French mountain bikers in Macedonia

From 18 to 25 September, French reporters (Nathalie Cuche, reporter, Eric Beallet, photograher, Bruno Laval bike tester and Olivier Durbec, doctor) visited Macedonia to explore and test all the mountain bike routes. They are freelance reporters whose specialty is extreme sports.

Their route was: Mavrovo– Galichnik – Vodno_ Markov Manastir – Matka -Solunska Glava - Skopje – Krushevo  - Pelister.  They contacted ExploringMacedonia.com after the portal initiated the web presentation by Yahoo! adventurer and researcher Richard Bangs in July last year. ExploringMacedonia.com organized all the details of their trip in our country to make their journey unforgettably adventurous. They left Macedonia impressed not only by the mountain bike routes they found here but also of the culture and tradition and the Macedonians themselves.  They say Macedonia is hidden treasure in Europe, a country with incredible charm just because of the little imperfections.

They work almost 6 years in “Velo Tout Terrain” special magazine for mountain biking and their main job is to discover new amazing terrains in the world. And here is their story of how they heard about the name of the country- Macedonia:

“During our climbing the highest peak of the highest mountain in Iran, at height of 5.600m our expedition met a Macedonian guy. It wouldn’t be so weird if he didn’t have a bottle of Macedonian beer in his hand “Skopsko” and Macedonian flag in the other hand. When we saw him with the beer in his hand we were very surprised of how he managed to carry this whole bottle during the entire climbing which was very hard and above this, it is forbidden to have alcohol with you in Iran!!! We kept that picture in our mind all the time and couldn’t wait to come and see this country where people could be so adventurous like that guy with the beer on 5600m above the sea level. “

They already explored all the possible routes in France, and decided to come out of the borders. They wanted to see everything that the world offers them. These reporters were mountain bikers in Africa, Morocco, Georgia, Chile, Russia, Germany, Argentina and Siberia. Before mountain biking, they travelled round the world with motor bikes.

Their opinions on Macedonian routes are very positive. They say: “Macedonian mountain bike routes are very good. If you have in mind that 50% of your country is mountainous region, you can consider it as perfect conditions for this sport. The routes in Mavrovo are very good and those from Vodno to Matka are perfect! For a real excitement in mountain biking it is especially important that that there are ups and downs from the starting till the ending point and to be very very narrow so that only one biker can ride through it. And when you add to it all the curves then you have real fun. We also rode up the peak Solunska Glava and that was a real experience as well. In France we have a saying: If your jaw hurts of too much pressure while riding, then the route is good. And to tell you the truth our jaws hurt in Macedonian mountain bike routes. “

They were very impressed by Macedonians and Macedonian food. They say: “If I want to spend my vacation on my mountain bike and I don’t want to go to any European country where everything is in order and commercialized, I can come to Macedonia. You can actually still meet ordinary people making their own cheese in the mountain villages! Macedonia is too exciting to explore it in only 10 days. We know that there is very exciting kayak route in Matka but we will experience it next time we come. “

Article by TEA Moderna
Photos by Eric Beallet