BICYCLE TOURS & MOUNTAIN BIKING

Welcome to CycleGreece

CycleGreece is a team of Greeks and non-Greeks, all residing in Greece, who recognize the immense value of this peaceful nation. They seek to introduce the global cycling community to the unheralded wonders of bicycling in Greece and make them aware of the country’s incredibly beautiful routes.

Cycling for them is a way of life. It is part of their daily reality. The team came together because of their passion for cycling, and gorgeous Greece has provided an exquisite terrain to spread the culture of cycling. By offering their bicycling expertise and services to foreign guests, CycleGreece’s reward is witnessing your joy pedaling in a land where gods and goddesses, fates and muses continue to inspire.

Founder Yiannis Skevis

With an inherent athletic ability, Yiannis has practiced and competed in many sport activities, such as, swimming, mountaineering, mountain biking, soccer, skiing, sailing, tennis, scuba diving and of course cycling.

His career in business is just as diversified. Yiannis is one of the founders of CycleGreece, a new and exciting concept in the world of cycling tours in Greece. He is one of the managing directors in field management and quality control, as well as marketing and sales.

Founder Colleen McGuire

Born in rural Indiana, Colleen was weaned on bicycles, starting a love affair with two wheels before she was five. She has refused to live or work anywhere unless the locale allows an auto-free daily commute. One of the highlights of her bountiful life was her solo bicycle journey from New York to San Francisco, 3,756½ miles, self-contained - an idea that sprouted during a nocturnal dream.

Colleen’s untamed spirit has taken her to over 70 countries. Among her adventures, she climbed Machu Picchu in Peru before the trail had a quota for hikers, slept in slave castles on the Gold Coast of Ghana, wandered the markets of Yemen unveiled, river walked the Ganges in India, cycled the Ho Chi Minh trail, worked with wild desert elephants in Namibia, swam in Amazon waters, trekked the Sahara in Morocco, luxuriated in pink mud on a Brazilian island, and stumbled onto a circumcision ceremony in Timbuctoo.

Colleen first visited Greece in 1975. She has traveled to over 40 islands and logs many bike miles on Greece’s mainland mountains. Her Sicilian roots from a grandfather named Oreste Spadafora prompt Greeks to insist she has Greek blood. She’s happy to let this myth float unchallenged.

Our Team: Experienced, Reliable, and Honored to Serve You

We are honored to work with the best bicycle mechanic in all Greece, Giorgos Altyparmakis. His bike shop has been in his family for 40 years. Giorgos knows roads and off-roads better than any Greek cartographer. He has a peculiar affection for touring at night, especially during a full moon.

Greek Roads: Mark Your Waypoint! 23”29’30.013 E 38”5’00.625 N

Aside from a handful of urban enclaves - Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, Herakleion - most of Greece consists of provincial countryside peppered with large towns, small towns, villages, and hamlets. Once you are outside these clusters, traffic subsides considerably.

Greece's asphalt roads are smooth and well paved. Although they tend not to have shoulders, we often ride secondary roads where you’re more likely to encounter an old man or woman on a donkey. In rural areas, cars are accustomed to watching out for passing goats and sheep, and bicycles fit right into such slow motion traffic.

For off road mountain biking, Greece has many dirt roads connecting remote villages. You can bike for miles without encountering motor vehicles or other humans. Fire roads call for more rugged biking. Most mountainous areas usually have taps with potable fresh spring water.

It’s said that you can stand anywhere on Greek soil and be within 100 kilometers of the sea. How’s that for a refreshing concept!