Tri247's Editor isn't the only one to have been enjoying a bit of sunshine - Stelios Marcou has been out in Cyprus getting in some solid training for his Ironman campaign this year. Here's his report from Cyprus on cycling one of the island's best-kept secrets.

Over the last few years, I have travelled to Cyprus a number of times purely for either racing or training. These days my holidays differ wildly from when I used to go to Cyprus in my late teens; gone are the days when I used to spend my days bumming around on the beach for weeks on end and consuming copious amounts of alcohol during those long summer nights. So, it comes in stark contrast that I banked a mouth watering 25 hours of training in last week, but I am about to enter into the unknown, what with racing IM France in June and, for some reason, also signing up for IM Florida in November. My thinking behind this crazy plan is that seeing as though I am busting a gut to get fit for one Ironman, I might as well make it a brace and do another. I am also planning to race Antwerp 70.3 in August as a mid-season race, as well as a few other events for fun. To help me in this mammoth feat, this year I have taken on a coach to add structure and real focus to my training sessions. After attending some of his excellent training camps and knowing him for a few years now, I knew that there could only be one man for the job, and that is, the legend that is Steve Trew!

The facilities on Europe’s largest island are surprisingly good. There are an abundance of decent 25m pools as well as a few 50m open air pools found in each of the four main cities. If the pool is not your flavour when on the continent, then a short drive in most directions will find you faced with miles of endless coastline, which will provide warm, clear waters, fantastic to swim in and, even in early April, a wetsuit wasn’t really needed. I took mine with me because I knew I would be swimming alone for a few sessions, and after a winter of speedo only pool swimming, I needed the wetsuit swimming practise.

Triathlon is also on the up in Cyprus and the Cyprus Triathlon Federation are doing a fantastic job in promoting the sport on the island. There is a national triathlon series which comprises of about ten races and it is worth mentioning that international athletes are always welcomed. I have raced at a few of these events now and although small in size, the average field comprises of about 60 athletes, it makes for a friendly intimate affair. The races are professionally organised, Bambos Spanoudes (Head of Cytrifed) certainly has attention to detail at the top of his list. More info can be found at www.cytrifed.org

The K1 Triathlon club is run by British servicemen out of the Episkopi Garrison. It’s a fantastic club, everyone is very friendly and they also have a race series. Nick Kemp, who is the captain, has always been very inviting whenever I have wanted to race or train with them. More info on K1 can be found on their website www.k1triathlonclub.org

Cyprus' best kept secret for cycling is in its interior. There are naturally lots of coastal routes one could follow, but the Troodos Mountain range with its peak, Mount Olympus, is certainly not for the faint hearted. I have ridden some of the Tour's toughest climbs; the Jou Plan and the Alpe, to name drop two. I have also ridden in Italy on routes that the Giro follows. I’ll put my hand on heart and say that the Troodos climb will rival any one of these. It’s an unrelenting 0m to 1,800m straight up in 30 long miles, winding through quaint little villages on a beautiful big backdrop, which if you have time to take any of it in, you aren’t working hard enough.

On the subject of my new Garmin Forerunner 305 I cannot stress what a fantastic piece of kit this little beauty is. Not only has it not let me down yet... the accuracy and the reliability is second to none. I was a bit skeptical about switching from my Suunto T6, which I have been using for a few years now. The advanced physiological capabilities of the T6 are hard to beat, the basic stuff though, like speed, heart and distance I did find to be sometimes unreliable. The Garmin obviously does so much more than these three basic functions and, unlike its competitors; Suunto, Polar, Timex, etc, the Garmin is a one stop shop. There are no pods to fix onto your shoes or your arms. The built in GPS function works surprisingly well, both in and out of urban areas; hell it even seems to work in my living room. To add, and this was the decider for me being a mutipsort athlete, it has cadence, something that Suunto just hasn’t got and from what I understand is some way from developing.

The days started early with sun being high up in the blue sky. Temperature at sea level at 10am was a lovely 18 degrees. Although I knew I wouldn’t be needing them until much later on in the day, I used up one of the rear pockets on my jersey for arm and leg warmers. After a very short warm up (my parents live at the foot of the climb I was about to embark on) the fun began after only five minutes as I took a right turn at Erimi village a few miles outside of Limassol. The first section is eight miles long with gradients ranging between 8% and 12%. There is some relief after these eight miles, but only for a slight decent and flat section for about a mile, enough to take on some fluids and spin the lactate out of your legs. The next stage is half the first, but in the same vain, straight up! Again after a leg busting four miles you are rewarded with a short descent and a chance to get onto to the drops and spin out for a mile and a half or so. This once again is short lived and the road kicks up again all too quickly for another five miles of ascent. The mountain range has now opened up as the valley has now been crossed and it is here where you see breathtaking views.

It is probably worth mentioning at this stage that, during the week, these mountain roads are very quiet. Drive in the cities and you ride at your own peril, I guess not too unlike most cities around the globe. To add; the Cypriots over the years seem to have mellowed behind the wheel, and although you still get the odd nutter in a Nissan pickup truck running a red light and driving like there is no tomorrow with his hair on fire, on the whole the motorists seem very considerate to the cyclist.

I didn’t see many cars at all that day and the ones I did see where mostly hire cars (very obvious as they have a red number plate that begins with the letter Z), a few locals who looked at me through their windscreens with amused bewilderment that this man is actually on a bike, cycling up a mountain. On a few occasions I think they must have felt so humbled that they gave me an extra wide berth and nearly caused a head on collision. Then there are the coaches crammed full of day trippers. These coaches have a similar climbing speed as a Tour Category cyclist (which is slow, considering we are talking about a motorized vehicle) and snail pace cornering speeds on the switchbacks. So it was much to my glee that into half of my ride I came across one of these coaches, this provided me with a bit of company for about 10km. Although it felt like a game of cat and mouse, the time certainly passed quickly. I don’t think the driver had expected me to stay with him for so long and the passengers certainly seemed quite distracted from the views of the lush pine forests. Our party only ended when the coach pulled into one of the many vineyards which line the route for its passengers to sample some local wine, and to have a spot of lunch, no doubt.

Arriving into Platres at 1250m, there was a noticeable drop in temperature and although the sun was still shining, the last two hours and 30 minutes had been tough. I was fatigued, but the last few months of heavy training had paid off and I knew that I had loads in reserve (I was in a much better state than the last time I had attempted the climb). I was almost at my destination, but I knew that the last 14km would be the toughest of the day. The average gradient for this last section is over 10% and having ridden this road once before, it was good to know just how tough it was going to be. After all was said and done it passed surprisingly swiftly.

I rolled in to the Troodos square with a ride time of just under three hours and I was still in good shape. I stopped for a well deserved BBQ lunch (with chips!) a coke and quite shortly after the arm and leg warmers came out in preparation for the descent. And what a decent I was about to embark on, 30 miles of pure adrenaline. After my crash at the Nove Colli in Italy last year, I knew I wasn’t going to see 103kph on my speedo (this is the fastest I have ever clocked). I needed to get my bottle back and this was going to be the perfect opportunity to lay a few demons to rest. For the first few kilometers I was riding those brakes to the point where I could feel the heat coming off my Fulcrum's, then it suddenly fell into place and I eased off and let gravity take over. Needless to say, I was grinning from ear to ear by the time I got back down to sea level!