We still try to get some more mountain bikes to the test though. I’d love to test a couple of 29er full suspension bikes (preferably Niner R.I.P 9 and Pivot Cycles Mach 429). Let’s hope we get those to the test ride before the slush and ice fill all the trails, and skiing season begins.

On the skiing and snowboarding front we have some interesting content to come: we have interesting interviews of Finland’s most experienced snowboard freeriders in progress at the moment. Stay tuned – this is something we are stoked about and I guess we will hear some good views about riding, mountains and life in general.

Bike riding wise, this summer was really great for me. Despite some obvioys restrictions such as two small kids I got probably more riding mails under my belt than ever before. In the following we list some of our most interesting MTB and general cycling)posts from the summer 2008. Some of these were also personal highlights of the season:

1. Tahko MTB Event 2008 – Finland’s biggest Marathon/Endurance race with nice scenery and lots of good terrain. This was my first effort on this type of event, and a very rewarding experience. Next time I guess it is time to try two loops (120km).

2. A Review of a dream Bike – Pivot Cycles Mach 5. Well, I guess I couldn’t ask much more from 26″ inch wheeled trail bike.I have been pondering about buying a full suspension bike since this ride…not nice because those damn things seem to be quite expensive! (See also another Pivot cycles review: Mach 4 cross country machine)

3. Mountain Biking In Rhodos Island. Our visiting writer from Rhodos Island, Andreas Kavalieros, wrote about his favorite loops in his home island. This is where we would like to head for the “beach holiday” with our families for sure…

4. Tour de Helsinki 2008 – first longer road (group) ride for me. I did this pretty spontaneously. So it seems like…

5. …riding a rigid single speed on the trails pays out at least somehow. I still haven’t started my (planned) fall gym routine but luckily riding a single speed somehow works as strenght training too! (Btw. I just love my Singular Swift bike. The tested 26″ full suspension bikes surely felt great and smooth but when riding my own rig again, I just laughed how well the big wheel rolled over the obstacles, even without any suspension at all. For our generally flat but rough trails the 29 inch wheel just works pretty damn well IMHO)

I just recently bumped into that slogan, as a “signature” of a bike event organizer. I liked it so much that I selfishly stole it for my own purposes here – writing about outdoor sports in the internet can feel pretty stupid at times…

What the heck I am doing here at my computer, shouldn’t I be out there, having fun and living the life?

Well, we have been enjoying the rare autumn high pressure here for a while and the nights have seen some freezing temperatures already, but I am pretty sure that we will still get our fare share of rain and continuous low pressures soon, and are maybe not going to see the “real” winter until January or even February…

So, with these current perfect mountain biking conditions, I jumped onto my bike and rode some in the weekend. I was still pretty exhausted from the previous weekend road ride, Tour de Helsinki 2008. But after a while of serious huffing and puffing I just paused and looked around for a little bit and decided to just take it easy and shoot a few photos. And what did I see… Holy pale autumn light Batman!

We don’t have an ocean or high mountains here but it is good to notice at times that your local woods can be absolutely beautiful. Don’t you agree?

Oh boy the autumn is such a depressing time of the year…

Woods, water, woods, water, woods, water, woods, water…I guess that’s what Finland is all about?

An autumn single track

Grassroots view of the trail…

Sure beats the office, vol. 100 567

That bike really felt like a very well thought-out piece of engineering. So, I was quite stoked to get to test another bike from the same manufacturer; Pivot Cycles Mach 4 -  their four inch travel cross country weapon. Big thanks again go to www.pyorahuolto.com and their excellent policy of letting the potential clients to test ride the bikes in their natural environment. This surely beats the normal practice of letting the buyers pump the bike’s shocks in the parking lot for a few minutes. You get so much more out of the test bike when riding  a loop on your normal every day trails.

The Bike – Made for Reaching Mach 4 on Cross Country Races?

The frame has 4 inches of travel, and just like Mach 5,  Dave Weagle’s DW-link system, 8 bearings, integrated bottom bracket and a direct mount front derailleur (if you’re uncommon with this terminology, read more here).

Parts were a mixed bag of quality components, picked by the shop owner himself: Shimano XTR cranks and bottom bracket, Shimano XT front deraillleur, Sram X.0 rear deraillleur, Sram grip shifters, Syntace stem, Fox RLC 100mm fork, Fox RP23 shock, Avid Juicy Ultimate Brakes etc.

