The life of German cyclist Folkert Behrends has changed. Folkert, who belongs to the Costa Teguise Triathlon Club and has been in Lanzarote for 12 years, suffered an accident on February 16, while training for the Ironman, a test he intended to use to prepare for the World Championship in Hawaii. On the road from Mala to Guatiza, on a straight stretch and 15 kilometers from his house, a car hit him from behind and he went "flying". "I've been lucky because I haven't suffered any brain damage, but I have a tough rehabilitation ahead of me."
Folkert believes that life has given him a second chance, as doctors said it could have been a fatal accident. For now, he is not thinking about getting back on a bike, as the simple act of bending down is difficult for him. He points out that at the time of the accident he was riding on the shoulder.
Like him, fans of this sport suffer accidents every year on the roads of Lanzarote. The last one, two weeks ago on the LZ - 403 road, shortly before reaching Famara. A cyclist was hit and had to be transferred to Gran Canaria. The safety of these athletes is back on the table, when athletes and drivers are condemned to understand each other, while the bike lane project does not materialize, and they have to share the same space.
After Folkert's accident, and with these precedents, this German athlete is willing to launch an initiative to call on the political authorities to improve the safety of cyclists. "One person alone cannot do anything, but a group can." In addition to uniting cycling clubs to achieve this goal, he intends that all together create a website, to inform both cyclists and drivers of the precautions they should take, that cyclists know their rights or even inform about the bike lane project, although it still does not have a specific date assigned and in principle only part of the total section can be executed. "Road education is very important, both for cyclists and for drivers, I am not saying that the latter are only to blame, I have also seen groups of cyclists doing silly things," he says. For now, he is working on this project, in which he intends to involve the island's cycling groups.
For Folker, on the island "nothing is done to improve the safety of cyclists. If the roads cannot be widened, at least, even if their impact is not very strong, signs can be put up indicating that drivers should be careful with cyclists. In addition, taking into account that many teams come here to train, they should do something." Gustavo Cruz, the president of the Playa Grande Triathlon Club, also questions safety and states emphatically that the island's roads are dangerous. "There are too many cars and the main problem with the roads is that many do not even have a shoulder," he says. To avoid risks, he tries to wear flashing clothes, go in a peloton, "because otherwise you are lost" or look for roads with little traffic. For his part, Airam Fernández, a member of the Vulcano triathlon team, stresses that in Lanzarote cyclists are not respected. "While in other parts of Europe they have priority, here they are annoying: they honk, shout ...", he comments.
The truth is that despite these criticisms some foreign cycling teams choose Lanzarote to train. According to data from Club La Santa, about six teams regularly come to its facilities to train, in addition to cyclists who do so individually. Also, in the various events prepared by the Club, more than 300 participate per year. For Airam, Lanzarote is successful only because of the climate. "If there was the temperature that there is in other places, there would be no Christ here, because the roads are bad."
A different view from that given by the coach of one of these groups that comes to Club La Santa. According to Jurgen Sessner, the German team Corpus chooses Lanzarote for the good weather and the facilities of the hotel where they stay, but also for the roads, as he points out that they have improved. "Now they are much better, there is more traffic, but if you go on the bike carefully there are no problems," he says.
One of the solutions that athletes see in the face of all these inconveniences is the bike lane, although, despite the fact that it is back on the table, for the moment, it remains to be specified.
Long-awaited lane
From Puerto del Carmen to Costa Teguise is, for the moment, the only section of lane that can currently be executed of the total established at 85/90 kilometers. The rest will have to wait. In addition, the budget for those first 30 kilometers is still pending approval. "Every time they bring this project out again, I start sneezing because it is yellow from the years it has been in the Cabildo, although this time I see Manuel Cabrera very eager for it to go ahead," says the president of the Playa Grande Triathlon Club, Gustavo Cruz.
And it is that 16 years ago the First Institution of the island commissioned the architect Víctor Sánchez the project to build a bike lane in Lanzarote, which has not been carried out. During this summer the cycling groups have held meetings with the Cabildo and have proposed ideas to execute both this project and the "mountabike" circuit, which are trails for mountain biking. It seemed that the project was going to resurface, but it has largely stopped again. Manuel Cabrera, Minister of Sports, estimates that once the budget is approved, in November the first section of the project could begin to be executed. But the rest has no date and must wait because it must be included in the Island Plan of Territorial Planning (PIOT), pending modification. This is the section that is projected in the northern area passing through Teguise, La Santa, Tinajo, Montaña de Fuego and Puerto Calero, which is not possible to build currently. "It is a complicated project, it would be beautiful if it was done in two days, but we understand that it is not easy," says Airam Fernández, a member of the Vulcano Triathlon team.
The budget for the first section is 781,000 euros and the total cost amounts to 3,400,000 euros.