Mountain biking was one of the least-documented activities in Sardinia but we have fixed that! In December 2011, Versante Sud published Italian and English editions of the first guide for 20 years to mountain biking in Sardinia, authored by Peter and two Sard biker friends, Amos Cardia and Davide Deidda. You can preview it here. ISBN 978-88-96634-44-8. The guide has 70 rides in the South and Centre of the island, of which 25 are in Ogliastra, and gpx files for all the routes can be downloaded here. Peter used all our route information, and designed, explored and rode for the first time (sometimes after repeated attempts…) 15 mountain bike routes.  Cordee in the UK are the main English language distributors; see also Versante Sud retail outlets. We will also have it for sale at The Lemon House.

Previously, there was only the 1991 mountain bike guidebook, “Sole, Sale e Salita”, which has been out of print and unavailable for a long time. Its author, Chicco Porcu, scanned his own copy and you can download a pdf here. It has an introduction and glossary in English, so non-Italian speakers, with a bit of practice, can use it. Or there’s a translation we came across in internet here. Note that we didn’t prepare this translation and haven’t checked it, and that we don’t agree with some of “Sole Sale Salita”‘s valuations of difficulty, although this may simply be because tracks have changed in the last 20(!) years. eg The Codula Sa Mela ride is rated “Level of difficulty: easy. Cyclability: 99%” but you may not agree if you look at the video below, or it suggests riding back from Cala Luna to Cala Fuili, but most people find that they can ride only half of this trekking route, the rest they carry/push… Peter’s work substantially expands on the 6 of the guide’s 26 routes in this area:

We ride to Cala Sisine on the “best descent I’ve ever done, even better for being natural” from the plateau above via Su Irove Longu, and come back up the Codula;

The Codula Sa Mela above Urzulei which you see in this video on the left is part of an All-Mountain ride with 2 other technical sections. We are fortunate to be able to ride the new Ente Foreste walking trails, and this circuit of Perda ‘e Liana and Monarbu shown in the video on the right is one of the new guide’s 4-star rides. The circuit made by Peter on the Supramonte is involves more difficult navigation than the most challenging route in Sole, Sale Salita, also on the Supramonte. We also include some (very) easy routes for families.

The Regione Sardegna does publish a guide to MTB touring around the island, using minor roads and “strade sterrate” (unmade roads), though this isn’t technical mountain biking.

Back to Mountain Bike ….