Italy | Mountain biking on Elba: Between old mines and the blue sea

It's easier with an e-bike, the climbs are sometimes steep and demanding. Photo: Christian Schreiber The little bus is full. The passengers look amazed through the milky windows. They see something they didn't expect: mountain bikers hopping over the black gravel. And the cyclists? Wondering about the vehicle, whose passengers all wear helmets. Some want to go into the mountain, others want to go up to Monte Calamita in the southeast of the island of Elba. Bike meets mining.

Miners used to work here to extract iron ore. The traces of their work can still be seen everywhere. Over the decades, mountain slopes became terraces and plateaus. The men and their machines dug holes and tunnels, leaving ramps and steps. Nowadays it makes for a varied terrain for mountain bikers. Blue sea, black coast, orange sand, rusty excavators, narrow paths. Everything from easy to difficult is included, even a World Cup course.

»I recommend an e-bike to anyone who wants to see something of Elba.«

A cross-country world cup took place on the peninsula in 1994, and the mountain bike marathon world championships will take place in 2021. There was another Marathon World Cup in May of this year. The cycling scene portal writes about the “relentlessness of a mining landscape”. The terrain requires “precise driving technique and targeted use of energy, especially on the sections of the route where rock unexpectedly appears between fragrant rosemary and mastic bushes.”

The scene has long had Monte Calamita on its radar. But a lot has also happened on the rest of the island. Michele Cervellino played a part in this. The 50-year-old with broad shoulders and muscular thighs has a mission: Elba should become Italy's new mountain bike paradise. Michele has been working on this for a decade. In the evenings he swaps his police uniform for a cycling jersey and records the island's routes. He has revised cycling and hiking maps, written his own tour guide and installed 1,700 signs to help mountain bikers stay on the right path. Everything is voluntary, without payment.

The public sector also contributed to opening up the routes. The maps of the national park can be downloaded free of charge via the Avenza Maps app and used on the go. In addition to hiking trails, it also lists unpaved roads and the designated routes of the Capoliveri Bike Park.

Michele is particularly proud of an option that Google Street View offers. He pulls out his cell phone and shows how paths can be viewed there before the tour. The recordings give an impression of the surface, the surroundings and the difficulties that can be expected along the way. »I don't know if there is another bike region in the world that offers something like this.«

With Michele we are on our way to the northeastern tip of the island. We partly follow the Grande Traversata Elbana, or GTE for short, the long-distance hiking trail on which the island can be crossed in several stages. Where hikers and cyclists use the same paths, Michele encourages consideration so that they don't get in each other's way. In any case, we hardly meet a soul and pedal alone over peaks and ridges.

The terrain is correspondingly demanding. “I recommend an e-bike to anyone who wants to see something of Elba,” says Michele. This way we can cover 50 kilometers or more every day and have time to visit the small mountain villages and even hang out on the beach.

If you want to take on the island in a sporty way, you can save yourself the rental car and many traffic jams on the road and go for a mountain bike. You can explore a lot of Elba by bike in a week. A suitable starting point is accommodation in the middle part of the island, for example around Portoferraio or Marina di Campo. There are also bays with fine beaches and numerous campsites.

Many bike shops offer guided tours in addition to rentals. But you can also easily find your way around Monte Calamita on your own. Anyone expecting a bike park with bases, tools and food along the routes will be disappointed. You have to take care of yourself for the tour.

Alberto is happy to help with small problems. The Italian used to work in the mine himself and now looks after the museum, which has many mountain bike trails leading past it. He quickly found a solution for the saddle that bent during the descent. But then he has to go. He drives the next bus with helmeted tourists towards the mine.

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