Komoot women's rally 2023: GranGuanche gravel
Cycling Collection by Liz Seabrook
7 routes
45:31 h
509 km
9,760 m
In January 2023, a bunch of women brought together by komoot headed out to the Canary Islands to ride the GranGuanche gravel route. I was lucky enough to have a place assigned to me in the ballot, so with a borrowed bike, no gravel experience and a deep-rooted hatred of climbing I gave it a try.
This breakdown of the main route across six days felt doable for a rider of slightly above average bike fitness. This route is a clipped version of the full route that would go through the centre of Tenerife through the Teide National Park and finish on El Hierro: severe weather meant that the former was not advisable and logistics with the ferries ruled out the latter.
Happy to field any questions in the comments about the rally or route!
You can find more about my experience in my piece for Notes From Outside, here: komoot.com/adventure-hub/notes-from-outside/10
On The Map
Activities
01:06
16.8km
15.2km/h
220m
220m
After flying with a bike for the first time, the 15 kilometre loop of La Graciosa gave me an opportunity to test out whether my bike reassembly skills had been successful.
It's a super fun little sandy loop, and was a great opportunity to get chatting with some of the other women on the rally. The beach…
by
Liz Seabrook
08:56
103km
11.5km/h
2,060m
1,880m
I'll be honest - I wasn't quite ready for the first gravel climb of this route and took a fair bit of on foot. But after a while I settled into it and the route was a real treat covering lava fields, sandy dunes, smooth tarmac and everything in between with stunning views across the island and over to…
by
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09:29
87.7km
9.3km/h
1,030m
830m
With Fuertaventura, you can be certain of one thing: WIND. Lots of it. There were moments pedalling into headwinds so strong that I thought I'd stop moving all together.
This coupled with a cliff edge bike path made for some pretty spicy manoeuvres at times as gusts took sideswipes at my wheels. But…
by
05:22
66.7km
12.4km/h
840m
1,050m
The day started slowly with a leisurely breakfast in Pajara trying to figure out how to book on to the evening ferry.
Eventually we set out onto the sweeping gravel rollers, easing aching bodies into the rhythm of the bike.
Mindful of a longer crossing between Fuertaventura and Gran Canaria, and still…
by
09:06
77.3km
8.5km/h
2,850m
1,470m
A punchy day out! The road climbing from the port rushes by as a breeze, and then the meat of the climbing starts.
A gradual tarmac ascent winds through the bottom of the gorge before eventually turning up the gradient sharply and giving way to gravel.
Extremely technical climbing, with – for me certainly…
by
05:06
52.7km
10.3km/h
860m
1,890m
There are some mornings that you're more grateful than others to have warm, dry kit to put on and today was one of them.
A quick stop at a bakery selling baked goods almost exclusively made with almonds set us up for the day, and gave me time to decide that after finding the previous day so hard that…
by
06:26
105km
16.4km/h
1,900m
1,770m
Tenerife saw the whole group deviate from the planned route; with temperatures plummeting to -10 at the summit of snowy Teide and more snowfall forecast, it just wasn't safe for most riders to be getting up there with the equipment we had with us.
Instead, we stuck to the foothills and gobbled up tarmac for an early finish.
by
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Collection Stats
- Activities7
- Distance509 km
- Duration45:31 h
- Elevation9,760 m
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