MTB Egypt

Name: Mohamed Kandil

Age: 25

Where are you from?: Obour City-Cairo

What do you do for a living? : Marketing Manger

When and why did you start cycling? : I’ve been cycling for as long as I can remember.

Road, off-road, or both? It was not until recently that I started off-road cycling and it’s really fun but before it was mainly road biking.

Tell us about your bike(s)!: Renault Eclaireur , all aluminum with Shimano Acera , It’s a good entry-level  bike that one can start mountain biking with.

Favorite ride(s) (road or off-road): In 2008 I made a bike tour for 4 days in Switzerland and it was like a dream, I love mountain biking in Wadi Degla. Anyway I love biking anywhere as long as the air is clean and the scenery is nice.

Do you practice other sports?: swimming , running, I’m thinking about taking Triathlon seriously

Tell us about your cycling-related injuries/accidents: Once I had a head-on collision with another bike, the funny thing is that I could see the other bike coming meters away , but every time I took one side of the road the girl on the other bike took the same side ,  so we kept swinging like this until we eventually crashed .
But mountain biking-wise I’ve been cautious till now.

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself? I love astronomy , night sky watching and I build model airplanes.

Name: Hany Nagaty

Age: 34

Where are you from?: Cairo, Egypt

What do you do for a living? Telecom Engineer

When and why did you start cycling?
I started serious cycling one year ago. It was when I knew about some cycling event in Europe where we should cycle 800Km in 7 days. So I started serious bike training for the event, and after coming back I’m still into cycling.

Road, off-road, or both? Both

Tell us about your bike(s)!: Specialized Hardrock MTB, And  I love it

Favorite ride(s) (road or off-road):Both
I love the off-road for the adventure and fun.
And I love going long distance on road to increase the fitness and endurance.

Do you practice other sports?:
Sometimes swimming and a little gym.

Tell us about your cycling-related injuries/accidents:
It was a silly accident; locking the front brakes and then going over the handlebars. I broke a finger. I had an important cycling event two weeks later and I couldn’t miss it, so I went cycling with my hand still in the cast. Thank God I didn’t fall during the event. My finger is now fine.

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
I hope biking becomes more popular in Egypt. I wish there are bike shops that sell descent bikes and accessories. And I wish (for sure this is day dreaming) Egyptian streets get bike lanes just like they have in Europe.

Name: Nora Mortagui

Age: 27

Where are you from?

Raised in Alexandria but currently living in Cairo.

What do you do for a living?

I work for a multinational in the human resources department.

When and why did you start cycling?

I started cycling in April, 2009 because I was looking to adopt an outdoorsy activity where I can continuously challenge my body & mind especially in a very male-dominated sport.

Road, off-road, or both?

So far, off-road, I have only biked on-road twice. But I am not biased to either.

Tell us about your bike(s)!:

My bike is a hardtail women’s edition 2009 GTw Avalanche 3.0. I just love it when guys see it and comment “oooh, but it’s so girly!”. Yea.

Favorite ride(s) (road or off-road):

Wadi Degla, so far J

Do you practice other sports?:

I regularly do aerobics, strength training & hiking but I’ll be willing to try anything else at least once.

Tell us about your cycling-related injuries/accidents:

Some time in the end of September 2009, I was riding really fast in the Wadi’s Canyon where I, as far as I can remember, attempted to jump a very small drop off at very high speed only to end up landing on the side of my front wheel, that got twisted, then I began swerving manically & ultimately flew off my bike, injured my right forearm from my palm to my elbow, where my palm turned blue then black, and pounded the triangular bone beneath my lower spine and hit the back of my head. After a month, I am still recovering from that fall but thank God for helmets!

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?

Nah, I’m good.