Category: B(H)iking Page 31 of 36
My arbitrary target set at the beginning of the adventure was to bike as many kilometres as we sail nautical miles. Some catch up happened on Lanzarote and the total kilometres 🚴♂️ ends only up to 1800 km – 700km short.😟
Nevertheless my target will remain unchanged for next year although I would like not only to sail more miles but also to clock more km on the bike.
Only mid of last week Calima started to reach Lanzarote and I was lucky the first three weeks of my stay on this beautiful island. During this time I never had conditions close what you see on the photo above. I have taken this photo today, while Susan and myself cruised by car around the island.
Below you can see a snapshot from the Air Quality Index website, which I also used during my travels in Asia before. Highest levels I ever experienced in Delhi, Beijing and Ulaabataar were around 450ppm on the PM10 index. Although the 123 shown below are far below those levels it is not recommended to do any outdoor sports under these conditions. Imagine how 450ppm looked like. Clean air becomes an asset.
Well, as usual in life there is a trade off on everything. Looking at the map below it becomes obvious that the islands located further west get less of the Sahara sand under adverse wind conditions. For example, the AQI for PM1o is much lower on El Hierro, only showing 33ppm at the same time. In other words, the more west you are, the less you will be affected by Calima. Looking at the rain pattern it is basically vice versa although the individual island’s elevation profiles determine the final impact. The least rain you get on Fuerteventura but it gets the highest Calima pollution.
It seems this Calima comes to an end soon and blue sky will take over again. We will then wash the boat as it gets covered by this nasty sand layer same time!
Fair winds…
I took a deep sip from the bottle today as there was one area missing on Lanzarote I had not cycled yet. My training over the last few weeks allowed me to give it a go, obviously in good wind conditions. Today we had around 6kn steady breeze from NE, not so bad.
It has proven again that Lanzarote is a biker’s paradise, even getting that close to La Corona in winter days…😜!
Fair winds…
One of these days in the saddle you won’t miss. Paddling through this amazing landscape in this pleasant climate (no wind today 😀) flushes body and brain with serotonin, endocannabionide and whatever hormons but it allways gets topped during the final downhill back to Puerto Calero. What a damned fortune!
It appears to become a drug.
Another fight against the wind took me to Arrecife today. Besides checking out the Specialized Concept 🚴♂️ Store I am chasing some fittings to install our new Seagull IV water filter underneath the sink in the cold water line towards the tap. It is part of an improvement project to ensure constant water quality for making delicious tea despite changing water supplies from varying marinas. Ferreteria is the Spanish word for hardware store, very well sorted.
I also had the opportunity to visit Jutta and Willi from SY Leonie. They have now arrived from Porto Santo/Portugal in Arrecife and we had to update each other on sailor’s fairy tales over the last few weeks since we met in Funchal. We are sharing the same adventure, spending the winter in the Canary Islands before heading North again towards the Azores.
Thanks for the coffee and cake!
Cycling in these winds is a new experience. They are not particular strong, perhaps 20 to 25kts, but the impact on the bike and its rider is remarkable. It’s worth another blog entry.
Fair winds…