Gran Canaria – Canary Islands

Apr 5, 2005

Most people respond ‘The Canary Islands!! Cool. Ummmm… where are the Canary Islands?”

Like most North Americans I did not know where we were going to shoot the first episode of the 2005 Ride Guide season, and I certainly expected to see a lot of Canaries. After a quick Google search I found, to my excitement that we were headed about 200km off the North West Coast of Africa to the Spanish Canary Island of Gran Canaria. I also learned that the islands are named after the Spanish root ‘canaris’ which means dog, as the islands used to be home to wild dogs similar to Rottweilers, so no bird watching on this trip.

The island is a year round heaven for all cyclists ranging from road and cross-country to freeride and downhill. The weather averages about 26 degrees and precipitation is slim to none. Needless to say our pale Canadian winter skin was burned by the end of our first day there.


We were invited to cover the Maratón por Medicina, a 95km point to point marathon cross country race that had almost 75km of straight climbing… it seemed like a crazy event for a downhiller to race, but it was super fun and a unique way to start the race season. The men’s race was won by Irish Olympian Robin Seymor in a blistering pace of 3hrs 59 minutes a full 8 minutes ahead of the next racer Neftali Jimenez Rodriguez of Spain. The woman’s race was won by Austrian Lisa Hager in a time of 5hrs 22 minutes.


After the race we met up with our new friend Peter, one of the Irish racers, who took us on one of the most beautiful rides I have ever been on. We started at 4500 feet and climbed though scenic canyons along an ancient thousand year old path made with weathered stones high up to a ridge top rock plateau that reminded me almost of the slickrock trail in Moab Utah. From the top of this climb we had unobstructed views of the entire Island ranging from 6000 foot high craggy spires of rock that reached to the sky and roads that wound gently through the wild terrain and eventually down to the sand dunes and the resort area of the coast.


On our final day of the trip we went skydiving with Skydive Gran Canaria and our crazy guide Paco, who when he is not sky diving, is a semi pro rally car racer, scuba dive instructor, and windsurfer. There are so many great people on Gran Canaria who are truly living the life, and it was a treat to go there for 6 days and become a part of the lifestyle by relaxing, racing our mountain bikes, and discovering all the other treats that the area has to offer.


If you decided to go… check out Canary Bike for more information and make sure you bring your mountain bike(s) as well as your ocean sports gear. Our trip was too short at 6 days so make sure you plan on staying longer. To find out when this episode is airing, check out The Ride Guide.

Mike races downhill professionally on the Norco Factory team, is a 5 time National Team member and hosts the Ride Guide TV show for which this trip took place. Shout outs to his race sponsors: Norco, Dangerboy Components, Sole Custom Footbeds, 661, Kenda, Marzocchi, Oakley, SRAM, Fox Shocks, Mace, Alex Rims, Dennys, Whistler/Blackcomb, Dakine and Bell Mobility.