To give you an idea of what to expect on Gran Canaria, imagine a small road. It winds through a lonely landscape of barren beauty, past a few palm trees on the left and a whitewashed house on the right. You have rubbed yourself with sun protection factor 15, because otherwise you would get a red nose even in the middle of November. The bike purrs on the tarmac and you would like to purr too because you like it here so much.
Now turn your attention to the road in front of you, to the incline that leads to the mountain village of San Bartolomé in the centre of the island. You see hairpin bends. You see 13 per cent. You instinctively reach for your water bottle. But you haven't seen everything yet. Now put your head down very low. Even further. Can you see the road up there? Very good. You have to go up there.
A climb like this is no exception. It's the rule. Gran Canaria's shape is reminiscent of a cone-shaped token from "Catch the Hat": whenever you leave the coastal road around the roughly round island to discover the hinterland, you are already on your way up. The Pico de Las Nieves, a 1,949 metre high volcano in the centre of the island, forms the tip of the cone. From here, erosion-carved valleys, the barrancos, extend in a star shape to the coasts.
The routes in this PDF download:
1. cornering
(79 kilometres, 1,350 metres in altitude, maximum gradient 13 percent)
Maspalomas - Fataga - San Bartolomé - Santa Lucía - Temisas - Agüimes - Era del Cardon - El Doctoral - Maspalomas
2. to the white giant
(78 kilometres, 1,500 metres in altitude, maximum gradient 15 percent)
Maspalomas - El Doctoral - Sardina - Santa Lucía - Taidía - Risco Blanco - San Bartolomé - Fataga - Maspalomas
3rd snow summit
(112 kilometres, 2,500 metres in altitude, maximum gradient 15 percent)
Maspalomas - Arquineguín - Cercado de Espino - Soria - Cruz de San Antonio (two kilometres of gravel) - Ayacata - Roque Nublo - Cruz Llano de la Paz - Pico de las Nieves - Casadores - Pasadilla - Ingenio - Agüimes - Cruce de Arinaga - Maspalomas
4. through the valley of tears
(165 kilometres, 4,000 metres in altitude, max. 18 percent gradient)
Maspalomas - Puerto Rico - Puerto Mogán - Pueblo Mogán - San Nicolas - Artenara - Tejeda - Ayacata - San Bartolomé - Fataga - Maspalomas
Downloads:
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