First Stop Lanzarote!

It has now been one week since we handed back the keys to our house. Left with nothing but the things we would need for 3 weeks in Lanzarote we were all set to head to the airport. Everything was going a little bit too smoothly though… Due to fly out early Sunday morning from Bristol airport the snow was sent to spoil the party. Assuming the hard part would be getting to the airport we set out really early and made it there fine. Then came bad news, the runway was shut due to snow and our flight was cancelled. We were able to book onto another flight the following day but our fun would have to wait.

Fortunately we have some amazing friends and although we were essentially homeless, we weren’t short of offers for places to stay for the night. So it was back to our friends Kate and Jamie, to wait it out and hope that all would be fine the following day.

Top tip: If you are ever stuck in this situation, the airline tends to update information far faster than the airport. We were sat refreshing the Ryanair app and found out a good hour before the airport updated the information that our flight was cancelled. As a result we were able to rebook our flight before many had even found out the original was cancelled. Had we have left this another 30 minutes the next available flight wasn’t for another 5 days!

The next 24 hours couldn’t go quickly enough. I didn’t have anywhere near enough clothes left in my possession for the cold weather in the UK! After what felt like the longest flight in the world we made it and I couldn’t wait to get out on my bike.

I’ve been to Lanzarote many times before. The first time being a training camp with the British Paratriathlon team back in January 2014. Since then it has become a regular spot to visit for some winter training but I have never been out here with a Mountain Bike. First impressions are that the Mountain biking here is awesome, and so easy to find. There are multiple MTB races that take place throughout the year so there are plenty of GPS routes from races that you can follow, and strava heat maps is also incredibly useful! There are so many tracks and trails that I doubt we will be able to cover them all in 3 weeks which has been far more interesting than bringing road bikes where we would complete the entire Island in a couple of days! Like riding on the road out here the wind makes it tough. Even more so riding off road when you are trying to make a turn on some loose gravel and the wind is forcing you in the opposite direction. As expected the terrain is very loose and rocky. I already feel more confident after a few days of riding here so I’m hoping this will set me up perfectly for my first three races.