Bikes and Lemons, an MTB ride to Piano Margi

Since a few weeks we are collaborating with the Palermo based Bikes and Lemons, who can organize mountain bike trips with English speaking guides in the area. The owner of Bikes and Lemons, Alessandro Ferrara, wanted to check out the mountain roads near the town of Cinisi, and asked me whether I wanted to come along. I already did the climb on my road bike (see Exploring the Cinisi climb), but never did it on my Cannondale F4 and never explored the area at the end of the climb, so it was an obvious “yes” for me. We decided to meet in the town of Cinisi and start the climb from there.

Last Sunday at 10:00 AM I left Balestrate and rode in the direction of Palermo. My last MTB ride was in November 2012, so the first few minutes felt a bit strange, but soon I found a nice rhythm and enjoyed the ride in the Sicilian sun.

After meeting Alessandro at the entrance of the town of Cinisi we started to climb towards Piano Margi.

At the start of the Cinisi climb

It was around 36°C and not particularly humid, so an excellent day to be out on the bike!

Alessandro Ferrara on the climb towards Piano Margi

10 Minutes into the climb I took some pictures of the mountains and rocks surrounding the area:

The mountains near the town of Cinisi

The mountains near the town of Cinisi

The mountains near the town of Cinisi

There was no traffic, so we had the road to ourselves!

Alessandro Ferrara on the Cinisi climb

Alessandro Ferrara on the Cinisi climb

Lots of Fichi d’India

When we arrived at the end of the climb we decided to follow a dirt road leading into a wood on top of the mountain. There was a nice cool breeze and we enjoyed the mountain views:

View from the wood on the top of the climb near Piano Margi

We came across a ruin of an old farm house:

Alessandro knew several roads in this area, but there was one he had never took before, so we decided to follow that road and see where it would lead us. Here are several pictures we took in that area:

Our mountain bikes in the mountains near Piano Margi

A lovely view of Cinisi, Palermo Airport and the sea!

The area is full of old farm houses and on the farmer’s land, defined by typical stone walls, lots of cows were sunbathing / chilling / ..? in the sun:

Rock walls and farm houses on the mountains near Cinisi

Cows in the mountains near Piano Margi

In the mountains near Piano Margi, Sicily

Exploring the mountain roads near Piano Margi, Sicily

From the road we had great views of the sea (in the bg: San Vito lo Capo)!

My Cannondale F4 in the moutains near Piano Margi

My Cannondale F4 in the moutains near Piano Margi

Alessandro Ferrara and his Lapierre MTB

Taking some pics for Twitter, FB and the blog

Taking pictures in the mountains near Piano Margi

When we arrived at the end of the road we decided to head back down and shoot some more pics.

A rocky road leading to Giardinello (in the bg: the town of Partinico)

On the descent towards the town of Cinisi

My Cannondale F4 on the descent towards the town of Cinisi

Alessandro and I

On the descent towards the town of Cinisi (in the bg Cinisi and Palermo Airport)

On the descent towards the town of Cinisi

Okay, one more pic 🙂

Alessandro in “Japanese tourist mode”

I really enjoyed the ride and I’m sure our guests will love riding in this area as well. Alessandro will also explore the mountains near Balestrate and Castellammare del Golfo, so he will be able to take our guests on many great rides in both Palermo and the gulf area.

I love riding my road bike(s) but this ride made me remember how much I like mountain biking, so I definitely will try to do more rides on my Cannondale and check out the many dirt roads in the mountains. There should be more hours in a day….!