What really got my attention were the rims, namely Stan’s ZTR Olympic, weighting about 1,4 kg the whole pair (=just shy of 3,1 pounds). The overall package of the whole bike was also very light, around 10,5 kg, which means about 23 pounds!

The Ride – Mach 4 on the Trails

Usually mountain biking beats skiing in one aspect very clearly: the conditions dominate not so much, even a ride on rainy and muddy weather can be very fun. This time I have to say that the conditions were not optimal and not particularly fun either. Our trails consists of lots of roots and slick rock – and when it gets wet it can be extremely challenging to ride. This time it has rained a week(!) before the ride and especially the tiny moss that grows on the rocks was particularly slimy and slippery.

I was on quite tight schedule and only got ride for about one and a half hour, and the first half of the ride was spent really struggling with the unfamiliar frame and set-up. And just when I felt that I am somehow beginning to “feel it”, it started to pour down water heavily again. So, take this into consideration when reading this review – to be honest I didn’t quite get the feel and flow going on at all this time.

I had to skip this section…which I normally ride with my full rigid set-up

That being said, the overall feeling of the Pivot Mach 4 was still much more cross country oriented than Mach 5. No suprise probably, but I was kind of expecting a bit “easier”, more comfortable ride. There was nothing wrong with the Mach 4, the suspension system was as good and efficient as in Mach 5, climbing and fast sections went flying but to me the bike felt still a bit too nervous and “twitchy”.

Remember, this coming from a guy that changed straight from freeride bikes to 29er hard tails. I guess 29ers forgive alot of flaws in my riding technique? And this bike, with steepish 71 degree head angle and cross country oriented geometry, wasn’t too confidence inspiring. And that was maybe the biggest difference when compared to the Mach 5. I talked about this with the shop owner and he admitted that lately he has been riding the Mach 5 in cross country events too and wondered if the bigger travel bike was actually any slower at all, even on the fast sections?

The weight difference between the tested bikes was about 1kg (under 2,5 pounds). This might mean alot if you compete very seriously but I guess for normal, more recreational riders the added comfort and ability to absorb bigger hits  means much more?

Also, I was paying attention to super light rims, rode quite carefully and kept pressures high for the conditions. The tires, Schwalbe’s Racing Ralph 2.2″, were also out of their elements in the slippery stuff. Meatier, rougher pattern tires would probably have helped alot in these conditions too?

After testing this bike, I can’t wait to get to test the 29er full suspension rigs. It will be interesting to see how the four inch travel works with the bigger wheel?

However, I’d like to test this bike again on drier conditions. I bet this would be nice rig for the events like Tahko MTB, where there are both technical and fast, roadlike sections and where the weight of the bike actually starts to matter some.

Summary – Pivot Cycles Mach 4 Pros and Cons

Pros

• Very Light. This set-up particularly with ultra-light rims.
• Efficient suspension, not much “squat”
• Cross country oriented geometry
• Fast and sharp handling
• Climbing – this bike flies uphill

Cons

• Requires good riding technique (= fast handling, steepish head angle)
• Not very “confidence inspiring” for the riders not used to the cross country geometry
• Price (but you never get good and cheap anyway…)

I had an idea to shoot a riding video for the review but unfortunately I had to ride solo today. I tried to hold he camera in my hand when riding on easy singletrack but even that turned out to be pretty hard and the end result just didn’t work. This time we had to settle only for the photos then.

Pivot Cycles Mach 5 in review

But let’s move on to the bike itself. The frame has 5.4 inches of travel, Dave Weagle’s DW-link system, 8 bearings, integrated bottom bracket and a direct mount front derailleur. If you’re uncommon with this terminology, read more here. Parts were all top-notch: Stan’s No Tubes tubeless rims with Schwalbe Nobby Nics (2,4″), Progress Hubs, XTR, Progress stem and carbon bar, Fox suspension, Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes etc. No weak points here.

