Video filmed and edited by Ben Winder of Misspent Summers.
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Having received an invite to race the Sky to Sea enduro event in Turkey, Positive Crew frontman Phil Atwill got on the blower and assembled the crew – riders Socratis Zotos, Marco Lamaris and mechanic Malcolm Finnie – along with Ben Winder of Misspent Summers, loaded the van up and headed east to the frontiers of Asia, in what was to become one of the team’s most memorable trips.
Sailing from Athens (Greece) by ferry, we (the crew) touched down on the Hellenic island of Chios briefly before catching another boat to the Turkish mainland. After a solid drive through western Turkey we rolled into Kemer (Antalya) – the Mediterranean setting for the very unique Sky to Sea enduro race, sister event of the infamous Sea to Sky moto hard enduro race, also in Kemer.
It’s an event still evolving from its inception in 2022, and this year it took the form of a long single stage race from the airy slopes of Mount Olympus (Tahtalı Dağı) down into the vast lush loamy pine forested valleys above Kemer.
The event had a bit of a Megavalanche feel to it, in that all the practice during the week culminated in one big effort on race day rather than the classic multi-stage enduro races that we often see. Though unlike the Mega, Sky to Sea is an individual race niftily avoiding the carnage of the mass start!
Even so the race itself was not void of disaster with Soc’s derailleur violently imploding before the big climb, and Mal managing to OTB mid race run. Meanwhile Marco and Phil persevered to come 1st and 2nd respectively in their categories, with keen-eyed Welshman Sam Robson taking the elite win with an impressive time of 33 minutes 22 seconds. And Ben Winder accidentally won fastest time of the day in the electric bike cat, much to his dismay!
With the race and subsequent festivities in Kemer done with, we packed the van and headed north-east through Turkey’s vast interior, taking in the sights of the beautiful Beyşehir Lake, the buzzing metropolis of Konya city, and the snow-capped 3200m tall peak Hasandağı volcano along the route, before arriving in the historic and enchanting lunar landscapes of Cappadocia.
Once in Capadoccia we set about exploring the wild shapes of a volcanic dreamland incorporating deep canyons, whole ancient cities carved out of the rock, and giant ‘fairy chimneys’ towering above them, all under a sea of hundreds of hot air balloons sent up before dawn.
Cappadocia was – and will be for some time – the craziest adventure we’ve had the fortune to experience.
A few days later after a mammoth return journey to Athens via the same route, it was all over and the crew disbanded to recover and contemplate the things they had seen.
A massive heartfelt thank you to all of the Sky to Sea team who made this event happen – we will certainly be back! Anyone interested in visiting these areas of Turkey with their mountain bike will do well to give them a follow on IG @skytosea_mtb.
[Music] watch it watch it [Music] [Music] yo M what were you saying yeah just um busy busy packing for
Oh yeah you look you look well busy mate
last little lunch in Athens before we depart for Turkey
stay tuned
road trip we’re here with George Vasillus they’ve just tuned up ebike [Music] my [Music] arrived at the port [Music] here we are it’s another day we’re on the boat going to Hills Island everyone is fantastically excited [Music] uh we found a street spot and Phil is doing some jips [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] true [Music] [Applause] morning [Applause] [Music] [Music] Lodge
how we doing
how you doing got your lenses filthy we’re We’re here in beautiful CMA look at that look at that yeah man
guys from Seed Sky to Sea have hooked us up with a five-star hotel which is pretty luxury shout out guys much appreciated boys get the bikes ready uh Marco’s checking his fork pressures for the first time ever I believe which is incredible [Music] like a [ __ ] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] wow [Music] [Music] wow [Music] [Music] you what you do you just ripped over the bar check the size of that front brake lever [Music] your lens needs a white point yeah there you go yeah fresh Robby tire casing is very rocky here so I think it’s it’s a winning tire my highlight was that good line I found cuz caught everyone by surprise and I felt like the man yeah we were filming ah you’ll see it i mean it’s the slow-mo Ben got and everyone Phil was like “Oh you racing oh wow wow.” So yeah I felt like a [ __ ] man that was good morning stretch is