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Wall ride on Kozi trail
Once upon a time…
– Introduction by Filippo, trails description by Tomáš –
I always try to be up to date about what is happening in the Czech mountain bike scene so in October 2014 I was very happy to hear a rumour about a new born trail center in Trutnov, a city at the feet of Krkonoše mountains, the highest in the Czech Republic. It is a great area not too faraway from Prague (2 hours driving) and my friend and guide Honza told me that the new trail centre, called “Trutnov Trails”, is supposed to be “Rychlebske Stezky” style, which means more AllMountain/Enduro than flow trail style (Rychlebske Stezky is a legendary location in our country) . I immediately went on line and found a newly built Facebook page with a few info and a couple of maps. Clearly they were starting and there were at that time only 10+ km of trails but it sounded very promising so I decided to contact the mind behind the project, Jan Rejl. Jan immediately answered my message and kindly invited me to check out the trails. He would show me around and he asked if he could call some friends as well. Of course I said! I always love to meet new bikers.I love biking
An easy transfer section in Bunkr trail
A nice view
Preparing for the first descent on top of the hill at “U jeskyňky “
MTB trails
So here I am in Trutnov. It is October and it is quite foggy and wet. I find Jan’s house in a little village just outside Trutnov and called Lhota. I like him immediately. He invites me inside where his wife prepares me a coffee. We sit for a while and he tells me his story and I tell him mine. He is a teacher with the passion of backcountry skiing and mountain biking. I am an Italian ex manager with the passion of the MTB. What a great thing is sport that unites 2 people with such different background in a living room of a little mountain village in Central Europe. He understood the potential of his area and started to build trails together with some other volunteers. Yes, because here in Trutnov Trails all is built by volunteers. Every week or so they meet and have great time together building a little bit more.p on
Riding “Flinstone” section
bikoFlin
Modřínový trail
singletracks for everybody
It is time to go and from all Jan’s friends, only Tomáš came. It was a very last minute action and the weather was bad so I am not surprised. Tomaš is a young local guy with an incredible smile and a very positive attitude. Like with Jan, I also like him immediately and later on, while puffing and panting together on the hard Panský stoupák uphill section, I learn that he studies in Prague and I write it down in my notebook with the intent to contact him later for guiding in BIKO. We start riding and the guys show me all the trails that they built until that day. Some are only half done and we ride quickly the few existing km but it is enough for me to get a very good impression and to understand that this is going to be a kick ass location in a few years… a green biko jersey
A flowy section on Modřínový trail
Wall ride on Kozi trail a
…. Time goes fast. It is spring 2016 and I am driving to Trutnov with two of my guides, Lucie and Tomáš. Yes, the smily Tomas I met earlier in Trutnov who became one of my best guides! Trutnov Trails is not a baby anymore. The word spreaded around and it is getting well known around the country and also in the very close Poland. Progress Cycles, the Czech importer of the brand Giant, started to support the center so very nice bikes are available and more km of trails were added. A local rider called Dušan Mihalečko came back from Whistler, where he became the first official Czech guide in the most famous MTB location in the world, and started to help Jan. One of the results was the creation of a new gnarly section called, wait for this, Whistler that helped to build the legend around the location. Not many riders have enough guts to ride it and everybody wants to come and check it out. Dušan is now working as an instructor and I can assure you that he is worthy the money. I am really looking forward to see what is new as I decided to include TT in both our holidays called “Best of MTB CR Medium” and “Best of MTB CR Advanced” . We park in Lohta at the trail head and after getting a coffee and pay the totally voluntary access fee (please do it, it helps building more trails) we are game…
We love MTB
Trutnov trail makes every kind of biker happy
Riding on top of Čížkovy cliffs
mtb holidays in czech republic
Trutnov Trails HQ is located in the little village of Lhota, Lhotecká 6, Trutnov 541 01. Opening hours Sat–Sun 9.00–20.00 from May to October.
You can rent different models of Giant and Liv bikes like Trance, Stance, Reign, Liv Pique and Liv Embolden. Prices from 500 to 700 CZK per day. Deposit from 2000 to 4000 CZK.
