Cycling in Greece and Where to Get the Stuff You Need
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I do a lot of cycling and I am the happy dad in a cycling family. All four of my sons are cyclists in one form or another. My own preference is somewhere on the fuzzy line between being a roadie and a casual mountain biker. Roadies are those who don't do mud … ever. OK, that would be me, I don't like mud, but I do ride a mountain bike so that I can take the occasional shortcut without fear of equipment damage, not to mention the guilt that goes with it. I don't even like riding through puddles of water, so I avoid the one end of my street where my neighbor is obessing over his car and constantly washing it. But my sons occupy space in each camp. One of them loves the dangerous and dizzying mountain bike game while the other three prefer the spandex-clad world of speed and distance on smooth surfaces. The mountain biker likes to push his ride to the limit and look at life from windy vistas one moment and down in the dirty muddy reality the next. He's not into the team side of it, just the messy and sometimes dangerous side. The roadies are in perpetual training mode. They even wear the coordinated team spandex suits with contoured helmets that give them a multi-colored storm trooper look as they cruise from town to town just inches from each others' back tires.
Our vacations can be a little crazy at times. This past summer we visited the South of Greece and while we didn't take our machines along with us we did get a chance to rent some equipment and see some of the country from atop two human-powered wheels. You can see a lot of Greece on a bike if you don't mind spending some time in the saddle. We did a few of the world-famous islands including Lefkada, Evia, Mykonos and Lemnos as well as some dedicated site seeing while sweating up and down the hills of the mainland. If you don't mind a plug here let me mention a place we found that helped us quite a bit. While visiting the Attica region of Greece we found a place to get our equipment serviced and to buy replacement parts. (Okay, I also bought a bike … but that's another story. But I can mention the brand. Cube. Very cool. Those Germans know how to make a good bike.) If you live in or are visiting the South of Greece I'd give a strong recommendation to a family-owned place called PODHLATADIKO.GR. Let's see … they used some Greek characters there to make their name but we would pronounce it like PODEE-LATA-DIKO. I asked Minas Parathirakis, the owner, and he told me that it just simply means "bike store." (It's a good thing his English was flawless because I never did figure out how to speak much Greek while there!) He named his place to sound like a web address because he was planning on doing a lot of marketing on the web from the very beginning.
At the time of our visit he was working on his website and we gave him a few pointers in that direction. Computer and web consulting is what I do for a living. And now in the past few weeks I see that he's got a nice site up and running even while it is still under development. (No, I didn't design this and I have virtually nothing to do with writing it. No self-promotion here.) The address is www.podhlatadiko.gr. Apparently the site is designed in Adobe Flash and features a rotating bicycle mechanism animation in the background and a nice easy-to-navigate front end. You'll easily be able to find all of the things you're looking for here with plenty of information about the products he carries. On this site you'll find bikes, riding clothing, parts and acccessories, tools and even a full service center. I liked the Location section of his site which utilizes a nice map system to help you find the exact location of the shop. If you'd like to know more about them you can use the About page to send a request for information. There's a nice form for sending your email or you can directly click on their email address and use your own email software.
Did I already say this part? If you live anywhere near the area of Loutsa in the South of Greece or you plan to visit there anytime soon you'd do yourself a favor to stop by PODHLATADIKO.GR at 78 Artemidos in Loutsa [Artemis], Greece. Call them if you wish at their local number of 22944-00601. You'll enjoy the experience. We did. Take it from a dedicated cycling enthusiast.
Miles Branch lives and works in Scottsdale, AZ. When he's not hunched over a computer he's either riding his mountain bike or reading the latest tech on alternative energy.
Category Article Cycling, Greece, Stuff, Where
