Malta... Cycling...

Junior

Lads,

I'm going over to malta for a week in June for a wedding and I'm thinking of taking over the pedals and shoes and seeing if I can't rent something over there for the week.

Has anyone been over there before - I think we are staying in St Julians.

I'm googling away here at the moment if anyone has any info or tips much appreciated !

cunnins4

I went there last summer, beautiful place, but not exactly cycling friendly. I was gonna rent a bike too, but I didn't see any places about. We were in Mellieha, I think it's the only part with a decent beach so it was the main tourist part. The hills there are unreal and the heat would kill you on a bike.

Forget the bike and do some scuba diving when you're there. The water's crystal clear and warm! Don't use the big commercial diving place though, there's a much cheaper and far friendlier place called meldives www.meldivesmalta.com

Enjoy!

Junior

Cheers man - I just want to keep up the training as much as I can over the next while. I'm hoping to start doing some league racing towards the end of the summer maybe ..

oobydooby

You could maybe rent one of these things. Probably wouldn't need your pedals and shoes though.
http://www.hobiecat.com/kayaking/kayak_sail.html

blorg

I'm just back from Malta, although we spent most of our time on Gozo (the smaller island.) We rented mountain bikes from Louis Calleja who has a website at www.on2wheelsgozo.com. Cost was €4.50/day (6 day rate.)

Great guy, I asked for a pump at the start and he said there was no need, wherever and whenever we were on Gozo just give him a call and he would come fix any problems. Sure enough my chain snapped on the other side of the island and he whizzed around in his van within 15 minutes with a replacement chain (no extra charge for this.)

I generally cycle on 700x23c tyres and disparage anyone who thinks you need anything else for Irish roads, but honestly you would want a MTB for Malta. The roads are shocking (admittedly they are a bit better on Malta than Gozo) and there are a lot of dirt paths etc.

He delivered and picked up the bikes free and think he would likely deliver/pickup to Malta for a small extra charge. A bike is a great idea even just for transport, I couldn't get over how tiny the place is. Don't listen to anyone who tells you the drivers are chronic; they are far better than Irish drivers and everyone drives really really slowly. We had a car too but only used it for one trip back to the main island.

I brought my pedals and he had no problem fitting them. The bike looked a bit bashed up but was absolutely fine mechanically. This is the bike down by Fungus Rock:

Junior

Cheers blorg... I think I might give it a miss to be honest, I was looking for a road bike.

ba

Junior wrote: »

Cheers man - I just want to keep up the training as much as I can over the next while. I'm hoping to start doing some league racing towards the end of the summer maybe ..

just start racing now if you're familiar with riding in a bunch. racing is the best training. expect to be dropped until your legs acclimatise to the speed.