Booking yourself and your friends on a Costa Rica mountain biking tour is essential, if you're ready for exciting mountain biking with a difference!

How about getting dropped off at a magnificent 10 000 feet high volcano, and biking down a 7 mile descent to the foothills of the volcano next door?

Or riding all day through lush rain forests with 800 species of birds - not to mention the primates and crocodiles!

Costa Rica mountain biking is full of these and other exciting rides. The routes feature active volcanoes, very high mountain passes, lush tropical, sub-tropical and temperate forests, waterfalls, and river crossings.

As most of Costa Rica's roads are dirt, the country easily lends itself to exploration by mountain bike. It is also extremely hilly, with many heart-stopping descents! Costa Rica mountain biking has trails suitable for riders just starting out, as well as experienced bikers looking for a challenge.

Your Costa Rica mountain biking adventure can start with a guided drive up to the top of the Irazu Volcano at 11,000 feet. Descend to 1,500 feet through miles of lush, green scenery, ending in the small town of Santa Cruz de Turrialba. If your timing is right, you may even get a taste of the Turrialba cheese fair!

The dirt road takes you through fertile dairy and farm land, cutting its way between the Irazu and Turrialba Volcano. A support van, with a driver and a guide-mechanic are available with extra bikes, food, and a first aid kit.

Alternatively, Costa Rica mountain biking can take you to the Aguila de Osa Inn from where you will be able to undertake many local rides on the bikes they provide. Most of the rides are between 1 and 3 hours in duration, and cover a wide variety of landscapes, from beach rides to river canyons (including suspension bridges!) to forests and farm areas.

The Costa Rica mountain biking experience truly is in a class of its own.

Quepos offers a number of guided biking trails. A combination bike/boat tour, will have you floating through a mangrove forest. Excellent backup is provided on the trail, as well as entertaining information about the fauna and flora.

Join an exclusive ride clinic and use your Costa Rica mountain biking travels to learn new skills, in spectacular surroundings.

Bikes are very well equipped, and safety is always taken into consideration. Romantic sunset rides are also available during high season. This is a very pleasurable way to beat the heat!

While Costa Rica mountain biking may seem more adventurous riding on your own, the conditions often make the presence of a guide preferable. You may just end up appreciating that support van after a tiring, fun-filled day...

If you want to combine Costa Rica mountain biking with other great adventures, you will find tours that include snorkeling the reefs of the Caribbean, or river rafting on the many great rivers, or just straightforward hiking with beautiful views and scenery.

A Costa Rica mountain biking tour is usually followed by delighted comments, about the fact that the places visited were not swarming with other bikers!

All of this is probably only possible with a Costa Rica mountain biking package, where over a quarter of the country was designated forever wild...

For more information visit Best-Mountain-Biking.com

Rika Susan of http://www.Article-Alert.com researches, writes, and publishes full-time on the Web.

Copyright of this article: 2006 Rika Susan. This article may be reprinted if the resource box - including the link - is left intact.