So came the second half of the week. Plans for the weekend are being made. Wait for another moment and read our weekend activity suggestions before making your plans ! Here are the suggestions of Rock Lizards:

1. A whole day’s cycling from Besevler to the Lake Eymir with Atilim University Cycling Association.  3. Eymir Tour begins early in Sunday. Cyclists ascend with slow pace all the way to the Lake Eymir. Bike rental is also an option but we believe the quota is already full for rentals.

2. A beautiful Sunday’s hiking trip with Gökhan Koçak to Nallıhan Uyuzsuyu Şelalesi. Weather seems to be nice and warm. Though our guide recommends bringing an extra pair of shoes which can only mean one thing: wet river crossings !

3.  Go outside the city limits for a hike in Gerede, Dorukkaya’da Doğa Yürüyüşü with Zirve Dağcılık.

4. For all those who have the technical equipment and experience rock climbing in Peksimet, Huseyingazi is another option for this weekend. Be careful though, it will be sunny and hot !

5. Go out camping to Mount Işık, enjoy the woods and nature.

6.Enjoy Yedigöller at spring, unlike usual fall; with Gezginder at “Yedigöller Life at Nature” daily hike at Saturday.

If you have different suggestions please share with us.

We wish you all a fine, enjoyable weekend !

Yalıncak Rocks

Last week was amazing! We’ve done many things. On Wednesday afternoon we went out for trail running and didn’t come back until it is dark! On our way back we heard the howling of a dog which led us to a puppy inside a fence trap, built within the forest. We freed the puppy.  We had many, nice pictures. According to Endomondo, we run 14,25 km and ascended and descended hundreds of meters over and over again.

Fence Trap

Two days later, it was the birthday of Ateş which was celebrated briefly. We didn’t even have the time to sit and enjoy but had our two pieces of cake on the trunk of Ateş’s car (!!!). It should be noted that it is really easy to pick a present for a guy who is in to a variety of sports. Just blindly go to Dechatlon and buy some random stuff. It will be of use eventually.

Ates's Birthday

In the weekend Ateş went to Gezginder‘s hiking trip, which took a really long time. Meanwhile Banu and I were studyingo n our theses. Weather was nice, being obligated to stay at home was not. At some point we couldn’t resist the call of the nature and fleet to Seğmenler Park. Having some lunch and reading book on the green grasses… Park was far from crowded. Where were all those people? Sadly we had to accept the fact that the major portion of the population was in shopping malls.

Gezginder Hiking Trip

Gezginder Hiking Trip

Thus ended another tiresome weekend. Monday. Desk. Ringing phones, email swarms, jobs waiting to be done… All of a sudden, it was the “the call” again. In lunch break we stuffed the böreks which Banu’s mother prepared in our bags, printed out geocaching maps, jumped on our bikes and rode all the way to Bilkent-3 via trails of Yalincak. Locating the geocache wasn’t difficult. We wrote our names in the log, gnaw upon the böreks and rode back hard to make it to the meeting in the office at 14:00. 14 km. 1,5 hours. Total elevation of 350 m. Not bad.

Geocaching

Cycling near Bilkent-3

Flowers and Upcoming Rain

Yalincak View

Tuesday… Magpies singing far away. I can see tall pines from my office window and the cool breeze filling inside carry me their scent. And the call…

Anatolian Mountain Marathon (ADAM), which is organized by DASK (Nature Research, Outdoor Sports and Rescue Society) since 2000, is announced for 2012. This year, ADAM will take place at Bolu Köroğlu Mountains at 20-22 July.
This year, a new “ultra” track is announced together with short, medium and long range tracks. The maximum difficulty level is even higher now. Moreover, short and medium tracks are also 2 days now, meaning all participants will be carrying bags with camping gear. We clearly see the difficulty of tracks by means of the table showing birds-fly distance, approximate total distance and total elevation gain. 2000-3000 meters of ascent in long track is approximately equal to elevation gain of an alpinist for each day. This requires really high performance.
For those who like to loose themselves in the cool forests of Bolu in the middle of summer, use maps and compass, and especially like orienteering, we strongly suggest ADAM. Don’t forget, the matter is not only endurance, but also harmony with your team member, knowing the limits of your body under harsh conditions and planning of routes.

