Mountain Biking - new Trails in Turkey

Sunday, 27 March 2016 00:00

Another, steadily growing popularity of using bicycles, is Mountain Biking in the Taurus Mountains since less farmers use the trails for their goat and sheep for the summer greens in the mountains.

In between there are certain possibilities in Antalya and Alanya for the renting of mountain bikes, helmets and all other necessary protection outfit for just a small amount of money. The mountains around the holiday resorts are not too high to enjoy the day out on a bike, even more professional riders use the early springtime for preparing themselves for the later season.

For the semi-professionals it is important to know, that the quality of the roads in the villages is not that good as in the city centres, so it makes much more sense to use the mountain bike instead of a touring bike or even a racing bike when going into the villages. Especially around Kemer and Alanya there are trails leading into the Taurus mountains attracting groups of foreign bikers. Lot of them are preparing their sportive season as kind of training season but most of them just enjoy the tours in quite and natural surrounding on a mountain bike.

Who wants to escape from really high temperatures in the city centre will easily find out that just little higher in the mountains the temperatures are quite more suitable. During the hot summer month it is not enough to carry two bottles of water, but you will easily find some springs in the mountains to refill them in the mountains. During the winter time you should not trust the warm temperatures at the beach because after reaching about 1.000 meters of height you will notice that it can be quite cold even in the South of Turkey, so don’t forget your jacket as a protection against the wind.

If you are little less professional mountain biker, just go for a swim in one of the really refreshing rivers in the mountains during your trip and enjoy a barbequed trout in one of the small restaurants next to the river. Can be a nice idea to combine the trip on mountain bike with eating out as well.

Alanya International Mountainbike in Kızılalan

Since a couple of years some of the famous competitions of mountain bikers take place in Turkey. There is a cross country race in Alanya, Adana, Istanbul and in Manavgat with more then 100 national riders, more and more foreign riders joining them. Quite well known are the international competitions in Alanya and Cappadocia. Some of the riders combine the championship with having some days of holiday together with their family. If someone is interested to take part in the competition it is important to own the International UCI License. At stake there is no competition for hobby mountain bikers.

Please read as well:

Mario Lenzen - Enduro All-Mountainbiker in Alanya

Tobias Woggon - Enduro All-Mountainbiker checking Trails