We live in Sardinia and run a guesthouse there for climbers, walkers and cyclists (road and MTB). Of all these sports, mountain biking is the least developed in terms of documented/signed trails, though this is changing as we document routes and there's the Rally di Sardegna mountain bike in early June each year in Ogliastra where we live, which in 2008 had 25 participants, 2009 52…the organisers ask us, "How can we get some British bikers coming?" This year there were Italians, Spaniards and a couple of Belgians. It's interesting that if we look at the traffic to our web site, and people turning up on the door asking for info on routes including in august, we get many more Italian-speaking people than English-speakers.

Why do people think this is?

Some ideas:-
1. Sardinia simply not known as a destination for MTB
2. for the moment "foreign" destinations = Morzines, Alpe d'Huez and people are happy with these/these are the fashionable places to go
3. people think it's too hot

What do you all think, please? Then at least I have some info on which to base my reply to the race organiser.

thanks Peter

I've stayed in Alghero a couple of times with friends, just self catering. We had the road bikes with us precisely because I could find nothing about MTBing. Having said that, Sardinia (IMHO) beats the common roadie destinations of Majorca and Lanzarote hands down.

Definitely (1).
Possibly (2) although I don't really know if these types of destinations have peaks and troughs as people get bored of going to the same place.
As for (3), it's never too hot!

Can't add much of real help, other than we're both thinking of bringing our (mountain) bikes over at some point (we met in Sardinia), but haven't got round yet to trying to research if it's rideable. Wouldn't want to come over only to find that there's no access / nothing to ride, which is of course a big concern. The fact that you run something for mtb's suggest that there are trails, but we'll need to do our research and frankly haven't thought about how to even start doing that.

In sum, definitely 1; speaking for us only, I would say not 2 or 3.

Definitely (1), but that is the same as a lot of other great MTB destinations in Italy
2) I think a lot of it has to do with people liking to drive to MTB holidays, all the spares, toolkit etc. with sardinina this is easy for italians who take the ferry.
3) Definitely, I am sure you are used it now but for the average brit June/July and August in more southern parts of Italy can be too hot for sporting activity (destinations in Liguria etc can have the same problem)
4) If I remember correctly the race you mention is similar to a road sportive but off road and over a couple of days, IMO the average uk mountainbiker does not enjoy these hard events, rather riding laps round a field and drinking beer. The italians / belgians / spanish are much more into the XC enduro side whereas in the UK the sport is dominated by middle-aged all-mountain dudes more focused in railing berms and fettling in the garage than fitness..

To qualify my comments I have been to Alghero on holiday and am regularly in Cagliari on business (visiting Tiscali), I lived near lake Como for 3 years and have ridden in lots of areas around italy (mainly northern) – my wife and daughter are both italian.

I love Sardinia but would always take my road bike due to the challenge of finding off road routes. Porchetta, pecorino sardo, mirto…..mmmmmmmmmm

thanks to you all for the comments, in particular

If I remember correctly the race you mention is similar to a road sportive but off road and over a couple of days,

Correct, in fact 5 days! see vid below

IMO the average uk mountainbiker does not enjoy these hard events, rather riding laps round a field and drinking beer. The italians / belgians / spanish are much more into the XC enduro side whereas in the UK the sport is dominated by middle-aged all-mountain dudes more focused in railing berms and fettling in the garage than fitness..

To give you a favour of the riding here, here's a video of the Rally made by the Spanish Promo vid

My own experiences of riding one stage are at Riding a stage of the Rally di Sardegna MTB

cheers Peter

I went to Sardinia last year to climb. Flying in over the North of the island, there looked like some ace trails. I'd be very keen to go back on a riding / climbing holiday, don't know about the rally though.

Looked at some self catering in Alghero for our holiday this year, which I'd have loved to include some MTB'ing; was truly staggered by how expensive it would've been for 2 of us – going to Corsica instead for less than half the price. Can you give us some links / names for reasonably priced places / packages?
I'm sure the mag (SingleTrack!) did a feature on some Sardinian trails a few months ago, with a well-known rider??

I'd never consider sardinia as an MTB place as I'd only travel that sort of distance for a) heat or b) mountains, and if it's hot I dont really want to be doing anything too strenuous and prefer to take the kites out to the sea. Plus a major problem for me was/is the fact that travel to and accom in sardinia appears to be vastly more expensive than, for example, the alps. In the alps I have ski lifts, mental views and nice cool air high up. While I've no experience of sardinia, I would think it was very hot, relatively flat, has no ski lifts and if it does have anything ridable I'd be dessicated by the time I reached a high spot.

I dont really like using "adventure package" type holidays, I like to book my own accom and flights and just be left alone to investigate, and I dont want to pay a premium. Last year I did 2 weeks in the alps with my missus for about 400 each, including travel and accom. It seems to be 400 quid minimum just to fly TO sardinia.

a major problem for me was/is the fact that travel to and accom in sardinia appears to be vastly more expensive than, for example, the alps.

Looked at some self catering in Alghero for our holiday this year, which I'd have loved to include some MTB'ing; was truly staggered by how expensive it would've been for 2 of us – going to Corsica instead for less than half the price. Can you give us some links / names for reasonably priced places / packages?

Bikers who have made it here usually tell us how cheap it is, so probably you're not looking round for the best bargains:

Flights – you pay only taxes if you book well ahead, plus your bike, and it's €12 on the bus from Cagliari to where we live
Accommodation: B&B's cost €25-30 per person per day, apartments €15-20
Food is cheap: €8 for pizza + beer, €20 for nice dinner + wine, €2 for tasty sandwich with local cheese
Bike hire: €15-18 per day for nice hardtail or road bike

While I've no experience of sardinia, I would think it was very hot, relatively flat, has no ski lifts and if it does have anything ridable I'd be dessicated by the time I reached a high spot.

Not really true. Sardinia is bigger than Wales and has higher mountains, which are snow covered from Nov to April. There is even one ski lift! The coasts are hot in summer, 30°C, but lots of people come here who want to combine a beach holiday with cycling/walking/climbing since up in the mountains it's cooler.

I dont really like using "adventure package" type holidays, I like to book my own accom and flights and just be left alone to investigate, and I dont want to pay a premium. Last year I did 2 weeks in the alps with my missus for about 400 each, including travel and accom. It seems to be 400 quid minimum just to fly TO sardinia.

See above, with Ryanair/Easyjet you pay only taxes and luggage.

For more specific ??, email me at peter@peteranne.it

cheers Peter

Me and 2 mates went out there for less than £400 between us including all return flights (with bikes) and a weeks stay in an apartment!

I would think it was very hot, relatively flat, has no ski lifts and if it does have anything ridable I'd be dessicated by the time I reached a high spot.

It was surprisingly cool even in April. There's parts of it that are flat/undulating, parts that have harder road climbs than you find in the Alps. No idea about ski lifts, I've only ever been for biking but there's a big surfing/kitesurfing/windsurfing scene all round the island, especially right up on the NW tip and it's renowned for being a great rock climbing destination too.

See my photos of a trip with Peter, ignore the latin

Sardinia mountain biking set 1

Sardinia mountain biking set 2

Here's a vid, this time in November http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrKQGLvHDtM gives you a good idea of what it's like on the limestone terrain at this time of year, whereas DavidB's photos are August, just nearby

The Spanish vid of the rally Promo vid MTB Rally Sardinia is in June, more on the granite

cheers Peter