and the views are great. Everyone who has a fejsbuka was in Calpe. Between January and March I'm there every time I turn on the computer. Thousands of photos and descriptions Coll de Rates and rocks in the sea. Asks are now sitting mainly in Gran Canaria and Mallorca. If you have any training assumptions, they will be a better choice - especially if your coach is still in the XX. age and claims that now you only get a long and boring base flat. In Tenerife there is no flat. It was there that Rafał Majka lost the beginning of the 2015 season - he did too much, too good. Hopefully I am not, I do not need to be afraid of losing my form for some mountain madness. Even if I had to, I can devote each race in exchange for such a trip.

Tenerife is a Russian island in Africa on the ocean, full of English, belonging to Spain.

2. Flight

The biggest problem: how to fly? (a bit like in high school). There are several ways:

• Norwegian - direct flights, wifi on board, bike for PLN 166 one way, no weight limit for a suitcase with it. As you can see below, you can almost always hit cheaply. I look at this moment and without too much searching I see in January: PLN 299 in one and 350 in another. In December it was possible to fly for PLN 360 in two directions. You have to hunt, prices change often. If not from Wawa it is from another city, in the times of PolskieBus this is not a problem.

• Cheap airlines, for example Ryanair with a change. It may look for a search engine, e.g. a skyscanner. In January, two trips for ~ 400 PLN + 50 EUR for one way bicycle (suitcase max 30kg). As a reminder, PLN 400 is less than a pair of good tubers.

3.

What about the bicycle?

 The options are three:

• you can not take a bike and sit with the retirees on the promenades or with their screaming granddaughters by the pool. Alternatively, go to the mountains, sit and watch, sipping coffee:

• You can rent a bike on site. This is a very popular option and the vast majority of cyclists we passed had equipment from the rental company. Bicycles are brand new and glowing. Prices from 13 to 40 euros per night depending on the length of the loan and equipment class. You can pay extra for better wheels, power measurement or helmet. Includes a seat post, inner tube, multitool, pump. Example: Bikepoint. Inside, a selection of clothes, accessories and used equipment (Sidi, Castelli, Oakley etc) is much better than in any store in Warsaw.

• You can also take your bike with you, in a suitcase or carton. Both possibilities are OK, but the suitcase is more comfortable thanks to the wheels and durability. We are missing the problem of securing the bike inside and 6 hours of worrying about whether it will come in one piece. When it comes to choosing a suitcase, all of them have their pros and cons. They differ in weight, capacity, price, durability, etc. I take a huge Thule, which resembles a wardrobe, and which test you will read in the latest version. It houses a bicycle and luggage for several people - so you do not have to worry about buying additional checked-in luggage. No weight limits Norwegianiana did great here. My riding wardrobe weighed healthily over 30kg and there was space for a small kindergarten. The airport service was less satisfied.

5. I'm at the airport, what's next?

The problem is particularly serious when we landed with a cardboard box or a suitcase - you have to get to the apartment. On the suitcase you can go like on a stamp - but for longer distances it's a little bit of a pain. Here, great car prices are available on the spot. I think that 2/3 of the traffic on the island is generated by tourists in cars from the rental company. For this, gasoline is cheaper than in Poland: 80 cents for a liter of oil! Rental costs are really cool, for example:

Ford Fiest is 280 PLN per WEEK.
Citroen Berlingo, which will be easier to enter with bicycles PLN 465 per WEEK

We take Fiat Doblo for around PLN 900. We are not enough #YOLO so we buy additional insurance, additional 2 drivers, etc. Besides, it's the only car that our giant suitcases enter (although they do not fit with 4 people in the middle, so we run twice).

Price proof here.

The car is also useful for commuting to shopping, or moving to a different side of the island, so as not to duplicate the routes unnecessarily.

6. Where to live?

For some time now, the only place where we are looking for accommodation is Airbnb. We book in Poland, we get along with the details, we call the man on the spot and leave us with the keys in front of the house. We pay PLN 2,600 for a house - terraced, three-storey, with access to the pool. ABOUT suchfrom Tatiana - finally Russia. It houses like 9 people, so it can go below PLN 300 a head, but the pressure would be considerable. It must be estimated that prices from PLN 400-500 per week are high, as there is no upper limit as usual.

