La Gloria

La Gloria is the Gran Canaria chapter of Outer Detours' Overnighters Series, a format designed for a weekend of self-supported riding with straightforward logistics. The route stitches the island's well-known mountain roads to its rougher gravel tracks, and the organisers frame it as a personal challenge and a collective adventure rather than a race, with a staggered solo start, live tracking and staffed checkpoints in the high villages of Ayacata and Tejeda.

This is the volcanic interior of the island: pine forest, deep ravines and dark rock walls, ridden mostly on non-technical double track and quiet lanes, with a few rocky sections and a short push. The difficulty lies in the sheer amount of climbing and the odd steep ramp. Conditions shift quickly with altitude, from dry sunshine on the coast to mist on the northern slopes and freezing nights up high, and water is bought in the villages rather than found along the way.

Outer Detours is the small team of Matteo Minelli, ultra-cyclist Daniela Kirchner and Ventura Mendoza, the people behind the GranGuanche Audax ferry-hopping events across the Canaries. Their routes come out of long days of scouting, they share the tracks for anyone to ride outside the event, and part of the field is reserved to bring more women and non-binary riders to the start.