THERE’S NO FLAT ROADS IN MADEIRA!

EPISODE #189
Last week I headed off to the beautiful Island of Madeira, known as the pearl of the Atlantic because of its sheer jaw dropping beauty… stunning views, great food and wonderful people, this place is a true paradise.
And then there’s the cycling… this has to be up there with one of the greatest places I’ve ever ridden. Don’t get me wrong, it is very tough… there’s barely any flat and some of the climbs are rather steep! But the roads are incredible and the views even better! I will definitely be going back…
https://www.strava.com/activities/14807042719
Marcelo’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/madeiracycling/

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Thomas “The Cycling Tattooist.”

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Film & Editing: Thomas Martinez.
Intro Music: Press 1, Lukas Got Lucky.
Intro Film & Editing: Joe Simkins, Karl Kolecava.

Last week, I headed out to the beautiful island of Mada, a place nicknamed the Pearl of the Atlantic, and for good reason. It only takes one look out the window as you arrive to realize just how stunning this place is. Now, this was our first family holiday, so getting out on the bike wasn’t really my priority. But after seeing these fantastic roads, I just couldn’t bear missing out. So, I snuck off for a ride with a local to see what this place was really about. It’s about time we do this, sister. It’s the cycling tattooist. So, good morning, guys. I’m here with my cello. Morning everyone. We’re only 10k in. We’ve had a little warm up and we’re straight onto a climb, of course. Yeah, it wouldn’t be Madera without a climb. It’s the only flight is the airport. Yeah. Yeah. We got about 5k climb to do. Uh and then more climbing. Just send 2 km and 25 to the top. Climb. Yeah. Yeah. 25. Yeah. What have I signed up for? That’s why we’re stuck early. Oh dear. And I don’t know if any of you guys have been to Vera, but some of these hills are rather steep. I’m not out of breath for nothing right now. If I told you we’re going 25K, maybe I don’t I don’t don’t came. So, I’m leaving for now. Oh, I see. Sneaky. I like it. Don’t cry like not yet anyway. Maybe at the top I’ll be crying. Going up. [Music] Uh, are you are you joking? Good. I don’t know if you could tell that on the camera, but that was at least 25%. You cheeky monkey. You run out of gears already. No. No. No. Come on. 20%. It’s actually 10% right now. And uh it’s funny cuz it actually doesn’t feel that steep in comp in comparison to some of the roads down here. It’s 10 on the right side. 10 left. How long have you been cycling for Marella? Around 10 years. 10 years. Nice. Jeez. You came out of nowhere. 12% now. Yeah, you can feel it. I definitely uh wouldn’t recommend cycling in Madera if you’re a beginner. That’s for sure. We have electric bikes, by the way. Ah, okay. There we go. That’s more like it. Where’s my electric bike then? More steeper than the last time I passed here. [Music] We’re getting right up into the mountains now. We’re uh we’re approaching the the top of the second section of this humongous climb. There you go. Over 500 meters of elevation already. And we’re going up a lot higher than that. Almost there. There you go. For all the uh Ronaldo fans, do do you know him? Yes. You good friends? I never spoke with him, but I know the sisters and the the mother. I I was joking, but you you actually do. No, no, but uh the mother of Christian, you saw where she she she lives. Yeah. But she go for a breakfast around two 200 m from the apartment you are staying. Oh, really? Yeah. What the hell? A simpler place. Yeah. Yeah. She’s every morning or sometimes she’s traveling with a private jet having a breakfast on the air. One day we [Music] have fun. Well, we come for the view. Welcome to my garden. My playground. It’s a very nice playground. There’s a road there. Up there. Yeah, there. Oh dear. We may even be lucky. The sun’s trying to come out. Come on. 28k and we finished the warm up. The warm up. The heaven and start here. Yeah, we’re going up some more. Yeah. 3 kilometers uh with the two numbers 12 14% 15%. If you want to speak something, speak now. The fact that he’s just called that the warm up is uh worrying to say the least. I guess we’ll better get up there then. