Rhodes is a Cycling Paradise
BIKE Mag are in Rhodes! Charlie Rhodes (happy coincidence!), our web journalist, has flown out to the impossibly beautiful Greek island of Rhodes to discover what just makes this paradise so perfect for cyclists.
After arriving in the dead of night, nothing could prepare me for the morning view as I pulled open the curtains of my hotel room.
A great expanse of aquamarine lay before me, with the hilly south coast of Turkey poking out from the horizon.
Life seems to move a little slower here. The largest of the Dodecanese islands, Rhodes has a unique identity. Over the course of its deeply rich history, it has been altered by the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, The Order of the Knights of St. John, the Ottomans, and the Italians – and as you can imagine, this culminates in a melting pot of traditions, customs and architecture.
With the races set to begin later on in the week when the Rhodes Bike Festival moves to the southern part of island, the first few days here have been spent discovering the island, alongside special guest and one of the finest classical riders of all time, Sean Kelly.
My tour guide and close friend of the organiser of the race, Lambros, insisted on taking two layers with him before we drove around the perimeter of the northern part of the island. I then insisted that anything above 15 degrees was considered summer in England, to which he chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.
Although very warm still in October, this seems to be the optimal time to visit the island, with typically sunny days and cooler nights bridging the gap between the blisteringly hot summer days Rhodes experiences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9n0Y1Jx1CI
Rhodes, much like popular cycling destination Mallorca, possess all kinds of challenges for cyclists; smooth tarmac, a good mix of flats and hills, rugged and rough terrains for mountain biking, and numerous bike hire companies, not least of which Rodos Cycling which is headed up by the organiser of the festival, Zois Drivas.
The roads away from the main roads between Rhodos and Lindos (a must visit beauty spot) are refreshingly quiet. On our first initial tour, I counted some three cars drive past in the two hours we were driving – a truly unimaginable feat back home in England. And as such, cyclists can relax and move at their own pace without having to worry so much about what the car behind is doing.
With so much yet to discover, we will be bringing you all the updates from the bike festival, and showing you why Rhodes is the next hotspot for cycling enthusiasts.
