I’m markowe and this site is all about mountain biking in the wonderful land of Serbia! “Where?!”, I hear you ask! Good question! All will be revealed elsewhere on these pages. But a bit about this site: I am a British guy living in Serbia who is also keen on mountain biking - there is nothing like slogging your way up a deserted, unmarked mountain trail, with only a few friends for company, a few bemused sheep to scatter from your path, and a stunning view waiting for you when you finally reach the top!
If you know exactly what I’m talking about, then you might want to stick around!
But let’s get one thing straight, I am no “expert” (bet you’re relieved really) - I don’t even know the English names for the different parts on a bike (though I’ve learned some of the Serbian names - maybe I can put together a dictionary sometime!). In fact the bike which I have been riding since I got into MTB about 3 years ago is a “supermarket” 120 EUR (less than $150) job I bought when I knew really absolutely nothing. But you wouldn’t believe where I’ve been with that heap of junk! More about the bike elsewhere!
What I want to say is, I am a guy who discovered at the age of 31 that he LOVES mountain biking, is keen to learn, and do as much of it as possible despite a busy life. And I want to do it in SERBIA and share the experience with you!
If you think others might want to read this post, don’t be selfish, click above to AddThis to Digg, Del.icio.us or just about any other bookmarking service and share and share alike!
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Hiya Mark,
I’ve been living in Serbia for about 8 months, brought my bike over and ride quite regulary on Kosutnjak and around Belgrade.
Do you know any other good places, trails etc around the Belgrade area?
Cheers
Mal
Hi Mal,
Good to hear from you! I must admit to not being too clued up about Belgrade’s potential for cycling as I wasn’t riding while I lived there (1996-2000).
Kosutnjak would be the first place I would head for too. Also, you can have a good ride on Ada ciganlija - on the pedestrian area is OK, but there are also some wooded areas that I have ridden in (once, on a hired bike!)
Other than, I would very likely head out to Avala - I think that whole area would be good for a ride, but it’s quite a long way out just to get there. The ride up there would be pretty tempting for me.
I will see if I can’t get a few of the Belgrade guys to come and add their comments here. And if you are ever out Novi Sad way, you know who to call!
Mark
[...] you to markowe at MTB-Serbia for mentioning us in his bike links yesterday. Looking around his site got me thinking about bikes [...]
Ciao Markowe,
upravo videh tvoj sajt i mnogo mi se svidja.
Vezano za tvoju ideju sa recnikom izraza
baci pogled na moj rad i reci mi sta msilis, plz.
Na moj predlog g. Calvin, koji je inace i
sef ekipe mehanicara reprezentacije SAD
je ubacio i moje prevode.
http://www.parktool.com/documents/Bicycle_Mechanic_Language_5.xls
Prvo je uslovio da ih neko verifikuje pre nego sto objavi
a kad sam mu dao kontakte domacih dilera
i nekih prijatelja u inostranstvu objavio je ovako,
bez ikakvog lektorisanja. Bilo je i sajtu WC u Italiji
Rad bih bio cuti komentar.
pozdrav
IgorNS
Wow - in case people are wondering what that is all about, Igor has made an amazing English-Serbian-Dutch glossary of bike-related terms, which he got published at Park Tools!
He asked my opinion, but to be honest, though I translate from English to Serbian for a living, Igor, you have a far better knowledge of bike-stuff than I do! I don’t even know what some of those things are in English! It looks pretty amazing, and I will find it really useful myself!
I have only one comment - there are some words capitalised in English that don’t need to be:
O-ring
Pipe
Stop watch, timer
Team
Toilet
Tool
Wheel
They should be written lower-case as they are not proper names.
Also, there is a mistake in the phrases in Serbian: “Možete li da ponoVOvite”
But it’s an awesome bit of work - it will be really useful for me next time I have to visit the bike shop here in Novi Sad.
Hey Mark,
Would love to get in touch about some cycling advice/city advice for Novi Sad and surroundings! I’m leading a tour of 25 from Amsterdam to Istanbul, touring bikes but some basic advice around the city would be awesome. Hope this finds you well, keep riding,
Shawn
Dear Shawn,
pls contact on PM with details.
I will try to do my best so you all feel welcome
when you arrive to my hometown.
Best regards,
IgorNS
rogi_ns@yahoo.com
Hi Shawn,
Sure, fire away if you have any questions (will mail you my email), and I’m sure there’ll be others around happy to help too.
I guess you won’t be spending all that much time here though, just passing through, and on to Belgrade, right? Coming from Hungary or from Croatia?
Either way, the more you can avoid the major roads the better - I could maybe give you a few thoughts about which roads you would probably be better off taking.
great! I’ll email some specific questions, and send details to you IgorNS as well. Thanks everybody - some of my best friends happen to be Serbian, here in Canada, but not familiar with Novi Sad or Belgrade.
Shawn
Hi Shawn,
where in Canada are you located?
I also have best friends living in .ca!
When is your Estimated-Time-of-Arrival in Novi Sad?
If you plan to come from Budapest
there should be a Danube Peace Route,
a bicycle route all the way from Germany to Belgrade.
I can contact some of the men involved
in creating this route for advice, maps etc…
if there is enough time.
Contact me on my PM, pls
igorNS
rogi_ns@yahoo.com
Hi Mark,
I just read some of your blog and got inspired. I am a Serbo-Canadian ( how crazy does that sound) and want to get into mountain biking from a purely recreational point of view. I now live in Beograd so if you are coming to BGD soon I would appreciate the opportunity to meet and discuss some aspects of mountain biking with you- a simple “brain storming” session would do.
Also if you have some local-Belgrade contacts I would not mind meeting them either.
Thanx a million and talk to you soon
Ivan
Hi Mark
I’ve recently moved to Belgrade from Cape Town with my wife (she’s Serbian) and daughter and would love to join you guys some time.
Let me know - perhaps by email
cheers
Victor