(record scratch)
(crowd singing)
Dan and I travelled
to the island of Gran Canaria, courtesy of EasyJet,
to document a true bucket list ride.
Before you see that video though,
we wanna take you behind the scenes of our trip
because, we've been travelling with our bikes
for many, many years now.
And, so we wanna show you, well, how we do it basically.
We wanna show you that these jaw-dropping,
amazing riding destinations really are more accessible
than you might have thought.
It all starts about 36 hours ago.
(rewind)
- Alright then, Gatwick, just south of London.
Britain is doing its brilliant winter things,
actually lashing with rain,
but in just a few hours,
we'll be in, well, we are gonna be
in the sun on Gran Canaria.
Alright, let's find Lloydy.
Hi, mate.
- Morning. - Good morning.
How's your hair-- - Haircut for the holiday.
- I was gonna say, mate, how'd you manage
to get yours lookin' like that at 5 a.m?
- Well, I do have to wake up even earlier
than you would do normally.
- Alright, that's why my hair always looks crap.
Apparently, Dan, this is the largest bank
of self-check in desks in Europe.
- Is it? - Yeah, apparently.
- Right, just before we get checked in,
I thought I would show you inside my bike bag.
Both bike and bike bag, pretty well-traveled,
it has to be said.
Got two pairs of wheels with me,
both tucked in nicely here.
There's nothing really rocket science going on
when you're packing your bike.
We've got videos on the channel already.
But, obviously, rear mech is definitely on.
I'm leaving the hanger on, that's fine.
eTap batteries both off so they don't
get drained whilst we're flying.
And the only other thing that's interesting is up front,
in here, got a few bits and bobs.
Got a Dan Lloyd trusty miniature track pump there,
'cause obviously you don't really want
a full-sized track pump in your bike bag.
It's a recipe for disaster with carbon fibre.
And then, the all-important bag of bits.
So, if that goes missing, my week is screwed.
- [Dan] Good morning.
Uh, sporting equipment.
- Can you move your bag then?
- Hiya.
It's early.
(upbeat music)
Send bag.
(groovy music)
His bag weighs five kilos less than mine.
It's 'cause it hasn't got wheels.
It's not that strong.
(laughs)
(groovy music)
- Alright, mate.
Oversized.
(groovy music)
Cool, thank you very much.
- All good?
- Did you know, Dan, that is the world's
largest automated bag drop?
Good fact for you, at 5 a.m., yeah.
- Where'd you find that out?
- I just, pick up these things, yeah.
Retain knowledge.
Is that a new bag?
- No, it's not, actually.
Just save it for special occasions.
- (laughs) Special man bag.
Where we going for breakfast, mate?
- Uh, I actually don't--
- You, me, and your special man bag.
- -know what's here.
Is there a Jamie Oliver?
- Uh...
No.
Yes! There is, actually.
Over that way. - Let's go there.
- Right, then, here we go.
Dan's choice: Jamie Oliver.
(light music)
- I'm a creature of habit, and I normally come here,
and I will get exactly the same breakfast.
- What are you gonna get, Dan?
- Scrambled egg on toast.
(light music)
- I actually forgot my toothbrush.
(light music)
Cool. Cheers mate, thanks.
- Hi there, thank you.
- See that?
That's British rain.
See ya later British rain!
- I've never been to Gran Canaria, no.
I've been to Tenerife, but not Gran Canaria.
Apparently the roads are way better in Gran Canaria.
- There we go, let's go find out.
(light music)
- Not just rain, it's um,
sideways rain right now in the U.K.
Which basically means it's almost always
quite satisfying gettin' on a plane here in the U.K.
- Yeah, that's so true.
Yeah.
And the slight trouble, Dan, is that
I'm gonna have to shave my legs when we get there.
- It's so windy, I'm not even sure the hair
product I'm using is strong enough.
- No, they are, mate.
- Oh, good. (laughs)
(upbeat music)
- 17 degrees.
(light music)
- We have got about an hour and a half to go,
haven't we, on our four hour flight.
Si is busy being a bookworm.
He's particularly pleased with this book
and the perjors of it, not necessarily
because of the content.
Do you want to explain, Si?
- Well, I am quite pleased with the content,
it is a good book,
but I found it in a charity shop for 99p,
and I have a particular pet hate
with people who have admitted to doping,
then writing an autobiography,
and profiting from their doping a second time.
