aybars

Where the east combines with the west, Turkey is like a bridge of cultures for ages. And in Cappadocia you can see what this combination means; a peaceful area where you will always be surprised by the people’s complaisance. You will be always invited by local people through the villages for a glass of tea. They just want to share some moment to show Turkish hospitality. Your origin never makes them hesitated; they only wonder about how you can cycle through the land all day on the saddle. Cappadocia is getting popular among mountain bikers. Some people call this biking passion as “Fat Tire Religion” ; if they are right, Cappadocia is the Mecca for mountain bikers. We have our International Mountain Bike Festival, annual on the first week of July. Festival includes a UCI registered D2 stage race for 3 days, many cultural activities; like concerts, theatric activities, photo and painting exhibitions, many social activities; like public health researches, sportive conferences and panels about what means mountain biking for this area. Every year, we are hosting better racers and better teams. And out of our organization, many professional riders are coming to the area to have some commercial photography or some movie clips. Most famous one is the producer of Kranked series Radical Films, who was here before our first mountain bike festival in 2000 and they added the shots to their Kranked 3 movie. After that we hosted many professional riders for commercials and catalog works.

During the tour, we ride through the different parts of the area. Majority of the ride is off road sections. There are some technical parts and there are some short sections that we will need to carry the bike. We mostly ride through cart tracks and paths, with constant vehicle support. We choose the best available places for accommodation and food. Sure, you will have the time of your life.

A fragment of another planet, a mirage of stone in the heart of Anatolia... There are parts of the Earth which do not seem really belong to; Cappadocia is one of them, a strange and spectacular landscape from the pages of science fiction. It is an extraordinary region, unmatched in the world. A fascinating beauty. An incredible harmony of shapes and colors. An ideal landscape for history and art lovers.

Cappadocia is the name given to the region in central Anatolia which was once the heart of the Hittite Empire, later an independent kingdom, and then a vast Roman province. Explore the fascinating Cappadocia region by mountain bike and discover the places the crowds never reach. Millions of years of volcanic activity and erosion have resulted in a surreal, lunar type landscape littered with strange rock formations. In addition, churches beautifully decorated with frescoes, houses and underground cities hollowed out of the soft rock offer an insight in to life in the region as it was centuries ago. Small tracks covered in volcanic sand twist and turn among the rock formations, valleys, vineyards and villages, offering a wonderful way to explore the region far away from any kind of motor traffics.

Ancient Anatolia or Asia Minor, the large peninsula where modern Turkey is located, consists of several regions. One of the most important was Cappadocia. Originally this region encompassed today’s provinces of Kirsehir, Nevsehir, Aksaray, Nigde, Kayseri, Malatya, the eastern part of Ankara, the southern parts of Yozgat and Sivas, and the northern part of Adana, although when we speak of Cappadocia today we refer specifically to the valleys of Goreme and Urgup, with their natural pinnacles and rock churches. In this survey of Cappadocia’s historical geography, the region will be examined in its entirety.

Cappadocia was neighbor to the Commagene to the southeast, Armenia to the east, Galatia to the northwest, Pontus to the north, Cilicia to the south, and Phrygia and Lycaonia to the west. According to the geographer Strabo (STRABO 539), who was born in Amasya and lived about 63 BC, Cappadocia measured 1800 stadia ( 332 kilometers ) north to south, from Pontus to the Taurus mountains, and 3000 stadia ( 552 kilometers ) west to east from Lycaonia and Phrygia to the Euphrates. In other words, the region was demarcated geographically by the Black Sea to the north, the Taurus Mountains to the south, the Kizilirmak River to the west and the Euphrates to the east. The Tatta (Tuz Golu, Salt Lake) to the southwest marked the border between Phrygia and Lycaonia.

Turkey is always a good tour destination for tour bikers.Some of intercontinental tourers passed from Turkey to see the east.If you make search at Google you may see most of them.

Mountain biking is gaining a huge popularity in Turkey as a sport and as a tourism type.As a sport;Turkey had no classment at December 2004 among countries in UCI list of points.But at the end of 2005; Turkey has 22nd rank on the list of UCI National Points.

You may visit Cappadocia MTB Festival page to see the event. www.cappadociamtbfestival.com

* jack *

Another good group of folks can be found at Yesil Bisiklet,
https://www.yesilbisiklet.com/ana/ana.asp < yesil AT yesilbisiklet DOT com >
There are some nice trails in and around Istanbul, and these guys
rent MTBs and organize weekend cycling trips.

cc_rider

Merhaba, aybars

Sounds like fun. Always wanted to see Cappadocia, but had hoped to by balloon and bus Hadn't thought about bike, but that might be good in combination.

aybars

Balloon flight worths a life time. To take filight with balloon can be only the one reason to visit Cappadocia.

garden_lark

i'm landing in ankara in december 2006 for a tour of turkey (on a mountain bike).
i've heard cyclists get chased by rabid dogs. any experiences?

IronMac

I cycled from Istanbul to Ankara, south to Cappadocia and, then, through the Iron Gates down to Tarsus. Stayed at Incirlik before heading on to the Syrian border.

I've never been chased by rabid dogs but that can happen anywhere I guess. Cappadocia is indeed gorgeous and very quiet. I guess most tourists stay near the coasts south of Istanbul and down to Ephesus while Cappadocia is literally the heartland of the Anatolian plateau.

capejohn

Visiting Turkey is very high on my list. Everyone who has ever visited there say it's one of the best places in the world to experience.

IronMac

Hrmm...I'm not sure if there is a highway that goes through Turkey to Aleppo. You could always enter Syria southwest of Incirlik and, then, hook northwest up to Aleppo from near Tarsus. (My geography may be a bit rusty now.)

I don't know if Ankara will have snow in December but I have heard that north of Ankara the weather can get a bit wild. I would definitely look into the weather for that time period and region before going. Ankara does not have mountain peaks around it, though. The only mountains of any name would be in Eastern Turkey and it's not advisable to go there. When I was in Turkey, the area was under martial law to some degree and, now, with the Iraq/Kurd situation, I wouldn't go near there.

BTW, a friend of mine from the UK is doing Istanbul to Syria (by bus, though) in Feb. of 2007 and, then, biking down from the border through Syria and Jordan to Aqaba before busing it back up to the Turkish border and busing it back to Istanbul. If you're interested in that...

garden_lark

i'm travelling on a mountain bike. do i need a highway to cross the border? ugly.

i'm not interested in any cities anywhere on my trip, just countryside, so cities only indicate the direction i'm going - ie. south by east to the warmer country, and possibly a supply point if necessary. i had heard eastern turkey was a no-go, and also very high and cold and wet.

i think within my time frame i could go all the way through jordan to giza, egypt, depending on the political situation.

if i'm a lucky button i could then get a boat from suez or port said back to europe or at least as far as turkey or greece.

not sure whether to wear the fake moustache or the wedding rings...

_________________________________
cowards die many times before their death,
the bold only taste of death but once.