There are 4 main trails in TT center for a total of 17 Km of riding. 17 km is not a lot (however the number is growing every year) but even if you ride the trails only twice you will climb quite a lot at the end of the day.
The three most important trails start almost from the same spot, called „U jeskyňky“ (at the cave), on the top of a hill which you will reach riding the only one official uphill trail called “Panský stoupák”. Especially the last part of this climb is really fun (and hard) to ride. Once you get there, clear marks will tell you where the beginning of each of the three trail is. Every trail has a different difficulty level. The easy blue is called Kozí trail (because it runs through a rock formation called Kozí kameny – Goat rocks), the intermediate red trail is called Modřínový (from large Larch trees, Modřín in Czech) and the black trail for experienced bikers is called Trail Pod Jeskyňkou (trail under the cave). The fourth trail – Bunkr trail is located on another hill and starts from a nearby lookout tower. It is designed to be an easy trail.
TT headquarter
At the trail head
“Piano” section in Trail Pod jeskyňkou / The only water at the end of Modřínový trail
Bunkr trail (5 km – GPS) starts from Slavětínská looukout tower from where is a beautiful view to Krkonoše mountains and also smaller Vraní and Orlické mountains. And why Bunkers trail? Because it follows old Czechoslovakian border fortifications built from 1935 to 1938 against Nazi Germany. So you can stop along the way and go exploring some bunkers and take a few cool pictures! This trail is cross country oriented, it is natural and known for gorgeous panorama views.
Panský stoupák (GPS): It is the uphill that takes you to the following trails. The lenght is approx 6 km.
Kozí trail (GPS) is one of the most popular trail. 2,5 km (for now) of nice flow which put a smile on bikers’ faces of all skill levels. It has some nice features like riding on logs or a huge wooden wallride situated on the IMBA section. The second part of Kozí trail is under construction now and should be open in 2017.
Modřínový trail (GPS)was the first trail built in the area of the well known Čížkovy kameny. It´s a natural raw trail with a length of 3,3 km. The diversity of this trail is quite big. From fast loam and rooty trails to medium technical and rocky one. Nice feature in the first part of this trail is riding close to the rock edge from where you can enjoy a beautiful view of Krkonoše mountains, the highest mountain range in the country. Also very memorable and fun to ride is the „Flinstone line“ a trail section made from big rocks (everything handmade by local trailbuilders).
Trail Pod jeskyňkou (GPS) is a natural raw 2 km long enduro trail which offers nice technical steep and also fast rocky and rooty sections. Highlight of this trail is definitely the Whistler section. One of the hardest technical line in Czech trail centers, it is a real challenge for mountain bikers. For less advanced riders there is a easier B line.
Trail Pod jeskyňkou (pic. Trutnov Trails)
“Whistler”, the hardest section of the trail center (pic. Trutnov Trails)
Great panorama from Čížkovy cliffs / Having fun on Modřínový trail
And at the end of the ride you can get back the calories lost in a pub just next to the trail head (typical Czech cusine) and called “Lhotecká hospoda” or go to another one very close to Trutnov Trails headquarter called Restaurant Poříčí (1,5 km – also Czech cusine but with some nice vegetarian plates). I like the fact that here you can park your car with the bikes and see them while eating (just put them in the parking with the big green pipes on the other side of the creek). It is also a good posibility for spending the night at a reasonable price as they have a few rooms above the restaurant. If you have bigger budget we recommend Nelly Kelly’s, the best in town.
Dobrou chut! (Enjoy your meal!)
What else to do in the area? Well, there are so many possibilities that I don’t know where to start! Among my favourites:
If you would like to see more bunkers I recommend to ride to Stachelberg (GPS). You can even go there by car if you are tired of biking.
If you would like more hard riding you should ride the trails from the famous race MTB Trilogy, in the Broumovsko region.
If you would like to visit a bike park, check Bike park Vlčka. If you want to relax after riding we recommend to go swimming at Dolce lake.
If you would like to hike check the super famous rock town of Adrspach-Teplice. Or you can climb Mount Sněžka, the highest Czech mountain (1603 mt).
It was an unforgettable day (pic. Trutnov Trails)