I have to admit that my knowledge of the newest suspension designs is not updated. The last full-susser I had was a Rocky Mountain Switch Ltd from 2003. The suspension design of that bike was pretty outdated even couple of years ago. So, take this with a grain of salt when I say this was the best designed suspension I have ever ridden. And the best bike in general, gotta admit that too. I love the 29ers I have ridden in the recent years but there was couple of things that really amazed me with this bike:

• The speed. On the roads it felt almost like I was riding my cyclocross bike, even with quite wide tires and low tire pressure. You could feel the slightest amount of suspension “squat” but it seemed not to effect the speed at all. One word for the rear suspension would be: effective.
• When you hit the downhills the 5,4″ travel did its job and I felt like I was riding a DH bike. Our trails are pretty rooty and rocky but this bike seemed to make those roots to disappear competely.
• Climbing. What climbing? Heh. Of course, compared to a fully rigid single speed every geared and/or suspended bike is superior but still the function of this bike was suberb on this area too – just sit and grind. Or if you want to stand up, attack and hammer, no problems anyway. This a great feature for a full suspension, and makes the bike more versatile and suited for wider variety of riders and riding styles.

I thought that I am a full 29er guy these days but this bike made it clear that it is not only the wheel size that matters, there are so many other factors effecting the handling of the bike too. For example, this bike wheelies just so much easier than any 29er I’ve tested so far, which could be a bad thing too as I was almost on my back at first for a few times!

26 inch bike is (at least this one is) just better on tight and turny sections or at least you have to do much more “body language” to get the big wheeled bike to turn as easily. Same goes for acceleration, big and tall can accelerate like Usain Bolt but for many riders the little wheel just gets up to speed faster and easier, this is just a fact. Playfull riding, hitting drops and jumps etc. is (still?) also somehow more natural to me on 26 inch wheels.

That said, there was a couple of occasions when I noticed the difference between the wheel sizes. At the beginning of the ride I got stuck on some roots at low speed that I think I would just rolled over with my 29er. Traction on the climbs, and suprisingly on some steep, short descent too was also just a tad worse than on the big wheels – this is also a matter of adaptation and tires & pressures I guess?

What I realized was that I have kind of lost the full suspension riding style. The rigid singlespeed I have rode lately force you to do some very precise, cautious and slow style on technical sections, kind of a “survival riding mode”. While trail bike type full suspension like Mach 5 requires you to just trust the design of the bike and “point and shoot” at speed. Given this, to my suprise I found myself hesitating on some of the most technical little “problems” on the trail.

The frame was a little small to me (size M, whereas I normally ride size L, around 19″-20″ bike) and that lead to a slight slack of stability or at least it felt so. I have also noticed that how great the frame ever is it takes a few rides for me to gain the confidence on a totally new, unfamiliar bike. I guess that after a few rides I would just bomb through those said sections and laugh at my current silly rigid bikes, heh.

The verdict

Pros:

• Incredible, effective suspension design – very little suspension “squat”
• Feels like a four inch travel cross country bike on the smooth trails and like a six inch travel heavy duty trail bike on the rough stuff
• Nimble and easy to handle
• Wheelies super easy. Could be bad too if you’re used to the typical relatively long chain stays of the 29ers!
• Stiff frame, didn’t notice any lateral flex at all
• did I say FAST
• The bottom bracket is high enough to give a nice clearance for logs and rocks, while the frame itself still stays relaticely low – the bike didn’t feel too high or squirrely at all despite relatively high BB

Cons:

• Price (do’h, you can’t get good for cheap!)
• Makes you want to desperately buy one!

What a great sport mountain biking is. Big up and thanks go to the www.pyorahuolto.com and Mikko Räty for letting me test an expensive super bike like this. And this is not all; Mikko promised me a testride of Mach 429 and Niner R.I.P 9 too. It will be really interesting to compare these offering and try to decide if a 29″ 4 inch travel bike could beat this beauty? At the moment I really doubt it, but we will see…

Roll in Peace!

I am still in a very lazy summer mood. So let’s start with posting some pics from the summer holiday. While in Spain, Costa Brava, for two weeks with the family I didn’t manage to do much of anything besides the obvious laying on the beach, eating & drinking, sleeping and taking care of the kids. I was planning to do some mountain biking though – the area has alot of trails and even a mtb center in the city of Castell d’Aro. But the excess heat stopped me doing any biking; the temparatures of well over 30+ Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) were just too much for me. Gotta respect the local roadies on their training loops with no problems at all… Seems like the heat isn’t that bad if you are used to it.

Anyway, one day I went to do some hiking in the Pyrenees with a friend. We had a great day and got some ok pictures too.

