I have just moved to Riga and this is my first post in your forum. I love mountainbiking. I have been mountainbiking for all my life and I can’t wait to go mountainbiking in Latvia.
A little bit about myself. I am 25yrs old male from Ireland and raced mountainbikes from age 10. I won a lot of underage races but broke my leg very badly when I was 15 and haven’t raced since. For about 9 years I have not cycled seriously at all but last year I started mountainbiking again. I have a good technical ability but fitness needs improving.
If anyone would be interested in showing me some trails after the snow clears get in touch.
Sorry for using English. Still working on my Latvian. I posted the Google Translate of this text below to save you time…
Rory
Latviešu:
Hello everyone
Es tikko pārcēlās uz Rīgu, un šis ir mans pirmais pēc jūsu forumā. I love mountainbiking. Esmu bijis mountainbiking visu manu dzīvi un es nevar gaidīt, lai iet mountainbiking in Latvija.
Mazliet par sevi. I am 25yrs vecs vīrietis no Īrijas un steidzās mountainbikes no 10 gadu vecumu. I won daudz nepilngadīgo sacīkšu bet salauza manu kāju ļoti slikti, kad man bija 15 un nav steidzās kopš. Apmēram 9 gadus man nav iestatīti nopietni visiem, bet pagājušajā gadā es sāku mountainbiking vēlreiz. Man ir labas tehniskās iespējas, bet fitnesa nepieciešams pilnveidot.
Ja kāds būtu ieinteresēts kurā man pēc sniega takas notīra get in touch.
Es arī setup facebook grupu Mountainbikers un velosipēdistiem Rīgā. Ideja ir dalīties maršrutiem fotogrāfijas un organizē meet-ups gadījumiem, kad sniegs kūst. Lūdzu pievienoties, ja lietojat facebook. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=create+a+group&init=quick #! / group.php? gid = 301.719.347.637 & ref = nf
Žēl, lietojot angļu valodā. Joprojām strādā par manu latviešu valodu. I ievietojis Google šo tekstu tālāk Translate to ietaupīt laiku …
MTB in Riga surroundings maybe something very far from what you are used to, but anyway - there are plenty of trails around and also in Riga too. Mostly flat though.
I know north, east north part of Riga and would be happy to show some of these. I also have many of typical routes shared on mapmyride.com,but this is a very slow site so couldnt provide a link right now.
In Riga there are a few places which can be used for mountainbiking:
Bikernieku forest in the eastern part of the city. There are some sand dunes covered with pine forest criss-crossed with trails; during the summer the trails get rather sandy though. Nearby is a car/bike racing track which is open to the public most of the time, so it is quite popular among cyclists, inline skaters and runners. When riding in the forest watch out for people walking their dogs off leash.
Mežaparks in the north-east. (Near the Zoo). During the season riders from this forum quite often arrange to meet at the zoo gate after work and go for a ride in the forest. Lots of small hills, roots and sand.
Outside Riga the most popular place for mtb is Sigulda, which is located 50 km to the east. The town can also be reached by train. On both sides of Gauja river there are plenty of trails ranging from xc to dh.
It looks like Sigulda is the place to go. I grew up in the mountains so flat mountain biking feels like road biking… good for fitness but less fun :)
I hope to go next weekend. If anyone wants to come with please email me. I am quite unfit at the moment so it will just be an easy ride to learn the trails.
Hi, please be so kind and delete “latvian” translation in your topic! It looks and sounds like a bad joke. As you see, there are many guys who can help you in English.
Anyway, very welcome in country of big “mountains” :DDD
[quote=Kaspi4]Ppl want to pay attention to the fact that first race is not so far away. 3 of april. It is very close to Riga in the city of Balozi.
site adress: www.velokross.lv[/quote]
I’ve checked this link, it is written there, the first race will be in 17-th of April!
Pls, all interested people to pay attention!
Sounds like a good idea to improve my poor english a bit!
