In recent months, guest writer Rik De Voogd took you on his adventures across Europe. You could almost say: things went from bad to worse. Nothing could be further from the truth. We found the stories about, for example Hesse, Tuscany and the Dolomites really fantastic. So here comes another dessert: Greece! Rik joined photographer and videographer Maarten Zuur for a week on the road across the Peloponessos with the men and women of Pedal Greece. Here's a sneak preview of Rik op Reis - Cycling in Greece!
Text: Rik de Voogd - Photos: Maarten Zuur unless otherwise specified
From the moment I stopped racing and discovered instagram, I had a dream. In this dream, I rode in places that are actually unknown to many cyclists. My favourite one-liner: the best roads are the ones you haven't ridden. That says it all.
That dream also came back this summer and suddenly I was reminded of Greece. Not the islands, like Crete or Kos, but the mainland. I was actually sure that this could be one of those places where few people had ever driven. Something to find out, then. When I next started looking, I couldn't help Pedal Greece around. They came up first in my search results and somehow they kept coming up, on google, Instagram, everywhere. So I contacted them.
Founder Tom and Agi immediately told me that they organise 'ultimate cycling holidays' in this area. Participants in their holidays are presented with the best and most beautiful routes in the wild terrain of the Peloponnese, the Greek peninsula south of Athens. They are also very much into Greek culture, local food and, of course, sunshine. You can hardly ignore that. You'll understand, I was immediately convinced.
Pedal Greece's concept is simple. You can book guided rides through them, either individually or with a group. There are very few places and this is done that way deliberately. By keeping the group size small, Tom and Agi can continue to provide high quality and service. Great! On the site you can find all the info also about fixed dates and individual wishes.
We took the opportunity to put together an individual programme. Since they had just restarted after a huge load of COVID restrictions, that was the best option. We chose the end of September. A logical date. This gave us a good opportunity to see what late summer has to offer in Greece. Maarten and I (Maarten is from Acid Films) booked a direct flight to Athens....
Arrival
The flight to Athens went smoothly. Pedal Greece co-founder Agi picked us up from the airport, but not before I quickly swapped my jeans and jumper for something more breezy. Man, man, it was just 15℃ warmer than in the Netherlands. What a wonderful start!
Meeting PEDAL GREECE
Agi took us all the way to 'downtown' Athens. He checked us in for the first night(s) and helped us with our bags. Afterwards, we simply crossed the street and plopped down on the terrace of 48×17 Bike Cafe. This place is also run by Agi and it turned out to be the perfect place for a delicious cup of coffee, homemade lemonade and a menu of Greek tacos. All this while being surrounded by bikes, custom builds, frame sets I haven't seen for years and a nice collection of accessories and clothing. All with a little retro twist.
This is also where Tom, the other founder of Pedal Greece joined us. Somehow, there was an instant click. We had a great time that night. After a delicious taco meal, we went for espressos and iced coffee. The latter in particular is a local speciality. We tasted it all too well. Meanwhile, plans for the coming days were presented. We couldn't wait.
The routes looked as follows:
- Nafplio - Leonido (83 kilometres, 900 altimeters)
- Leonido - Sparta (85 kilometres, 1500 altimeters)
- Sparta - Sparta (126 - 2500 altimeters)
- Sparta - Kalamata (61 kilometres - 1400 altimeters)
- Kalamata - Kalamata (152 kilometres - 1800 altimeters)
- Kampos - Limeni (57 kilometres - 800 altimeters)
I will keep you updated in the coming blogs. At least the menu (both on and off the bike) looked good!
