Climbing up the Apeiranthos climb with a steady rhythm

Sometimes when I talk to sports cyclists in Athens about cycling on Naxos - and especially about climbing on Naxos - the name "Apeiranthos" comes up. This seems to be a famous climb. In fact it's not as steep nor is it as long as some other climbs on this island.

I think it earned its notoriety as a function of being so central and on the main road of the island. You ride up from town, it always goes a little bit up and up, depending on your route with a few short bits here and there. Then you come to Filoti, you pass that village and bam, it goes "up" for real now. This is where you notice how "climby" Naxos can be.

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Crossroads Apollona / Mesi / Komiaki. The village at the coast is Apollonas.

"Come on, give it another go, this is the last big climb before we're back in town!", I said to my friend Borja. I wasn't lying either, at least not completely. But I hadn't been riding this route so often, so I conveniently forgot some of the further climbs that would come up. The definition of "big" could also be discussed.

Our goal was to do the "Apollona round". Some people call this route the "Tour of Naxos", but I dispute that title, as it encompasses only the northern half of the island mostly.

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If you forget to take the turn, maybe you just splash right into the sea? Better don't try it!

Moutsouna is a small village on the East coast of Naxos. There are a couple of tavernas (one of them open more or less year round), there are some fishing boats, and there is the harbor terminal where the locally mined emery used to be loaded onto boats for export. It also has a nice little beach.

Of considerable more interest to cyclists is that the road to and from Moutsouna gives us a nice 11km climb at an average grade of 5% with nice views.

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