I’ll have fortnight vacation starting on Easter, planning to do some training including Sigulda trails. So feel free to contact me on email ("my nick"at mtb.lv) or phone 26-18-14-eighty seven
I really appreciate your incentives. It is GREAT that you share your fun and openness! Good that you try to provide some translation, not all latvians understand English, but as you can see, sometimes latvians take things too seriously (I mean, adix) :D
Ogre Zilo kalnu (Blue hills) nature park has some relief with technical singletracks … it is ~35 km to the East from Riga. I believe it is possible to organize some friendly ride someday with other mates from XC.lv… 24h race will take a place here in August. Also I really hope that TREK night rides on Thursdays will be organised this year too.
I just used “google translate” for those guys who doesn’t understand MrKey English, here it is! Have fun:
I really appreciate jūsu stimulus. Ir GREAT, ka jūs dalīties ar jūsu jautri un atklātību! Labi, ka jūs mēģināt sniegt dažas tulkojumu, ne visi latvieši saprot angļu valodu, bet kā jūs varat redzēt, dažreiz latvieši ņem lietas pārāk nopietni (es domāju, adix): D
Ogres Zilo Kalnu (Blue Hills), dabas parks ir daži atvieglojumi ar tehnisko singletracks … tas ir ~ 35 km uz austrumiem no Rīgas. Es uzskatu, ka ir iespējams organizēt dažas draudzīgs braukšanas someday ar citiem biedriem no XC.lv… 24 stundu sacīkstes notiks vieta šeit augustā. Arī es tiešām ceru, ka TREK nakts braucieni ceturtdienās tiks organizētas šogad too.
Izkļūt un brauc!
It looks like Sigulda is the place to go. I grew up in the mountains so flat mountain biking feels like road biking… good for fitness but less fun :)
I hope to go next weekend. If anyone wants to come with please email me. I am quite unfit at the moment so it will just be an easy ride to learn the trails.
Hope to hear from you
Rory[/quote]
Te neliela palīdzība no google tiem, kas nesaprata puiša teikto:
Paldies visiem atbildes.
Izskatās, ka Sigulda ir vieta, kur iet. Es uzaugu kalnos tik plakana kalnu riteņbraukšanas jūtas kā ceļu riteņbraukšanas … labu fitnesa bet mazāk jautri:)
Es ceru, ka iet nākamajā nedēļas nogalē. Ja kāds vēlas nākt ar lūdzu, rakstiet man. Es esmu diezgan nederīgs tajā brīdī, tāpēc tas būs vienkārši viegli braukt mācīties takas.
adix, tiem, kam angļu valoda ir tikpat saprotama, kā man, piemēram, zviedru valoda, google translate palīdz izprast vismaz sarunas kontektstu ;) tas arī viss. ā, un vēl, tas sagādā arī mazliet jautrības :D
@Fusio - I would be happy to check out some trails closer to Riga on a weekday evening… Especially now that we have nice long days :) email me.
@Skotu amerikānis - please let me know when you will be going to mezaparks for a ride. Was skiing there before. Would be nice to have a local riding spot.
@saint - gotta love Thin Lizzy but they are the wrong mountains for me :) I grew up in Wicklow (30km south of Dublin). The government have recently paid for some really cool trail centres to be built there. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good mountain bike holiday. Mountain Bike Action (the Amercian magazine) said the trails we built were some of the best they had ever ridden anywhere in the world :) Cork and Kerry also rock for mtb… much bigger mountains.
@MrKey - Let’s do Ogre… Night rides sounds cool too but would need to get some good lights… 24hr is a bit much for me … Lots of my friends do them but I like sleeping too much :D
It looks like Sigulda is the place to go. I grew up in the mountains so flat mountain biking feels like road biking… good for fitness but less fun :)
I hope to go next weekend. If anyone wants to come with please email me. I am quite unfit at the moment so it will just be an easy ride to learn the trails.
Hope to hear from you
Rory[/quote]
You ve got a point: Sigulda is first plase You should start in Latvia. :) I live here, I know what Im saying ;) and of course trails surrounding Cesis city are fantastic!! Sorry for my english! And welcome to Latvia!
Tomorrow our company will cycle some circle out of Riga, but along the asphalted road … for now :) want to join us?