People often ask me how a Belgian ended up making a living from cycling in Ibiza, guiding bike tours across the island. The short answer: I came for the parties and stayed for the trails. Here is the long answer.
First Playa d’en Bossa, then Cala Nova
I first came to Ibiza in 2009, on holiday like everyone else. We stayed in Playa d’en Bossa and went to a few parties. I did go cycling, but I didn’t discover much.
The second time I stayed at a lovely campsite in Cala Nova, near Santa Eulària. This time I came for the calm and the cycling. I soon saw how many paths, back roads, forest tracks and coastal trails the island has. Every ride I found new ones. I was over the moon.
I fell in love with Ibiza: the relaxed atmosphere, the good music you heard everywhere, the people. I kept coming back and started dreaming about an outdoor company on the island.
Thirteen years as a technician, always on the bike
In Belgium I worked as a technician for SUEZ for thirteen years. Like every Belgian, I had been cycling since I was a child. From the age of 24 it became a passion: organising touring rides, racing with friends for fun, the occasional duathlon.
That gave me a close group of cycling friends. Later, they turned out to be worth their weight in gold.
To Ibiza with a car full of stuff
In 2014 I moved to Ibiza with a car full of stuff. For the first few years I worked at Kandani, a bike shop in Santa Eulària. That is where I really got to know the island.
I lived above the shop and worked twelve hours a day from March to October. Planning, emails, serving in the shop, maintaining bikes, delivering bikes and guiding tours: it was all part of the job.
In those years I also made a roadbook for the Consell d’Eivissa, the island council. It ran to 200 pages of GPX tracks, photos and detailed descriptions, and was meant to help waymark the island’s 24 signposted cycling routes in Ibiza more clearly.
The first groups
Belgians didn’t come to Ibiza much back then. Through my social media they saw what was possible. My own mountain bike team, Bruski, was the first group, in 2015 I think.
Its founder, Willy Bruyeer, backed me all the way and helped me with the first website. Other MTB teams followed, each for a week on Ibiza and Formentera. Bike Ibiza was born.
I improved the website and went on to specialise in bike tours and bike rental in Ibiza.
When I fell ill
I have ridden an enormous amount for Bike Ibiza. Then I fell ill with Covid and couldn’t do it alone any more. Other companies and guides stepped in, and a great collaboration grew out of that. Our guide Guego has been helping me for several years now and has become a favourite with our guests.
“Great tour, and Guego: great guy & guide!”
– Hans D., Google review
What you see when you go cycling in Ibiza
Ibiza has a huge and complex network of paths. There are tracks everywhere. The only question is which one is a dead end and which one connects to the next.
The doors of Ibiza only really open once you start cycling. You ride through pine forests full of history, past plants and fruit that simply grow wild. Many companies promise “cycling in paradise”. On Ibiza it is actually true: all those colours, and the contrast between the sea and the countryside.
My favourite is the east and north coast, far away from tourism. Think of Pou des Lleó in the north-east or Cala d’en Serra near Portinatx: small coves, far from the crowds. And if I have to choose between sea and countryside, I pick the varied interior with its remote paths.
My ego and the e-bike
For years I guided cycling trips on Ibiza and Formentera on a regular mountain bike, without assistance. When the e-bike arrived, my ego said no at first. Today I’m glad we went along with it.
With an e-bike, almost anyone can join, and we now run far more bike tours than we used to. I still love the tours on road bikes, gravel bikes and regular mountain bikes.
A story I won’t forget in a hurry
Two guys once rented bikes and headed into the forest on their own. On their Strava we later saw they had kept riding in circles. They left the bikes in the woods and walked out. We spent two days looking for those bikes.
The best part of this job
But what stays with me most is not the mishaps. Really, every cycling trip was special by the end. You welcome people you don’t know at all, and after a week of riding together they are almost friends. A week like that is so intense that a real bond grows by itself. We used to have picnics with our groups in the middle of nature, and those were always special moments.
That bond with our guests is, for me, the best part of this job.
On a bike, everyone is equal
Ibiza is a special destination, and you notice it in the people who come to ride. Over the years I have been out on tour with all kinds of people: well-known artists, business leaders, familiar faces from television and DJs.
The nice thing is that on a bike everyone is equal. It doesn’t matter who you are: we ride together and simply have a good chat. Still, it remains special to meet all those people on our bike tours.
The best months
May and June, or September and October. Autumn is the best, because the sea is warm as well.
The real Ibiza
After almost every ride I hear the same thing: “I didn’t expect this.” We regularly welcome guests who have owned a villa on Ibiza for thirty years and had never cycled here. They are amazed, and now they join our tours regularly.
Want to see it for yourself? Take a look at our bike tours in Ibiza or rent a bike and explore on your own.
