Page 7 - RADC Bulletin 2022

Cycle round Cyprus
Capt Simon Fear
The Inception
From the start of my posting I saw Cyprus as the perfect bike touring adventure. With the allure of it’s hidden bays and palm tree lined coastlines, I couldn’t picture a more fulfilling way to explore the exterior of the Island.
I floated the idea to Maj Tom Konarzewski over a couple of sun shimmered KEOs [Ed- the famed beer of choice in Cyprus]. I knew he could ride a bike, having completed an IRONMAN triathlon before his unjustified ‘Dad bod’ crept in as his time on the golf course increased. I’m not sure if it was the KEOs or Tom’s ‘no training, just send it’ attitude but he signed up without any real questions. He didn’t even have a suitable touring bike.
He left the route planning to me and we sorted him out a trusty steed from a friendly Ex Army Ex Pat who provided panniers and a couple of spare inner tubes. We were good to go.
The plan was a counter-clockwise loop
of Cyprus, starting and finishing at Episkopi Garrison. We had 7 days to do 700km including 7000 meters of elevation gain. Apart from the first night staying at Tom’s in Larnaca, we didn’t book accommodation as we would be carrying all of our own kit and equipment to sustain us. A true unsupported effort once we left Larnaca. Tom didn’t think this sounded hard enough so booked a
10k running race in support of his girlfriend which was supposed to be the morning of the second day in Larnaca.
Day 0
The eve of our departure did not go to plan. I came down with a stomach bug and had cramps all night whilst throwing up, yum.
I knew I wouldn’t be fit to ride 100km to
Larnaca the next day so had to stand Tom down and rest up. Suddenly we were down to 6 days and 700km.
Day 1 – Sun 21 Nov
We should have already had 100km in the bag, but instead my body had jacked on me and Tom was about to crush a 10k race then jump in the car to drive to Episkopi to start the trip. There was torrential downpour most of the day, and after a wet and hailstorm filled 10km road race Tom got to me around 1500hrs for the Grand Depart. Morale was genuinely high between us, as I had been able to get some food into me and was feeling better pumped full of Buscopan.
The route to Larnaca is straight forward
and a relatively flat day, so we were feeling confident despite knowing we would finish in the dark. It was a good chance to get
a feel for the bikes whilst they were fully loaded with kit. Zygi beach marked about the halfway mark, so we stopped for a late coffee as the sun set. We rode on in the dark until the heavens opened again and we pulled into a busy Larnaca, sodden but glad we would have a final shower and one more sleep in a bed.
Day 2 – Mon 22 Nov
Quote of the day – “This is already so much better than trying to look into a mouth”.
We tried not to cling onto the luxuries of the apartment for too long, after a coffee and some eggs we headed to the pharmacy for an LFT to allow us to cross into the Turkish-Controlled North on two wheels. We fought into a headwind to Ayia Napa near the South Eastern tip which was a good landmark for elevenses. Thankfully it was off-season and we weren’t to be tempted
by the cheap drinks and beach parties. We rounded Cape Greco, a beautiful series of headlands and bays, before heading North. The border crossing was straight forward, and paved the way to an extremely eerie but interesting stretch of road through ’no man’s land.’ The tall wire fences either side were the only protection from the UN controlled buffer zone and derelict houses bearing the scars of less peaceful times. Famagusta,
a stunning city which buzzed with Turkish influence lay beyond us, we pulled in for some late lunch and to try the local beer, Efes. The blessing and curse with not having accommodation booked is that we didn’t have anywhere specific to aim for that night, we figured around 100km would be good. In hindsight with the flat roads and good going we should have banked 125k+ today. We ended up at the lovely harbour of Bogaz and settled into a handful of Efes, and the Turkish hospitality we’d been told to expect. By the time we went to bed, as you can see, Tom wasn’t too bothered where we slept.
RADC BULLETIN 2022 5