Heading over in September to staying just outside Las Americas....did you hire bikes and how long did it take you? My friends only just got back into cycling and bought her first road bike so she's looking for a challenge! When are you back over?
Fran.
Im over in June (First Week) Personaly from the South is the best route (Road Surface) Unfortunately there are not too many bike hire shops in south tenerife but there is a delivery service from the north, quite pricey though. I hired my bike from Diga Sports Las Americas they were very good it was 20 euros a day However you need to be aware of a couple of things - The road bikes they have are specialized allez they are triples (which you will definately need) They also do MTBs with real good ratio of cassetes. I found my bike to be adequate going up but coming down very frightning The trouble was the wheels were not stable enough in my opinion also the tyes were thin and punctured easily on the rough bits. Personaly I am taking my own wheels and a set of break pads along with my own saddle bag and tools
Now for the ascent The bad news your at the lowest level so your going up hill at a minimum of 7 - 8 percent until you reach the turn for Vilaflor form there it kicks up to 9 - 10 percent all the way with not many but a couple of 15 percent - 17 percent ramps However the road is good relatively traffic free and good surface. Up to vilaflor and there are plenty of opportunity's to eat and drink but if you can stay in the saddle to vilaflor there is a lovely cafe which does some great food cheap and has an outside area to lap up the suns rays
After Vilaflor it proper ramps up its all 15 - 17 % with bend after bend in fact there are that many bends in the road it becomes soul destroying after a while and its a further 22k to the top with no opportunity to restock for food or drink thats what buggered me I got 5 miles further and ran out of water I had drunk two liters in 5 miles and could of drunk another 3 IMO I'll be more prepared this time
Take plenty of gels and whatecver out with you there is no where to buy them in the south
I wouldnt bother going up with arm warmers I doubt very much you will need them at that time of year the higher you get the hotter it is However I would take a light jacket or gillet as coiming down so fast you can feel the cold You will be on the breaks most of the way down no sooner will you release them and your speed will be back up to 25mph+ in no time and youll be breaking into a corner. Be careful some of the corners are deceptive
Good news is if its gets too tough then there is no effort going back south its dowhill all the way you dont even need to pedal if you didnt want to
Tenerife Training is a good site but if you hire from them it will be pricey with delivery
If you have your friend with you it will make a big difference as your literalyy going 6-8mph for 2 hrs to vilaflor then a further 2.5 hours to the top (assuming your brave enough)
Shame about the dates I would have liked to have done it with you
Good Luck