Mountain biking in East Timor

East Timor’s tourist agency is trying hard to market the country as a haven for mountain bikers, and doing a pretty good job of it. This year’s Tour de Timor was a resounding success, and hopefully the event will get bigger and better in years to come. I only wish I had arrived here a few months earlier so I could have participated!

I’ve only been here a few weeks but have already managed to borrow a bike from my boss Dinesh and have done a few rides with him. He’s been here for five years so knows some excellent routes. The country is pretty hilly, so most routes involve cycling up a long steep road being overtaken by crammed mikrolets (minibuses), then coming back down a rocky off-road track at high speed.

I hope to do a lot more riding, but it’s going to get harder and harder as the annual rains intensify over the next few weeks. This tends to destroy a lot of the roads, and turn the tracks into mudbaths. Anyway, here are a few photos of rides so far…