This place, Val de Núria, is pretty easy to reach from Costa Brava and Barcelona area (check the previous link for some information and driving direcions). One can drive to the village of Ribes de Freser and take the Rack-Railway up to the Monastery in Val de Núria, which is the beginning point for numerous walks. Ribes de Freser even has a nice climbing/mountaineering/(randonnee) skiing shop, Ski & Mountain. The town itself was pretty cozy and the railway up to the monastery had probably the most dramatic views of the whole trip (it was actually mellower, more rolling up in the mountains). In wintertime Val de Núria also has a small scale  ski resort, which seemed not too exciting but the randonnee/ski touring possibilities around the valley should be worth checking out if the snow is good! I bet absolutely no crowds chasing the powder out there?

From the monastery in Val de Núria (in about 2000m above the sea level) we took the medium-level walking route to the top of  Puigmal (2913m) , which was pretty easy and got just enough challenge to our lazy bodies which were just used to the heat and easy beach life. Btw. the Monastery has some interesting history / legends around it… Get yourself e.g. a “Lonely Planet Spain” book and read more if you’re interested.

Ok, no more words this time. Pics tell the story much better anyway. Beautiful, isn’t it?

“Would love to have you write a guest post on our blog about this…contact me if interested!”

Pretty cool. So, we agreed with Carl that I will first write a ride report/review of my new fully rigid 29er set-up to their site. Keep checking their site for the real stuff about this issue. I only post a few (lower resolution) pictures here for now.

Ps. We had a blast riding the bikes today. A fully rigid bike  isn’t THAT bad, after all…

I converted my Singular hard tail 29er to a fully rigid single speed. (See the earlier set-up here). While I was totally happy with the bike e.g. in the Tahko MTB endurance race a few weeks ago I thought it is time to test something totally new.

I practically learned to ride a mountain bike on a full suspension. I had an old rigid GT Tequesta steel frame back in the 90′s but I used the bike more as a commuter and only rode on some very easy trails occasionally. So, this is going to be a totally new experience for me. I believe that the 29″ wheels and big, meaty tires (Panaracer Rampage 2,35″) are going to help some though.

I only rode the bike to work couple of times. It felt what I imagine a huge BMX would do – pretty stoked about the feeling; sharp, fast handling, accurate, and light, so easy to loft the front on top of things. “Trialsy” riding on this set-up would be fun! Also, rolling down on some steep sections was very nice, while the geometry stays the same the whole way. Yes, I played with some urban features and such when commuting, and felt totally like a little kid again! Riding a single speed again was a total blast. See some more history here. I am only a bit concerned on how the set-up will work on the worst technical roots/rock gardens we have here. I will report later more as I get the first real trail miles under my belt.

I used a normal Shimano rear hub, a single speed kit and a few spacers from an old rear cog. A bit “ghetto” but works with no problem. The frame has a Phil Wood eccentric bottom bracket shell – the converting was an easy task. The gearing is the standard 32-18. While 32-19 would maybe be even better for our trails, this coming from an experince of riding a Gary Fisher Rig for a season here in the local trails.

Isn’t it a beauty? I totally dig the simple aesthetics of a fully rigid single speed

Ride report coming soon…

The race was my first big “marathon” event. I took part on the 60km (just over 37 miles) route, the most popular class. Other classes/routes were 25km, 45km, 120km (75miles) and 180km (112miles). The longest race, 180km, the participants have to apply in advance to get a permission to ride – you have to somehow prove that you can ride that distance in requested time limits!

Marathon races are mostly concidered quite untechnical. Tahko MTB is a exception to that rule: about 1/3 of the trails are fairly technical, maybe 1/3 some easier single track & fire roads and the rest is gravel roads/asphalt. The amount of roads has been increasing through the years though. This is a bit sad but on the other hand, the area developes all the time (lots of new construction) and the organisers have to somehow deal with the growing rider figures – it is not easy to figure out how to let some thousand bikers onto the same narrow trails and avoid bigger “bottle necks”.

