Gokova Cycling Tour-2010
Main goals
To protect the environmental, communal and personal health through cycling, to create the conditions required for a healthy community, to improve life quality, to protect the environment in terms of local and global aspects, to provide cultural exchange, to help bring peace to Turkey and to the world, to integrate sport and tourism through cycling which is a nature friendly sport; to protect and improve nature and the local culture through sport in the province which has a great cultural heritage and a great variety of touristic values, to organize this tour in Mugla in a festival atmosphere every year and make it become an international, traditional meeting, to get sports people and bicycle enthusiasts from the sister towns of the towns on the tour route invited in this meeting.
Main objective
To organize this 4 night-5 day cycling tour emphasizing the nature-friendly, amicable and cultural-exchange aspects of cycling with a multi-national group from different cultures starting from Akyaka, going along the shore through Oren, Mumcular, Bodrum, crossing the Gokova Gulf by ferry to Datca Peninsula and ending up in Marmaris.
Sub objectives
To stress the importance of cycling as an ecological sport branch and also as a means of transport in personal and communal health problems. To increase and encourage bicycle use, to draw local governments’ and transportation planners’ attention to the requirements of the cyclists, and get it taken into consideration as one of the tourism alternatives in Turkey.
Who are they?
Mugla Cycling Platform which was formed in 2005 has become Mugla Cycling Association and gained a legal status in 2009. They are a squad gathered around Mugla Cycling Association. Some of them are long distance tourers who have been in numerous cycling tours in Turkey and around the world. Some have participated in cycling races. They are doctors, engineers, teachers, city planners, nurses and academicians who are aware of the vital importance of cycling in their lives, who believe in the strong role of cycling in community’s health and who love and protect wildlife actively.
Motive
With the cycling sport being the main point, they have performed cycling tours in their country two times in the last year -once in spring and once in autumn- covering a distance from 700 to 1000 kilometers. These tours have helped combine eco-sport and eco-tourism and have played a role in improving relations between peoples and cultures. Izmir-Antalya cycling tour was planned and performed together with 10 cyclists who came from the USA and Poland in 2004. In 2005, 12 cyclists went to the USA and participated in a 1200 km tour in California. South Eastern Turkey tour in 2007, Eastern Turkey tour and Germany-Czech Republic-Austria and Eastern Black Sea tours in 2008, Syria tour and Santa Cruz, USA tours in May 2009 followed these.
They aim to organize the Gokova Gulf Cycling Tour which intends to bring all cycling enthusiasts and sports people together and which they hope it will become traditional. Such an activity will provide a fast and efficient awareness about bringing sport and mass tourism together, about the personal and communal health aspects of sport and about cultural Exchange through cycling. Their aim is to establish this synergy among as many cities and countries as possible.
Equipments
Cyclists use their own bicycles and camping equipments. Locations where water and toilet are available is chosen for accommodation, food is obtained at a restaurant or prepared by the participants. Both food and camping facilities during the whole tour will be free of charge!!!
Fee
The admission fee is €50 including breakfast, launch and dinner between 19th and 23rd May, camping facilities and ferry ticket.
The tour’s catchphrase is “SHARE THE ROAD”.
For detailed enquiry, contact Adnan Çangır at a_cangir(at)yahoo.com.
Also visit www.muglabisiklet.org for other informations.
