Mountain Biking Worldwide holds a long standing relationship with Sri Lanka having first visited the island in 2005. From 2012 we teamed up with SriLankan Airlines to bring about the pearl of the Indian ocean’s first ever international mountain bike race and have been working closely with the national carrier ever since.
Over the last year we’ve been tasked to come up with ideas for a new Ride Sri Lanka event to take place on the island during March 2024. SriLankan Airlines wanted an event that would be inclusive to a wide range of cyclists, but also take them through a challenging terrain whilst giving a view of the country rarely visited by others and best seen from the saddle of a bike. It was a tall order, but slowly plans came together, culminating recently with 2 weeks on location checking and riding suitable routes.
Mountain Biking Worldwide are predominantly known for, well, Mountain Biking! But Ride Sri Lanka 2024 is something different. Sri Lanka is blessed with a network of quiet paved and unpaved roads, ranging from carpet smooth tarmac to jaw rattling rock, with every conceivable surface in between. We have used this spiderweb of roads and trails to take you through places very few tourist travel with diverse scenery that you won’t find anywhere else on earth. With the might of SriLankan Airlines behind this event it’s also possible to provide options to suit different riding preferences, flat sections, hilly sections, on road descents, off road descents, shorter routes and long routes, something for everyone to ride. Not fitting any 1 category of cycling, Ride Sri Lanka 2024 could be best described as a diverse terrain adventure.
Sri Lanka might be best known for its beaches, budget hotels and independent travel, but SriLankan Airlines are keen to also show off a more luxurious side to the island. As well as route finding we had the enviable job of checking out the hotels along the way, and whilst we’ve stayed in some pretty swanky places in Sri Lanka before, the selection for Ride Sri Lanka 2024 totally wowed us and wouldn’t be out of place on an Abercrombie & Kent luxury holiday!
The first 2 nights of the adventure will be hosted at the luxurious Aliya Resort in Habarana, with an infinity pool over looking Lion’s Rock, ayuverdic spa centre and open air dining to the sounds of the surrounding jungle. A tough act to follow, but the quality of hotels continues with stays at the Serendip Signature Resort in Digana and Heaven’s Edge in Ella. The Argyle in Hatton combines an air of colonial grandeur with a modern opulence and a quality of service unrivaled by many 5* hotels worldwide. In total you will be treated to 10 nights of luxurious accommodation with the last night in Colombo in one of the capitals classic 5* resorts.
Subsidised entry fee and discounted flights
The airline also really want to encourage more cyclists to visit their beautiful country and to enjoy the wide array of routes around the island so as a first year promotion are offering highly subsidised entry fees and discounted flights for Ride Sri Lanka 2024. It really is an opportunity too good to miss.
We know that you are going to love riding your bike in Sri Lanka, but it has so much more to offer too. That’s why there’s also heaps of free time during Ride Sri Lanka 2024 to relax, explore and have fun with friends and family.
The Riding
But, what about the riding?! Well as the saying goes a picture (or in this case a photo) paints a thousand words so below are a selection of images taken during the recce which hopefully portray the multitude of surfaces and diversity of terrain covered. Due to the intensive nature of route finding we used a combination of bikes, foot and vehicles during the recce so although not all images are riding photos, the course it totally rideable (with the right bike).
The bikes we took out to Sri Lanka were full suspension mountain bikes with Panaracer Gravel King tyres. This proved to be a great combination for the majority of the route, with the Gravel King tyres not dragging too much on the sealed sections, coping well with the hard packed dirt, and the suspension giving better traction on the rougher rockier sections. There were a couple of occasions where wider, gnarlier tyres would have been an advantage especially on the rocky climb up the Devils staircase plus the final days off road descent and there would be nothing to stop riders changing tyres for these last 2 days.
Gravel bikes would also cope perfectly well with the first 3 days of riding but may struggle with the 2 sections mentioned above. There will be alternative routes which are totally rideable on gravel bikes, but if you’re up for the challenge you can take on the gnarlier sections with the full support of the race crew backing you up.
E-bikes are also welcome and charging batteries each evening won’t be a problem.
Ride Sri Lanka Day 1 – Lions Rock
View the medium course on Relive
There’s 2 options today, either 80km with 1000m of ascent or 135km with 2200m of ascent with the first 60km being almost pan flat.
The route uses around a 50 / 50 mix of quiet sealed / broken tarmac and dirt roads starting straight from the hotel, past Lions Rock and on-wards through rural Sri Lanka.
Ride Sri Lanka Day 2 – Race the Train
View the medium course on Relive
Day 2 gives riders the chance to compete against the iconic Sri Lanka highland train as it makes it way from the high country to Colombo on the coast via a number of tunnels and bridges. 2 options are available again, either 60km with 2000m of ascent or 92km with 2380m of ascent. Can you beat the train? A special memento awaits anybody that can and a free return flight to Sri Lanka for the first female and male that beat the train into Talawakele station (t+c’s apply)
Ride Sri Lanka Day 3 – Quicker by Bike
Transfer day from Hatton to Beli Huloya and it’s quicker by bike than by bus! 50km and 790m of ascent through some absolutely stunning scenery
Ride Sri Lanka Day 4 – The Devils Staircase
A day for climbers and / or downhillers (isn’t that everybody?!)
After a rolling 7km leg warm up the climbing begins as the route heads up past Sri Lanka’s highest waterfall, Bambarankanda. The first 12km is a mix of sealed, concrete and broken tarmac but the next 12km is a proper off road climb, getting tougher the higher it gets! The rewards for reaching the top are bragging rights,spectacular views and the return descent! Fear not, if you don’t fancy a 16km full on ascent, then just ride as far up as you want and simply coast back to the hotel!
We cheated and took a ride to the top of the Devils Staircase! (but we have ridden it many times before!)
Ride Sri Lanka Day 5 – Date with the south coast
Its the last day of riding and you’ve a date with the beaches on the south coast, so we’ve made the last day FAST!
After a transfer to Liptons Seat at 1800m above sea level, off roaders are treated to 12km of super rough descending followed by a futher 20km on quiet sealed road past Sri Lanka’s second highest waterfall Diyaluma.
For those that fancy a slightly smoother descent there’s a 50km on road option, joining the off roaders after 30km, but who will get there first?
Entries are now open
Ride Sri Lanka has a dedicated web page – Ride Sri Lanka 2024 which contains heaps of information and a link to apply for the event. Entries are limited so early applications are definitely encouraged !!
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One Response
looks fascinating