After three days on Lanzarote, you have either acquired Far Eastern wisdom - or deep despair. Lao Tse, the ancient Chinese, already knew 2,500 years ago: "Violence breaks itself." An insight that could also have befallen him on this island. In a strong north-easterly wind of force five, the chain on the right, head stiffly low over the handlebars. If you fight here, you lose. Out in the Atlantic, far west of Africa, it's not the will that triumphs in the end, but the wind.
Daniel Kezele has long since made friends with the circumstances. The Ironman on Lanzarote was supposed to be his stepping stone to a professional career several years ago. "I trained for eight months for it, made 10,000 euros in losses - and then, a week before the race, I caught an infection. That was it. Gambled away." But the sports scientist is far from finished with the island. He has been living near the capital Arrecife for five years and trains other multi-discipline athletes. His most important tip: "Forget the speedometer! Ride by time, heart rate or power. But never focus on kilometres and average speed!" Puffing along at 18 km/h in an aero position on the flats - isn't that embarrassing? Not with a headwind. In any case, on the way back at 50 kilometres per hour, the bruised ego is lifted again. "Yes, Lanzarote is sometimes windy," says Kezele, "but that's the deal on the Canary Islands." On the other hand, the se island is so low, at a maximum of 670 metres, that it doesn't comb the rain from the clouds. With just over 100 millimetres of annual precipitation, it is the driest Canary Island. It rains five times as much in Hamburg and eight times as much in Munich. What's more, snow ploughs thunder over the roads there, while carbon wheels propel over shimmering lava on Lanzarote. The season begins in January and ends at the beginning of May when the Ironman course arrows bleach in the harsh sun.
You can find these tours in the PDF download:
TOUR 1: Hawaii for everyone (85 kilometres, 1,200 vertical metres)
TOUR 2: Seeking the distance (67 kilometres, 1,380 metres in altitude)
TOUR 3: Over the Fire Mountains (98 kilometres, 1,150 vertical metres)
TOUR 4: Down through the middle (71 kilometres, 900 vertical metres)
GPS data: TOUR offers the GPS data of the tours for free download. You can download the tracks in GPX format directly to your GPS device or view them on your computer in Google Earth or Google Maps.