So, if I can find a doper's autobiography
in a charity shop, I will buy it.
So, yeah, Bjarne Riis, nice book.
But, uh, he hasn't profited from it.
Oh, yeah.
- That's the seventh time I've heard that story. And he--
- I am really am that chuffed.
- Yeah, you can tell, can't you?
- Yeah, but no, it is interesting,
like, it's really interesting.
I'd recommend everyone go and scout
a charity shop to see if they can find it.
- Yeah, but he wouldn't recommend anyone buy it retail.
- No, of course not.
No, absolutely.
What are you doing, Dan?
- Well, so far, in the previous two and a half hours,
I have done probably about a third of a quick crossword,
couldn't get anymore than that even with your help.
(electronic music)
- Warm.
Dry.
Sunny!
(electronic music)
Did you get it?
Right there.
Equipajes especiales.
(seagulls calling)
(light music)
- We are en route to our hotel,
which is on the other side of the island from the airport.
It's about an hour and a half drive,
and we are just hitting the mountains.
Oh, yeah, check it out. - Yeah.
You might be asking yourselves why
we are at the furthest point on the island from the airport.
But,
we kinda wanted to go somewhere quiet, and we also
discovered that there are some very, very cool roads,
some hidden gems over this side,
so, uh, we are very much looking forward to seeing them.
And in fact, part of our epic route
is on our drive to our hotel, so shortly,
you'll be seeing one of the climbs.
- That's right, I'm gonna scope it out
after some lunch, hopefully.
'Cause, uh, don't know about you, Dan,
but I'm about to blow my doors.
- Well, I had a big bag of crisps.
I do, I needed something. (laughs)
(electronic music)
(seagulls calling)
- (bell dinging)
- Right, time to get her ready.
(electronic music)
Well we've done a bit of tape on your seat post
so that you know where your previous saddle height was.
Saves a bit of time.
Now, as Si has already mentioned,
a mini track pump like this one
really does come in handy when you head away
because, as mentioned,
you don't really want to have a big track pump
in the bike box with your bike, and equally,
you don't want a huge track pump in your luggage, either.
Ready to go!
- Right.
Doin' the bike buildin'.
Just in case you want see what was in the goody bag.
Here we go.
The pedals, new brake pads, eTap charger,
I need to get on that tonight, actually.
The other crucially important bit
that I stress about massively.
I've got to put my pedals on, and...
That's it, 'cause everything else needs charging up.
Trusty Canyon Aeroad, pretty much ready to go for tomorrow.
Standard gears, 2000 metres of climbing, should be fun.
But it's gonna be good.
Given that it is the night before our bucket list ride,
we definitely haven't been sat here all evening,
but we did think, before we turned in for the night,
that we better explain how, despite having confessed
already that we've never been to Gran Canaria before,
we are 99% sure that we have
a true gem of a bike ride in the morning.
- Yeah.
Yeah, we're pretty confident about this, aren't we?
- We've done a lot of research so
that you don't have to there at home.
Using various means, some conventional.
Google Street View, of course,
also Strava to create the route.
But some slightly less conventional.
We have used some local websites and some riding websites,
but also a road website called dangerousroads.org.
One of the roads - Oh, yeah.
that we're going to do to on our bikes tomorrow
features on dangerousroads.org.
Hopefully, we shall survive it,
but I am very confident this is going to be
an epic and incredibly beautiful ride, from what I've seen.
- I think it's my first dangerousroads.org
road to have ridden down.
- Definitely, definitely. - Oh, yeah.
- Uh, anyway, if you would like to see
what the route looks like,
feast your eyes on that.
(sings high note)
That looks beautiful.
- Shall we have one more for the road, Dan?
Just so that, you know, we're fortified.
- Yeah, a bit Dutch courage.
- Right, it's 7:30 in the morning,
and I've just stepped outside
onto the balcony of my hotel room,
and I just want to draw your attention
to something just behind me, going on.
That, then is the sun.
That's right, oh yeah.
I was just thinking that in the middle of winter,
you just leave rainy old home,
and you jump on a short flight
and then, the very next day,
you can ride your bike in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey.
That's pretty cool, isn't it?
(rock music)