On the island, everything is relatively close - the most distant place is less than 2 hours by car. We decide on the south-western part of the island - there are the most roads there. Not counting Santa Cruz, which is a small nightmare (although you can drive the entire city without pedaling - 500 meters of the top-ups doing its job) is also the most touristy area. If you want to drive a lot of kilometers without unnecessary car movement, the area around the southern airport or Adeje seems to be perfect.

7. How much to pay, where to buy, what to eat?

When it comes to prices in stores, it is not much more expensive than in Poland, but the prices are completely different. Good hams are cheaper: 1 euro per pack, bars a lot more expensive: over 1 euro for snickers, similar breads. Fastfoods (poppies and burgers everywhere are full) unfortunately more expensive: the double Whooper in the set is 6.8E - I checked several times, always the same but always just as tasty. Shopping is worth doing in larger stores using the car, because Spain is, however, Spaniards (at least when it comes to employees in stores), and in them reigns siesta and mañana. It is difficult to predict when something will be open, which is a VERY serious problem in the case of longer routes on a bike. With the right dose of bad luck, we can not find any place to refill the water bottles for 2 or 3 hours in the heat. In a roadside pub a chicken / rabbit schnitzel freshly cut on the grill is 5 euros, Canary Potatoes, or Papas Arrugadas extra 2.50euro, and we are full for another 4 hours of driving.

8. Do you take a long sleeve?

December is the rainiest month of the year with an average of 6 wet days. We were not allowed to experience it. I also suspect that even if it is pouring in one part of the island, the volcano effectively prevents the clouds from getting into the other parts. In short: there will always be a sun somewhere. The average temperature is 17 degrees, or 4 less than the ocean. Thanks to what swimming is pure pleasure. It's hard to find a nice beach ...

Sometimes the sun shines so that the person melts after 30 minutes of the driveway, and a moment later freezes. Within one path the temperature can sleep by 15-20 degrees. As long as we go up it does not make a big problem. It's worse at conventions that can last for 1.5 hours. This gives 90 minutes with an average cadence equal to 10. We were a big phenomenon when we were wrapped up in the three layers in the cold on the beach where people sat in swimsuits.

For the first time in my life I felt that I was hot and at the same time was steaming with cold. Also, the nights can surprise - when one day we miscalculated with the length of the trip (dark is done after 18), somewhere in the middle of the mountains Garmin showed 7 degrees. From that day on, I did not pull the sleeves, windbreaker vests and sweatshirts out of my pockets. Lamps also - without lamps you can see nothing in the mountains. Checked.

9. Cars, roads, drivers.

75% of roads in Tenerife, which we used to drive is perfectly smooth, possibly slightly cracked (and we traveled a lot). You could use the wheels with plastic rings. The rest is different. From unexpected craters (road to Teno) to the northwest entrance to Teide, which is made up of holes more than asphalt:

But as I said, many roads are so level that they can not be even. Such a Holy Grail cycling. Especially if we add to it hundreds of well profiled corners.

I will focus on the details of the roads in the next post, because they are worth it.

If you would like to die and you do not know how to do it, go without looking at the street there. In the case of any attempts to pass without belts (and these are rather missing, because hardly anyone walks from the shoe) you will be run over. 100%. It is not that they will accelerate, they will turn straight into you, somehow maliciously or out of hatred. They simply do not pay attention to passers-by - passing on centimeters without any emotions is the norm. On the other hand, not counting the promille of crazy drivers who are ahead of the fast exits outside, the bike is great - other people. The average overtaking looks like this:

We tried different ways: riding without lighting in the mountains in the middle of a dark night, driving on highways, riding with the front light at the back - no one could be provoked, full culture. There was also no problem with stopping cars in case of breakdown. Even if the car was small:

There are no problems with communication. Lokalsi speak fluent English, the rest are English and Russians. There are so many Russians that many advertisements are written in Cyrillic, and Russian radio plays in the speakers. Generally cool.

10. What to take?

• short pants + cycling shirts
• brilliants and helmet, because the sun shines like crazy, and at the descents is crying, because the speed is enormous
• ultralight jacket or any thin and retractable windstopper (eg vest)
• sleeves
• swimsuits, because the ocean is hot
• cycling jersey, because regardless of the temperature, we are cold on the bank
• lamps, because the day short and speeds are always overestimated.

On routes that must not be omitted in the next entry: