Recommendation: Cyprus
barrybridges
Posts: 420
I've just got back from France after successfully completing the Marmotte, which I'm pretty chuffed about, but before that I spent 2 weeks out in Cyprus where my parents-in-law live full-time.
I was doubly-lucky as the weather for the Marmotte was scorching (39 degrees at peak) and the time spent out in Cyprus was excellent preparation.
Anyway, I wanted to share here my recommendations and endorsements for cycling in Cyprus as I had a great time.
Firstly and above all else, I'd really recommend giving Cyprus a go as a place for a cycling holiday or training break.
Flights-wise it's 4 hours from the UK but pretty reasonable cost-wise with easyjet or BA (or many others), particularly if you go out of school holidays. The summer is exceptionally hot (I had to leave at 6am for all my rides and be back by 11 if I didn't want to cook) but even in the middle of winter it's still nice and warm and should allow you bib shorts and short-sleeve jerseys.
Being closely-associated with Britain's colonial past, the entire island (which I actually mean the Greek southern bit) is perfectly geared to Brits for cycling. You drive/ride on the left and all of the road signs are identical to those in the UK - even down to the colours/fonts, so everything's easy to navigate and understand.
Drivers are a bit maniacal - I very much doubt that the driving test out there amounts to anything more than the ability to put the key in the ignition - but there is such little traffic that on some of the best routes you'll see no more than 10 cars an hour. Their equivalent of the M25 is quiet enough that you could probably cross it on foot (if it were legal to do so).
Road surfaces are outstanding and put the UK to absolute shame. Because temperatures never really dip below 10 degrees, even in winter, you don't get the potholes and cracks caused by snow/ice/thawing.
Whilst I was out there, I hired a road bike from a chap named Allan who runs Mountain Bike Cyprus (and also does road bikes). He has a fleet of entry-level Boardman race alu bikes and these are perfectly well equipped for the terrain. I enjoyed riding it so much I'm thinking of buying one as a hack bike for back home; they're very robust and have a geometry more like a CX bike. Slightly heavy, but if you're out there for training you shouldn't care about this.
In terms of routes, there is a wide range of options for you. Coastal roads are pan-flat and you could spend all day cruising along at 25mph+ if you wanted to, or most of the resorts/places to stay are within 10 miles of some of the foothills leading up to the main mountains.
Climbing-wise, Mount Olympus is within reach if you want a longer day's ride and peaks out at 1952 metres, so is equivalent to many of the recognisable Alpine climbs and it's around 40 miles from the coast to the summit (although the actual ascent doesn't begin until much closer). Either way, there's lots of climbing if you want it.
I'm very much thinking about setting up a small side-business to connect cyclists with accommodation and some of the bike hire companies out there (though don't let that colour your opinion of this post) but would be very happy to offer any advice/thoughts to anyone who might want to consider Cyprus for a cycling trip going forward.
I was doubly-lucky as the weather for the Marmotte was scorching (39 degrees at peak) and the time spent out in Cyprus was excellent preparation.
Anyway, I wanted to share here my recommendations and endorsements for cycling in Cyprus as I had a great time.
Firstly and above all else, I'd really recommend giving Cyprus a go as a place for a cycling holiday or training break.
Flights-wise it's 4 hours from the UK but pretty reasonable cost-wise with easyjet or BA (or many others), particularly if you go out of school holidays. The summer is exceptionally hot (I had to leave at 6am for all my rides and be back by 11 if I didn't want to cook) but even in the middle of winter it's still nice and warm and should allow you bib shorts and short-sleeve jerseys.
Being closely-associated with Britain's colonial past, the entire island (which I actually mean the Greek southern bit) is perfectly geared to Brits for cycling. You drive/ride on the left and all of the road signs are identical to those in the UK - even down to the colours/fonts, so everything's easy to navigate and understand.
Drivers are a bit maniacal - I very much doubt that the driving test out there amounts to anything more than the ability to put the key in the ignition - but there is such little traffic that on some of the best routes you'll see no more than 10 cars an hour. Their equivalent of the M25 is quiet enough that you could probably cross it on foot (if it were legal to do so).
Road surfaces are outstanding and put the UK to absolute shame. Because temperatures never really dip below 10 degrees, even in winter, you don't get the potholes and cracks caused by snow/ice/thawing.
Whilst I was out there, I hired a road bike from a chap named Allan who runs Mountain Bike Cyprus (and also does road bikes). He has a fleet of entry-level Boardman race alu bikes and these are perfectly well equipped for the terrain. I enjoyed riding it so much I'm thinking of buying one as a hack bike for back home; they're very robust and have a geometry more like a CX bike. Slightly heavy, but if you're out there for training you shouldn't care about this.
In terms of routes, there is a wide range of options for you. Coastal roads are pan-flat and you could spend all day cruising along at 25mph+ if you wanted to, or most of the resorts/places to stay are within 10 miles of some of the foothills leading up to the main mountains.
Climbing-wise, Mount Olympus is within reach if you want a longer day's ride and peaks out at 1952 metres, so is equivalent to many of the recognisable Alpine climbs and it's around 40 miles from the coast to the summit (although the actual ascent doesn't begin until much closer). Either way, there's lots of climbing if you want it.
I'm very much thinking about setting up a small side-business to connect cyclists with accommodation and some of the bike hire companies out there (though don't let that colour your opinion of this post) but would be very happy to offer any advice/thoughts to anyone who might want to consider Cyprus for a cycling trip going forward.
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Comments
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I absolutely agree with this post. I've been lucky to have two work trips to Cyprus in the last couple of years, and I've stayed in the military base at Episkopi. I brought my own bike once and hired a bike once.
The cycling is outstanding. There are some brilliant, long climbs, with none of the gradients massively steep - depending, of course, on where you start, and where you start counting, I make the climb up to Olympos/Troodos about 10 miles at an average of 6.5%. As barrybridges says, the road surfaces are brilliant (although if you try hard enough you can find some very rough unmade road - but due to EU subsidies they are resurfacing the most random of back-of-beyond roads at the moment).
I think the reason why I particularly like it is the long, open descents. You really aren't sharing these with other traffic, so its a very relaxing descent. Intriguingly, there are very few other cyclists around as well. I didn't find the heat too unbearable - one morning I got up at 0500 to climb Olympos with a bunch of others from the military base, and we took it easy so hadn't finished the return journey until 1100, which was ok. On other days I was starting about 1500 in the full heat, but as long as I had a full bottle to drink every hour (and it was fairly easy to find cafes or shops in the villages, always staffed by really friendly people, who very often spoke English), I was fine.
A friend of mine joked with me before I went, "Which side of the road do the Cypriots drive on?" "The shady side" but actually my experience has been that I've not had to worry about drivers - there is so much space on the roads. Its true that on the dual carriageways that link the major towns, the drivers are a bit more - relaxed - but this didn't seem to be a problem in the country. In fact, it made me worry for the future of the economy there - there just seemed to be so little traffic moving, you just feel that nobody is doing anything there at the moment.
Thoroughly recommended.0
