10th International Handüzü Cycling Festival

Rize will bring mountain biking to one of the Black Sea’s most dramatic highland settings on September 5–6, 2026, as the 10th International Handüzü Cycling Festival takes place at Handüzü Plateau in Güneysu. With around 100 athletes from 6 countries, the event will turn the plateau into a high-altitude race stage shaped by steep terrain, changing weather, technical riding, and the green intensity of Rize’s mountain landscape.

The competition will feature youth and adult categories on a demanding mountain track, giving riders a serious test of endurance, bike control, climbing strength, and focus. Handüzü’s character will make the race especially distinctive: mist may roll in, the weather may shift quickly, and every section of the course will carry the feeling of the Black Sea highlands. It will be the kind of setting where mountain biking looks exactly as it should—raw, physical, scenic, and close to nature.

Beyond the race, the festival will also strengthen Rize’s identity as a four-season outdoor sports destination. Visitors can connect the weekend with Güneysu’s highland atmosphere, Rize’s tea gardens, stone bridges, waterfalls, local village routes, and Black Sea flavors such as muhlama (Black Sea Cheese Fondue), corn bread, black cabbage dishes, local honey, tea, and oven-baked rice pudding. Even if you are not racing, you will still want to be here—because Handüzü will turn mountain biking into a Black Sea highland story where sport, mist, green slopes, local life, and Rize’s outdoor tourism potential come together.