waiting for Phil to get ready once again we said we’d be ready 7:45 it’s 8 and he’s still in the room yeah good man day three sky to see going to go up for some more practice get some more clips boys did some karaoke last night i’ll be honest i was in bed resting um but yeah going to get bikes in the van i’m is yeah 8:48 so we’ve got 12 minutes to get into the Gondola and it’s a 25-minute drive so yeah we best get moving ready just booked five e scooters for tonight baby can’t wait nice one [Music] that’s him [Music] heat [Music] heat [Music] proper mountain bike like legit big mountain bike like you I got on my bike day one when we got here and I was like this is what the bike is for i was like [Music] Wow wow [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] Heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] heat [Music] still waiting for Phil like yesterday deja vu and we’re going to practice a quali track and then we have qualifying hopefully get a good rest and be ready for finals tomorrow and we also unboxed some misspent summer fresh gear i look good you might have seen that already or if not the editor will insert the clip now freshies oh that is a [ __ ] bad one freshy looks good the one I wanted
this is my favorite ever image of Phil
that’s good transition eh let’s see [Music] look for you
yeah yeah after the race after the race after [Music] [Music] Guess we’re all going [Music] Where you from just having a little pre seeding qualifying coffee getting information information about the track i haven’t done uh training this morning i was sleeping uh yeah excited there are some sketchy tight turns they’ve told me i’ll be watching out for them it’s all right actually I thought it was going to be a bit more physical uh but I think I did moderately moderately all right my my physique surprised me absolutely melted like my arms did not have it in them couldn’t hold on to the bike couldn’t break
one run
went right from the rock on the
like straight out the bed
qualifying
yo I’m coming there i’m coming
my chest is hurting right now using the trail
it’s hard to breathe but [Music] I feel rich and established morning oh that was surprising good morning it’s race day we still haven’t slept enough but the excitement will soon kick in and we we will wake up properly how was qualifying yesterday
oh yeah yeah it was pretty good uh Phil beat us all i got third Marco fourth and different track it didn’t have much pedaling so will be interesting to see today how the results change if they do we’re in the Stargate baby about to race from the top of the mountain to the bottom all the way to the sea see the sky 2025 let’s go let’s see [Music] race day here sky to sea boys are booked up lovely show everyone and off we go do some racing [Music] [Music] [ __ ] uranium man i’ve got my uranium go go go go go go [Music] oh [Music] i got pumped on the climb
pumped
yeah and then I I held with him
and then I I could see dust for a little bit and then the dust stopped and I thought this is the end and then I come down here sort of cruising a little bit and I crossed the line first oh Ben went got lost oh the really flat loose bit i was going like this tried to break press the front brake lock washed out and face planted into a bush like proper like wash in the bush
it wasn’t even my fault the rope flew up stroke again ben won ben Mo got lost one
really
you think so [Music] [Music] [Music] give me your driver license
he’s in the hotel i know there’s the message room [Music] we What’s going on just about to set off for Capedokia um some of the some of the boys had a few too many drinks last night I think so it might be quite a long drive for them particularly the one holding the camera
but rightly so after your um fastest time of the day yesterday congratulations on that then enjoy the enjoy the ride [Music] [Music] just um fixing up socks bike after it got it got pretty broken in the race run just got a new mech on there and sorted out the gear hanger do the gears and then should be good to go just what we wanted after a 8 hour drive across there woke up half 4 it’s about just gone 5 pedalling through Capidoshia [Music] okay [Music] up what heat [Music] power is [ __ ] heat [Music] [Music] heat [Music] feel [Music] [Music] what [Music] got left [Music] whoa [Music] how many from Cover me with baby cover me with lots of rolling in designer i’ll never get enough [Music]
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Pleasure to watch. Good times. Good vibes boys
No glaciers to ride then?
Very Kind fo you to pass by Chios! This amazing Greek Island!
Love this ish