Posts Tagged ‘things to do’

Raft Biking in the Snow

Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Bike Rafting in the snow

In all our years of taking bike rafters down the mountainside we have experienced very few days like this one. The photograph was taken on 6th January 2006.

Snow is common enough on Teide in colder weather but it is unusual for it to be laying like this on the roadside.  On the pictured day we gave the riders the choice to back out and cycle another day but all insisted on doing the trip – even one brave rafter who was wearing only open-toed sandals over his bare feet.

raftingbike-3At Rafting Bike we like to think we are more or less prepared for anything. In the support van we carry jackets, leggings, gloves and even earmuffs but until this day – no socks!

On our first stop we shod our brave bare-foot rafter with a pair of gloves which might have looked funny but were enough to let him happily continue the trip and reach the end.

On those occasions where there is snow at 7,000 feet by the time you reach 4,000 feet the usual mild Canarian weather prevails and by the time you reach Los Cristianos you can even sunbathe or go for a swim in the sea.

Age is No Barrier to Raft Biking

Friday, July 31st, 2009

bike-rafting-85

We are often asked ‘who can do bike rafting’.  The answer is just about anyone. As the intrepid Scots pictured here show, age is no barrier to freewheeling downhill for 22 miles. At 85 the husband is our eldest participant and his wife at 79 is our eldest lady rafter.

Both sailed downhill like champions and were as delighted with their day as we were to have them with us proving that age is no barrier to having a little out-of-the-ordinary fun on your holidays.

At the other end of the scale, we offer baby chairs on bikes for parents of children up to the age of approximately 3 or 4, depending on the size of the child. Over the weight of 20 kilos the baby chair becomes a little unwieldy and with safety in mind we don’t advise having the child on the bike with you beyond this weight.

At about 9 years old kids become a lot more confident and responsible and we have found that at this age, children are quite capable of coming along on their own bikes. This depends on the child’s own ability to ride a bike and their level of maturity of course.

So the only people who cannot ‘do bike rafting’ are children between the ages of 3 to 9 but we can make a special arrangements for them to accompany you downhill in the support van.