Where to Cycle in Turkey

Five big must do road climbs in Turkey

Spil Dagi

Having cycled quite a bit in Greece and completed a couple of rides in Turkey we were back and ready for our first long mountain climb, one that’s previously featured in the Tour of Turkey. The climb started well with a good road surface coupled with shot of adrenalin courtesy of barking dogs at the bottom, these hounds were quite unnerving however you get used to them with experience.

Having ‘dropped’ the dogs a couple of fun hairpins greeted us, we were chuffed to be on such an interesting climb in what isn’t considered a road cycling destination.

The climb is 13.3km long, with 911m of climbing, averaging 6.8%. When taking into consideration the short decent halfway and a few false flats this climb was pretty tough, with the final section averaging 9+%. We felt tired after this effort, even though it wasn’t too far off an hour of climbing. I’d certainly recommend it and the climb is only about 30km from the large city of Izmir. Having looked on Strava it’s a popular out and back challenge for local cyclists from the city. Strava activity link

Yenipazar to Bozdogan

Just two days later we headed out on another epic ride from Nazilli, this time with 25km of climbing from Yenipazar up and over to Bozdogan. The total climb took us well over 2 hours and the last 5km were tough, averaging 7.4%, we stopped a couple of times on this one for snacks and to enjoy the scenery. As always, the challenge is worth it for the dynamic views down to the valley floor and not to forget the bakery stop at the bottom. This was such a cool climb and we received lots of toots and waves on our ascent. Our 25mm tires left us a little unnerved on the decent and desiring something more comfortable for the harsher and somewhat unpredictable road surface. Strava activity link

Kanyon 1000 – Antalya

On the final day of March, just in jersey and bibs, we took on another killer climb. This time in Turkey’s popular cycle hub of Antalya. Named Kanyon 1000 (with a K) it even has a rad ring to it. This climb is 32.7km long, with 1262m of climbing, averaging 4%, although it somehow felt a lot tougher. The views on this climb were epic, shrouded in jagged rocks as you circumnavigate a huge mound it really does have a ‘canyon’ like feel. 2hrs 2 minutes of climbing and for some reason my Garmin fooled me into thinking I was ahead on the segment, with a shorter distant left, exhaustion plays tricks on you and I pushed too hard too early and had to crawl up the final third. Again, Turkey’s mountain views from the peak didn’t disappoint and we were in awe of the scenery.

Big thanks to Mircea’s blog (www.mystreet.website) and an accompanying YouTube video for guidance about this climb. I would mention that we weren’t thrilled with the main road return up the coast. We didn’t feel overly safe at times being inches away from fast passing traffic with often next to no hard shoulder. Add in three low lit tunnels we were left with a bizarre buzz from the adrenaline… but for all the wrong reasons! Strava activity link

As a location for road cycling Antalya does have a number of good options plus some really big climbs and a community of cyclists. If you’re willing to travel an hour or 2 a variety of alternative routes are opened up. The city itself also has a really good seafront cycle path to get you to and fro.

Gundogmus Climb

Jump forward a week and we find ourselves on the other side of Antalya near Alanya, once again about to tackle a mega climb… Somewhat of a running theme in Turkey. This time (again thanks to Mircea) it was the Gundogmus climb, followed by the Guzelbag.

Gundogmus was equally long and tough, now fully paved it boasts 35km ish of climbing. The road was also new in parts and has a slightly harsher stone mix as pictured above, for sure a 28mm tire at lower pressure would have been welcomed to keep that rolling resistance up!  A much-needed quick food stop at Gundogmus was had before a slight ascent into a rapid steep decent to its valley floor prior to the 2^nd climb of the day. Shorter but more rugged, this climb had a wild feel as we skirted the mountainside, crawling past purple flowers among the exposed slate coloured rock. This was our longest ride in Turkey at 6+ hours and in fact the longest on our trip to date. Strava activity link

Cappadocia

We spent about a week in Cappadocia to explore its wondrous unique cave villages and be amongst the 100+ hot air balloons rising most mornings. We rode South East from Capaddocia to Basdere, up a long gentle 20km pass which averaged 2%. There was nothing too special about this climb however at the peak you’re greeted to amazing views of Mt Erciyes, sitting at just shy of 4000m. It’s especially unique as the immediate surrounding landscape is relatively flat in comparison, so it really does stands out on it’s on, just amazing. The decent is great fun with some gentle sweeping hairpins. A quick stop for ice cream on the valley floor to fuel our climb back over to the start, this time via another interesting pass a bit further south. Strava activity link

Wild Card

We also had great fun MTBing in Cappadocia and would certainly recommend going through www.mountainbikingincappadocia.com. For 40 euros you get a days hire with all the bits and bobs you need. We had a great experience winding through the single track and now know why MTBers always wear full fingered gloves, as our feeble road bike gloves got a little shredded on some of the harsh branches and bushes we whizzed past.

Our time cycling in Turkey was pretty epic but also tough and much harder to plan suitable routes on our wee 25mm tyres. From Turkey we head back through Europe to enjoy more cycling and also visit the land of bike companies in Germany to change up our bikes for future adventures… more in the next blog.

Turkey was a wonderful home for 2 months we felt so welcome and oh, I also most forgot, had our first go on an outdoor velodrome in Istanbul!