MTB Skills Training Holiday with

Mountain Bike Cyprus

In October 2010 I flew out to Cyprus and joined up with Al and Kirsty of Mountain Bike Cyprus to run our MTB Skills Holiday. Over the five days of the course I planned to teach the five riders, who had all come over form the UK, the skills covered in my Trail Techniques and Applied Trail Techniques sessions, while Al and Kirsty looked after everything else, which included organising the accommodation, transport, hire bikes, pack lunches, back up on the trails and washing everyone’s bikes each evening.

The training was spread out over the week, making it possible to break up the skills sessions with riding. This meant after teaching a set of skills we could go on a ride, to enjoy the Cypriot trails and practise the skills, before moving on to the next session.

The first day was a full day of training covering braking, cornering and body position, all the essentials of safe riding. For this we followed Aphrodite’s nature trail along the coast that finished at Aphrodite’s Rocks. There was a lot to learn but with the sun, the blue sky and stunning views over the Mediterranean Sea we couldn’t have asked for a better classroom. It was also a good day to learn about the need for hydration and sun cream.

Day two started at the sea again but on the other side of Paphos, for a skills session covering wheel lifts and riding drops. This took us to lunch, before a hot ride into the hills, where we were thankful for the support vehicle and the extra food and water it contained. After a refreshment stop, at the top of the Avagas gorge, we finished the day on a fast, dusty descent back to the sea.

The third day saw us in the Troodos for a day of down hill starting from Mount Olympus, the highest point of on Cyprus. It was a good opportunity to put all the braking and cornering skills into practise as the trails, which started out loose and rocky, only got trickier as the dust increased with our reducing altitude.

We returned to Olympus on day four to follow the Atalante and Artemis trails around the summit of the mountain. As well as fantastic views across the island these trails gave a lot of opportunity to practise technical riding, combining weight shifting, wheel lifts, slow cornering, when to apply power and when to brake, all while not looking at the big hole on our left.

On the final day we followed the ridge of the Akamas Peninsula for another mainly down hill day that would deliver us to the coast by the Blue Lagoon. On the way we covered technical descending and climbing, with a session on drops in the middle.

All too soon we found ourselves loading the bikes onto the trailer for the final time before heading back to Paphos. It had been a great week, with lots learnt and some new friends made. That just left us to drink a few beers, to celebrate completing the course and to wash the dust from our throats.