Hectic feeling at the Start, photo Jonna Keskiaho

Still, the above fact leads me to my only complaint: as a first timer I wasn’t quite sure about how to deal with the different “tactics” and how to divide the power onto different sections etc. My only “tactic” was to maintain steady pace and not to rush it too hard on the first third of the course. This was a slight mistake. The start was divided into three groups and I was in the second group, which is the biggest one, with riders who aimed at around 4-5h end time. I should have maybe gone to the first “hot” group or, optionally, sprinted into the lead in my group and tried to maintain a good position for the trails. I didn’t do this and after the start’s quite long road sections was kind of forced to ride the more technical trail sections in a long line / “traffic jam”. My bad. This lead to a feeling that I rode slow where I am usually relatively fast (technical single track) and faster where I usually take it easier (roads / mellow sections through the “real” trails).

Kinahmi Trail, can you dig this? Photo: Touho Häkkinen

I guess that all is also a question about the riding style / personal character. I once took part in Finnish Enduro race where the idea is to race timed short technical sections, ranging from about three minutes to around 15 minutes, and the transitions between the sections are not clocked. That was fun as hell and I think I might get into those later on again. Note that the British term “enduro” means pretty much what we call a “marathon” here. The Finnish “enduro” is totally different animal, based on the motor bike enduro races.

Anyway, the event organisation was top quality, the weather was nice although the trails were slippery from the previous week rains, the views quite stunning which is a bit of a suprise in Finland, people were having fun and the best trail sections were super good. I especially remember one long downhill which started a bit more technical then changing to more even, very fast single track. I got lucky and was able to ride that particular downhill mostly by myself and got only chased by a guy just behind my back. I was just having fun and tried to took air on every possible bump etc. The guy behind me was on some “normal” full suspension trailbike and I have my hard tail 29er. After the downhill trail we got into the gravel road and slowed the pace down a bit and the guy was asking “does the big wheel really go THAT well…?”. Well, I guess it was either the bike or the fact that I was having those rare “flow” moments where you just ride as fast as you can and totally feel in control with the bike.

Ok, let’s not get too “zen” about riding and whatnot but I guess you know the situation…in a way you are totally focused and totaly relaxed at the same time! Good powder skiing comes to mind as a comparison.

And, yes I can totally recommend the 29er bikes, especially for taller riders. But let’s not get into that too much at this post. Let’s just say I dig the concept, eventhough it is definately not for all riders.

Slippery when wet… Photo by Touho Häkkinen

All in all Tahko event was a very positive experience. I guess I might even to train some for real next year and try the 120km option – just to get to ride the emptier trails in peace on the second loop, hehe… The route consist of a 60km loop, and 120km = two rounds on the same loop.

And yes, if you are interested the results can be found here. Click “hae” with empty fields and you get all the results at once. Btw. check out the time of the winners…those guys are fast!. My time was a modest/average 4.45 for the 60km. But who cares really, I wasn’t there to win anyone but myself. And after all I got the feeling that I might even ride a bit faster and/or longer, which is good if you think motivation to participate in the next year’s event!

And at last but not as least; this guy’s bike, see below – Surly Karate Monkey 29″ Fixed Gear, 32-18 gear ratio, front disc brake and 100mm of front suspension. And yes he rode the 120 km route. Talking about dedication, skill and pure crazyness!

Special thanks go to fellow riders Touho Häkkinen and Jonna Keskiaho for excellent pictures and the permission to use them. For more pictures click here.

See you on the trails! The fixed gear guy and all the others on single speeds inspire me to just go out and ride – it is all about the ride, not the technology and gear IMHO.

The so called North Shore riders in Vancouver, Canada, are another crazy breed. Some of the stuff the guys call “trails” would be labeled as full on “stunts”/bike park freeride here – which quite a few riders would even attemp I guess?

The below video shows an example. “Mishugina!” trail on Bowen Island, Vancouver – built by the legendary rider / stunt builder, “Dangerous” Dan Cowan. Check out the no-handed track stand at around 0.50. Technical, eh? The Drop In Crew riders make this kind of stuff look like it would be a walk in the park…

And as we get into the gravity assisted mountain biking: an example of  Steve Peat riding. Freeriding vs. DH? You be the judge… I’d say downhillers still get my vote, by a very very small margin though. I’d just say DH competitions are all about speed and that just separates the men out of the boys, just like in skiing one could argue? Anyway, enjoy the video:

While the Sports Institute has a wide variety of activies to choose, one quite unknown factor is that the mountain biking in the nearby trails is pretty damn good. In fact I wonder that they seem to have dropped all kind of outdoor sports from their marketing, at least for the individuals. There are several companies that offer horseback riding, trekking, ATV riding etc.

