Sunday: Prologue
On 19.06.16 at Smixi started for the 4th consecutive year, one of the toughest races in the world, Bike Odyssey 2016. Dozens of athletes got a first idea of the strong mountain bike experience on the Pindos mountain range.
In an effort to promote the sport of mountain biking, we organized for the 4th consecutive year, one of the hardest mountain bike races in the world, Bike Odyssey 2016. We crossed all the backbone of Central Greece, the Pindos Mountains, passing out of 5 prefectures, seven municipalities and approximately 57 villages lost in the beauty of nature.
On Sunday 26.06.2016 was held the last stage of Bike Odyssey and the 1-Day Bike Odyssey. The weather was very good despite the announcements of meteorologists for extreme weather conditions in the region. The start was given at 11:30 for the 8-day and 3-day athletes and at 12:08 for one-day athletes. Leaving Ano Chora, our last destination, the beautiful town of Nafpaktos on a route with a total distance 51.69klm and elevation gain 1,046 m.
Today on 25.06.2016 at 9:10am was given the start for the sixth and penultimate stage of Bike Odyssey 2016, Ath. Diakos-Ano Chora. The weather is cloudy and blowing. Start did not get the team "Oi Trobes-Podilatou" of Sarris-Papathanasiou and Karavassilis Stratos of «Up Hill Bikers» team.
For the 6th day Bike Odyssey continued dynamically. Today took place the 5th stage for the athletes of the 8-day race and the 1st for athletes of 3-day race, with participants reach up to 80 persons. The start was given at 09:03 from the beautiful Krikelloand final destination the village Athanasios Diakos. The weather today was cooler offering athletes better racing conditions at a general level, but passing the mountains was much fog that made difficult their visibility.
The first teams have completed their feat, the 4th stage Agrafa-Krikello. Several surprises we had in finishes. First again of course Konstantinidis-Papadopoulos with time 06: 31: 01: 00 but this time let the second Kalogeropoulos-Grivas about 25 minutes behind. The misfortune of the team «Electric Rev by Helma» with several flat tires left the pioneers to build noticeable difference.
Has given the start for the 4th stage Agrafa-Krikello today at 9:15am and the heat continues to vary at high prices. The Israeli Deutch Shomi of «Good Guys» team didn’t started because of a headache while due to fatigue the Bulgarian Alexandrov Alexander of «SashBo Raw Bikers» team did not started, too. The hardest stage of the race began and the anxiety is high!
Completed today the 3 stage Pyli - Agrafa and as demonstrated was very demanding for the athletes since they had to cross a distance of 82.78 km with 3343 m elevation gain. The high temperature of 30 ° C hampered even more the athletes’ work.
Deutch Shlomi from the team «Good Guys» from Israel and Zotos Michael of «MLC» team began the stage with a slight indisposition, but did not give up, shook their teeth and managed to complete the challenge of this day.
The 3rd stage of Pyli-Agrafa is one of the most difficult stages of the race as the elevation gain is too much and the high temperature made it even difficult for the athletes.
BikeOdyssey is an 8 days XC (Cross Country) bike race across the Pindos mountain range, in Greece. Is the toughest race in Greece and one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world.