The beauty of inland Dalmatia is being discovered by a growing number of mountain bikers.
Passionate fans of mountain biking Valentin Kožica and Siniša Dumanić met while exploring undiscovered paths in the Dinara Mountains. They have continued to ride together ever since, testing how far their bicycles can take them. Impressed with paths, natural beauty, adventures and challenges encountered, these bicycles fans have decided to share their knowledge and experience with other lovers of mountain biking. So they have founded the Dinarides Trails Association, as well as website www.dinaridestrails.org, which is attracting more and more visitors who want to discover new bicycle routes, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on October 1, 2015.
“We started posting the paths on Facebook, but we quickly noticed that they often get lost in the vastness of the internet, so we decided to create a website with all the published paths and related articles. It was soon transformed for a hobby into a serious project which we enjoy”, says Dumanić. In their adventures, they were soon joined by others, so now they together roam the mountains of Dinara, noting where the bikers can rest and eat something, and what they should not miss at any cost. They do all this as volunteers, with a lot of love and passion.
The “Dinarides Trails” website contains more than 120 marked trails, mostly from Dalmatia and western Bosnia and Herzegovina, covering Kozjak, Mosor, Biokovo, Velebit, and Svilaja, as well as the islands of Hvar, Vis, Brač, Šolta, Korčula and Čiovo.
Every path is described with name, region, category, length and gradient, and the pages include maps indicating possibly mined areas. It is important to note that not all paths are completely suitable for bikes, so there is often a combination of biking and hiking. “However, we always pay attention to safety, so hiking parts are mostly just walks down the creeks with bikes in our hands”, explains Kožica.
The next step will be the translation of the website into English, because there are more and more foreigners and tourists who want them to organize cycling tours and be their guides. There are also many Croatian cyclists who want to join them. All those interested should first join a local cycling club. Therefore, they plan to include a map of all cycling clubs in the area on their website as well.
