Mountain biking in Sardinia

Many UK bikers are unaware of Sardinia as a MTB destination: "Anybody been mountain biking in Sardinia?" was a recent post on Singletrackworld. Replies ranged from, "A mate of mine has - very dry, thorny and rocky. Not much singletrack, unless you have a local guide. I wouldnt go with my bike alone. Also very hot in the summer," to, "Another friend went on a mtb organised holiday there and had a good time."

It's true that it's hot in summer, though Italian bikers on their summer holidays often call in to get details of routes or go like we did last summer in a group to Cala Luna or Cala Sisine - the photo above was taken last August.

The best mountain biking, though, is from September to June when the Rally di Sardegna MTB is held in Ogliastra where we live. See a great promotional video of the Rally here and this gives you a good idea of what riding is like. This last weekend we had 3 Sardinian and 2 Belgian bikers staying at The Lemon House, and yesterday we all made the ride to Osono and Genna Aramene, whose gpx/km file you can download from our web site.

The track was more challenging than in the summer after last week's heavy rain.

It's also true that you need local help to find the routes. We have some 20-odd routes documented from The Lemon House, and detailed descriptions for those who want to route-find themselves. Alternatively, Peter is more than happy to come along, and as an intermediate-level biker (he only started last year) he is happy to trade his knowledge of local routes for some tips on riding. 

Getting here is easy - fly to Cagliari (flights all year round from Luton, and March-Oct from many other airports) then get the bus.