Georiders - Mountain Biking in the Republic of Georgia

When I was travelling in India in 2009, I often dreamt of going back to Georgia and doing loads of mountain biking. I wanted to get involved in the local biking community and contribute. Back in Georgia, I was lucky to meet some local mountain bikers. I didn't expect to find them because I thought that the cycling wasn't very popular in Georgia and people seemed much keener on burning about in tinted windowed Mercedes and BMWs. How things have changed though! - at least for the burgeoning cycling and mountain biking community.

I met David, and Merabi and they knew many routes around Tbilisi and further afield in Georgia. I was thrilled at the prospect of exploring some of the country with them.

[caption id="attachment_754" align="alignnone" width="282" caption="Merab"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_753" align="alignnone" width="242" caption="David"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="A bike trip in Khevsureti"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Descending from the Shatilli pass at dusk"][/caption]

Read the full blog post about the Khevsureti bike ride.

I accompanied them on many bike rides local to Tbilisi and further afield. Georgia is an ideal destination for mountain biking. It has mountains and trails right next to the city and the Caucasus mountain range only a short drive (or cycle) away.

David told me he had occasionally taken out groups of tourists on bike tours so I offered to build a website (http://www.mountainbiking.ge) 'Georiders' - with the idea of further helping to promote the mountain biking community and attracting more people to visit Georgia and go biking. The website has gradually grown in popularity and receives an increasing amount of interest. Recently David sent me a couple of videos where Georiders has appeared in the Georgian and Russian press:-







If you would like to visit Georgia and book a bike tour please contact David and Merabi on georidersmtb@gmail.com or visit the website at http://www.mountainbiking.ge.

If you would like to work for Georiders and contribute to this growing mountain biking collective please contact us! We are looking for an additional volunteers to help develop the website, marketing, guiding, training, and exploring new routes.

If you live in Georgia and ride there or have been biking there before and have photos or video footage we can add it to the flickr and Youtube accounts.