MTB Egypt’s rider of the month: August 2013

Name: Eissa Allam

Age: 31

Where are you from?: Maadi, Cairo , Egypt

What do you do for a living?
I work in the Oil & Gas field as an Instrumentation & control Engineer

When and why did you start cycling? I started cycling 2011 , Actually my childhood was almost spent on bikes, and it popped into my mind that I should be back especially when I joined MTBEgypt group on Facebook on 2010 , it was part of the motivation that I could be back on the bike.

Do you ride mountain bikes exclusively? I started riding both road and off-road, but I didn’t like road biking unless I use it for transportation inside maadi

Tell us about your bike(s)!: The first bike was Orbea Dakar 2011, I ride this bike for 8 months , then I switched to Specialized FSR XC 2009 that I bought from a colleage at work. I’ve made some good upgrades on the bike , I’ve upgraded the fork to Rockshox Reba RL 120mm travel and switched from V brakes to Shimano XT disk brakes which both made a huge difference in riding in the wadi.

Favorite ride(s): Short technical ones in general are my favorite in addition to Wadi Hof ride, which I really like.

Do you practice other sports?: Yeah , Jogging , Diving , used to play lots of squash but can’t find anyone anymore to join me 🙂

Tell us about your cycling-related injuries/accidents:
The most famous one was when I fell off that narrow steep descent before the balcony, I couldn’t raise my arm more than half the way for about 2 months , I had pain in my ribs and clavicle for 6 months.
I also crashed once after the final descent which made lots of bruises in my body till the moment but I was able to ride normally right after.

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself?
I love mountain biking and I love MTB Egypt riders.