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I can’t promise that. 17% [Music] I can see why he said there wouldn’t be much talking on this. There you go. You can just about make out from down there. That’s a long way down. It’s mad to think when you do climbs like this that you’re literally powered just by your legs climbing up a mountain. There’s uh there’s something quite great about that. Now, eagle-eyed viewers will know that this isn’t actually my bike. Although an uncanny resemblance in color, this is actually a rental bike. Reason being, as I said, this was a family holiday I hadn’t intended to ride at all. Not to mention that taking your bike away is rather expensive. €60 each way on the plane. And then you’ve got to consider the extra cost of a large hire car to be able to fit it in. You’re talking about €300 all in. And when you compare that to €40, the cost to hire a bike for the day, well, for me it was a no-brainer. I did, however, have a bit of a bad experience with this bike hire company. I had to try three different bikes before I got one that was maintained to any sort of acceptable level. And even then, it turned out that the headset was loose, which I had to tighten myself. Anyways, this is just food for thought, something for you to weigh up on your next holiday. If you do hire a bike, do your research and hopefully you won’t be as unlucky as me. [Music] Can see my breath. [Music] All right, quick little stop back there for some needed caffeine and now we’re back on the road heading back up the mountain. Weather’s not that great though, is it? Yeah, it seems we’ve been a little bit unlucky with the weather. Yeah, we’re basically in the clouds at the minute. It’s a bit moist. My cello doesn’t like the look of that. Look, it’s basically white. Uh, is it much further up? Yeah. Yeah. This continent like this, I prefer avoid the top. It’s very, very windy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At this point, it’s like this. Yeah. It’ be even worse at the top. Worse. Yeah. And much more colder. Oh, I didn’t come to Madera to freeze, but so, oh well, you win some, you lose some. We’ll see. We’ll see how much we can. Yeah, if we can’t go to the top, we can’t. It’s uh it’s just one of those things. [Music] Beautiful view, eh? Yeah. [Music] Yeah, very unlucky with the weather today. Oh well. Can’t even see like 10 m in front. [Music] Woo! Look at that. We’re above the clouds now. Sometimes it’s worth it if you just keep pushing on. We very nearly turned around. I’m glad we didn’t. It’s absolutely beautiful up here. That’s some climb, eh? And yeah, nearly at the top now. Just over 500 m to go or uh 50 m of ascent. Ah, tick this one off. [Music] I thought we was done. A little bonus climb, it seems. [Music] You can see a just a little from Nval over there. A few houses. Yeah, it’s a it’s the only place the only village in Mad you can’t see the sea. It’s right in the middle. Okay. Yeah. The history say Nun Valley was created to protect the woman’s and the the gold of from the par the pirates come to Madero. Okay. In the past. That’s cool. So they refuse here in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. What a place. Absolutely beautiful. makes me feel the way you do. Makes me feel. [Music] Now for the fun part, the bit that we really come for [Music] [Music] Well, that descent was a lot of fun, but I’m bloody freezing now. Should have brought a jacket. That was a school boy era. We’re back at the uh the little calf that we stopped at. Marello did a uh an even better school boy era. He left his bottle in there. Classic. All right, here we go. Final little descent back down to Funchau. We’ve got 50k on the clock. Almost 2,000 m of ascent. Very, very glad that I got out on the bike. [Music] [Music] This island really is incredible. And if it’s somewhere you’ve been thinking of going, I highly recommend it. Stunning views, great food, and wonderful people. What more could you want? Although, if you’re planning to get out on a bike and cycling uphill isn’t your thing, then I can’t really recommend it because this is completely unavoidable. Apart from a few kilome stretch along the harbor, there really is no flat there. A big thanks to Marello for showing me around. a true gentleman and I look forward to the next time that I get to ride with you and believe me there will definitely be a next time. I love this place. I hope you enjoyed this one. Thanks for watching. Please support the channel by clicking that subscribe button and I’ll see you next time. [Music]