Driven by the natural beauty of mountains, challenges and the thirst for knowledge, I climbed to impossible mountains just to measure myself and know myself better.

-Walter Bonatti

I recently finished reading Walter Bonatti‘s The Mountains of My Life. In the final chapter of the book, Bonatti discusses what mountaineering and adventure really are.

There are rules to the game, well known but not written down. It is a game which you chose to play with your free will, so why cheating? If you’re not playing the game fair, there is no fun in it nor is there success to gain at the end.

What else stands ahead of the mountain, save from the men? Mountaineering is merely one of  a thousand ways of knowing yourself. Climbing is should not be seen as something different than the search for identity. It is more than a collection of summits, speed records and technique. Otherwise it may be diminished to a simple game, purified off its creative sense of adventure.

Now that the great eye sees all. “Uncharted” is nothing but a word in old language, holding meaning no more. Adventure exists only where there is uncertainty, risk, courage, thrill, excitement, passion, abstraction and desolation. Bonatti says we should hold on to our ability to do research, discovery and improvisation under lacking of means. This is the way we measure ourselves.

We live in an era where the community is ready to buy the adventure as a packed product. Discovery is commercialized. That is why we should target seeking the uncharted territories in our existence. As Deniz Tokay often states; “I never get tired of climbing the same mountain again and again, because when I climb I realize that neither the mountain nor I are the same as before.“

Tell a story, of overcoming, struggle to conquer, to go beyond the limits. But also a story of discovery, cultures, people, mountains, souls, and yourself. A travel to the highest peaks, the most remote places, to reach within yourself.

http://www.summitsofmylife.com/

I wonder if there is another video clip that explains the dream of Team Rocklizards better. Enjoy!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/42632868 w=600&h=480]

Rock Lizards hosted Mark Osborne, who is on a world tour with his bike.

Mark at Home with his bike unloaded

He started his journey from Britain at January, 2012. He is cycling around the world for Multiple Sclerosis disease. He is in Turkey for the second time, after his accident between Polatlı and Sivrihisar last year. He stayed in Ankara between 4-13 May for obtaining Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan visas.

We had perfect times with Mark during his stay in Ankara. His sincerity, energy and openness to everyone as a life style changed our perspectives. We listened to his many stories around the world, learned a lot about bicycles and got into many exciting ideas about routes around the world. We also cycled around Ankara, including METU campus and Cappadocia. He is about to leave Turkey. We are  thrilled to follow his route as he is moving on towards the east, and read about marvelous stories about different kinds of people around the world from his blog.

Here is Mark’s blog. Also, he has a post about his stay together with us. You can follow last records of his spot locator, or watch all records of his journey.

Mark loading the bike before leaving

The bike is about 60 kgs when loaded. Deniz has hard time cycling it.

The group under the moon light at night ride in Yalıncak

MSK logo on Mark's bike

And the following is the Endomondo record for our night ride at Yalıncak.




Rock Lizards are starting to publish all of their sports activities, trainings, travels and experiences on the long road through the Lycian Challenge Race!

Sports and nature lovers, friends, people interested in our passion of challenge…please don’t leave us alone in our struggle.

More information on our team and team members is in this page.

Lycian Challenge is the 4 days non-stop adventure race. It is a tough endurance race that takes part in mountains and coasts of Fethiye. It includes a 400 km. course with mountains, valleys, rivers and the sea.It includes many disciplines like mountain biking, trail running, rope skills, canyoning, canoeing and so on.

More information on Lycian Challenge Race and the team’s motivation on attending the Lycian Challenge is here.