road cycling in cyprus

[BigonaBianchi]

I may get a chance to go to Cyprus and would like to take the Bianchi. Has anybody ridden on the island? I'm not interested in off road mtb stuff which most sites I looked at seem to concentrate on. Ta.

 

[HovR]

I haven't cycled there, but I have been there, and the whole time I was wishing I had my road bike with me! I also saw lots of cyclists on the road in full kit (often touring), so it's a popular place to cycle - For good reason, there's some lovely cycling area out in the country and along the coast.

The quality of driving seemed to be reasonable (completely unlike Bulgaria, where it seems like everyone is trying to run you off the road!) although as I said I haven't cycled it.

One thing to note is that whilst the main tracks and roads are well surfaced, a vast majority (at least in the area I was in) of minor roads are dirt or gravel, so tough tires are a must.

And obviously it's extremely hot in the summer, but I guess you'd be used to cycling in the heat from your TransAm tour!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Haven't cycled in Cyprus either, been lots of times.
Several of my friends there commute by bike,
There are several nice routes. One I can recommend is the salt lake path that goes from Larnaca town all the way round a lake, passing the old airport - I have walked quite a bit of it, very popular with cyclists.
Very hot in the spring/summer months, remember your hat and sunscreen is a must!

 

[Amanda P]

Some pics and info here, big guy. Despite the mechanicals, we had a good time without doing much off-road. We'll be back some day for a longer tour of the whole island.

 

[smith4188]

I was in Cyprus this summer. I only cycled from the north coast to Nicosia - I was mostly resting during a long tour - but it was pleasant enough. It does quite hot there though. It was around 43C in July.

And I'd also like to offer some balance to the above comment about bad driving in Bulgaria. I found Bulgaria a great place to cycle - great scenery and very friendly people - with driving much better than the UK (in fact, so far, after 34 countries of the 50 on my current tour, the UK is the worst) and beer prices are only a quarter of the UK's. Go there, and to Macedonia, and Bosnia, and Montenegro. They'll all fantastic.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Thanks....ideally Im thinking id like to take my bianchi ...durano plus 23 tyres etc and stay on proper surface roads...i have the option to take the daws galaxy with 28s marathon plus tyres though...i'll be staying in a hotel and riding out from there each day...dont want to ride the bianchi on roughly/unsurfaced gravel roads...but would be cool to get to beaches...want best of all things of course...decisions decisions

 

[Teuchter]

Not been there myself but a friend who is working out there at the moment cycles regularly and complained during summer that he got far more punctures than in the UK thanks to some local plant leaving sharp seed pods all over the roads. Those Schwalbe Marathons may be a good idea.

I normally counter by complaining about the weather.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Not been there myself but a friend who is working out there at the moment cycles regularly and complained during summer that he got far more punctures than in the UK thanks to some local plant leaving sharp seed pods all over the roads. Those Schwalbe Marathons may be a good idea.

I normally counter by complaining about the weather.

Yes, my friend who lives in Cyprus had the same problem, she solved it by sliming ( or the Cypriot equivalent) her tyres. I think it's pine needles causing the problem.

 

[HovR]

And I'd also like to offer some balance to the above comment about bad driving in Bulgaria. I found Bulgaria a great place to cycle - great scenery and very friendly people - with driving much better than the UK (in fact, so far, after 34 countries of the 50 on my current tour, the UK is the worst) and beer prices are only a quarter of the UK's. Go there, and to Macedonia, and Bosnia, and Montenegro. They'll all fantastic.

Maybe my post was a bit of a generalization. We were in Bulgaria as a holiday, so we primarily drove up and down the main coast road (road 9, or E87). On countless occasions on the mountainous sections of road we would turn corners to find cars driving head on towards us in our lane, overtaking coaches, slow cars, lorries etc on blind bends! Definitely a road to be slow and careful on.

This is not taking away from the extremely friendly, welcoming, people (who were very accommodating to us knowing no Bulgarian!) and beautiful scenery. The smaller roads were much better, so I'm sure they'd be great to cycle on, but some of the driving on the main routes was fairly horrendous.

Can't agree more about the beer though - A decent pint for under 50p? Yes please!