Two questions - one for me and one for my husband:
1. I am regular runner and am now starting my marathon training. I would love to join some other runners for some of my runs to change scenery and well to have company - anyone out there running?? (I live in Bebek and have my own transport)
2. Does anyone attempt to do road biking (racing bike) in Istanbul or is that a recipe for suicide? if you know of a group or club would love to know.

1. there's a regular group who congregate in Arnavutkoy (spelling), which is only a few 100m away from you (towards Besiktas). I think they meet at 06:45. The main organiser is "Jonathan" or Rudigger, but I think he's on holiday at the moment, so they may not be running.
2. Ocassionally you see groups of cyclists but I've not seen anything on racing. I'd love to get back in the saddle though, as I used to race (long time ago) in the UK.

Hi Red,

me and my fiance ride bycle alot.last time,we cycled from istanbul to izmir which was great.i go to work everyday by bike.unfortunatelly,it s pain n neck to cycle istanbul trafic so we usually cycle out of istanbul.sometimes u should join us.we can cycle from ist to şile..

we are bike lovers..

I bought a bike three weeks ago ......... anyone want to buy a bike, only three weeks old and used once?

I have sometimes seen racing bike riders in two's or three's and I imagine there are a few clubs around.

What is it and how much? as I was looking for one at the weekend!

I got it in Carrefour, for about 260YTL. Don't know the make but it has Shimano gears if that's any help. It's also crap though, and needed everything tightening up when I got it home. The gears don't work properly, the steering is very vague, and the brakes are either on or off.

Still, not bad for a Turkish brand as it didn't fall to pieces five minutes after I bought it.


At the Marmok bike festival last week there was a company selling bikes (you know, the wierd ones without engines) called Delta. They have a shop in Kadikoy (Bagdat Cad, No13/1) http://www.deltabisiklet.com

They have bikes up to 2,500ytl

The bikes that I was looking at started at €500 and up to €2000..... needless to say I walked out of the shop empty handed!

Delta seemed like a good company, and appeared willing to negotiate on prices. They might be worth a try.

Hi Maenad - you said that you cycled from Istanbul to Izmir? Wow that's a accomplishment if my calculations are correct it's around 500km? my husband would be only interested in 50-60 km max. Maybe you went by motorbike???

when I was racing we would regularly do 200 km trips.... a friend also did a charity ride from Preston, Lancs to Oxford and completed it in 10 hours.

OK, so I'm a bit late joining this thread and I've already talked to one of you about cycling.

Now that I'm looking in the right category, are there others who are still interested in a ride? I've done the Istanbul-Sile ride a few times, and I'm thinking about extending it to Agva and Kandira. I'd also be interested in longer distance rides like the one to Izmir.

Let me know if you're still out there and still riding!

Thanks

Merhaba,

Just landed a few days ago and plan on staying for at the very least a year. I'm living in Besiktas with my wife, Nassim, and am desperate to get kilometers under my belt, but can't find good stretches around the neighborhood.

Any recommendations for running trails around Besiktas (8-12 km.) and for outdoor running clubs?

I've got 4 marathons under my belt with PB 3:40 in Seattle in 2005. Ran Portland this year, but had an injured running buddy so we clocked an unabashedly horrid time.

Any runners out there shooting for 8.5 or 8.0 minute miles for upcoming Istanbul or Athens?

Miguel

Miguel,

welcome to this website.

there are a few of us here, actuallly. "Utabe" has finished Beirut last week, "redfire" in Dublin end of October and I Düsseldorf in May. JC finished Istanbul last year. We try to go to Belgrade Forest once every weekend to do 18 km or 24 km normally.

Redfire and I have about the same PB as you, but I do actually like running slower normally (around 5:30 - 6:00 min/km) on the long runs.

We meet up on Tuesdays and Thursdays around 6:45h between Kurucesme and Arnavutköy for a 50 min run to Rumeli Hisari and back.

If you want me to invite for the runs, please PM me your e-mail.

you can map runs for istanbul on mappmyrun.com

correct link is http://www.mapmyrun.com/