All in all I think that the marketing of Finland’s travel oppurtunities is pretty limited. Finnish tourism marketing seems to forget several outdoor activities and beautiful nature we have, or show them in a pretty limited way, in my humble opinion of course.

Anyway, pictures talk more than thousand words. So, do your own evaluations. I will add some more information to this post later (trail maps,trail information, accommodation etc.) but right now I am so busy at work that I have to delay this job a bit later in the summer.

What is also quite funny that only about four or so years ago I would have probably laughed to this kind of riding and “riding” pictures, as I started as an “angry freerider”. I thought dh/freeride would be perfect summer sport for the skier, and kind of dispised all the “traditional” aspects of cycling. But as a beginner I was maybe a bit too keen to learn “all” at once, and hurt myself quite badly couple of times. After one semi-serious neck/back injury I started to give a more xc-ish riding a go, got myself a set of clipless pedals and a longer seat post, and since that I’ve figured out that Finland has a wide variety and huge amount of GREAT trails and “just” riding in the wilderness can be very fun too. You still always have the technical sections, where freeride background is great and you can kind of combine the best of both world. Well, I guess there is even a name for this kind of riding, namely All Mountain/Trail riding (do’h). Btw, these days I also enjoy all the other kinds of cycling: road, cyclocross, urban commuting etc. too.

Ok, let’s move on to the pics…

First of all I must make it clear that I wouldn’t call myself a skiing freak like most of you probably are or willing to become, since you are reading this blog. I have been practicing downhill skiing from time to time back in those years that I was living in Finland, but probably having Greek genes in my blood I couldn’t let myself evolve enough.

Anyway, you are probably already wondering what a heck am I doing in this blog. Well, I am sure most of you beside skiing have an alternative or even equal passion for some other extreme sport like mountain biking. I personally, would consider myself a summer guy and since I live at Rhodos Island in Greece, how could I be something else!

You guys watch the skies hoping for some fresh powder and I pray to the gods of the wind for some high pressure areas over the north Aegean Sea that will generate my ”powder”, the wind! Yes I am a windsurfer but as the snow is not always there when you most need it, the same unfortunately applies for the wind. Therefore I have recently been more active on something that only really bad weather can prevent me of doing, mountain biking!

The mountain bike trails of Filerimos Mountain at Ialisos, Rhodos most probably are not like any other well maintained trails of some well known mountain biking trails of US or Europe. They have however their own charm because of the changing terrain the level of difficulty and the interesting scenery of the forest.

It consists of 3 loops, a 4.5 km cross-country that stretches around the mountain, a 1.5 km downhill trail, and a freeride trail of a moderate length. My favorite, nevertheless, is the downhill trail and the reason is because of its technical complexity and difficulty to reach the pick. I usually ride this trail with a friend of mine and we start by ascending the track by foot and when it’s possible by cycling. Most of the time it is mostly carrying the bike on our shoulders and trying not to slide down the steep path, this can really put you off sometimes but the ride back definitely pays off the hard work.

On our way up we plan the descent carefully in order to choose the best track because this singletrack trail changes considerably at some areas where the water erosion has modified the morphology of the terrain. It can be really challenging having a trail that changes after heavy rainfalls! It is also important to remove any obstacle like a fallen branch or rock.

The whole trail can be divided into 4 different trails. The first part on the top is a path between cypress trees made decades ago by Italians which is nowadays abandoned and very much unknown to locals, it is not a very steep singletrack and it has obstacles that slow down the descent although it is wide enough to give space for some race action. The second part is a narrow old road taken over by the forest flora, it gives you the change to gain some speed before jumping over to the third trail which is a path with rocky steps that some parts of which are covered by dirt but some other parts make you feel like going down the stairs! It is this part that due to water erosion becomes very demanding with sharp turns and jumps of few meters high. The bottom part of the trail is the widest singletrack with smooth ground and fairly steep turns.

Reaching the top after a hard climb creates a sense of euphoria of the mtb action that follows. Getting to the bottom of the mountain won’t take more than 15 minutes if you ride at full speed. I personally like to hammer it, and ride fast and hard. My friend on the other hand has even tried to get down with trial riding!! No matter how you prefer riding, mountain biking at Filerimos Mountain can be really worth trying it…while waiting for the winds to blow!