Bike Park Krvavec

While I was riding bike in Slovenia and talking with local riders about bike parks and places to ride, pretty much everybody mentioned one place that I must go and check out. That place that everybody was talking about was Bike Park Krvavec. It is located in the very center of the country, about 30 km from capital city Ljubljana. It is quite an unusual bike park, but definitely worth visiting, and now I know why everybody was talking about it in such good words.

Bike Park Krvavec

Why is it an unusual Bike Park? When You are looking at the map of the bike park, You can immediately see the two main trails along the gondola lift. Only two You might think? It seems not much, but just look at their lengths to change your opinion about that place. Another important factor is the amount of elevations. Krvavec has biggest elevation drops among Bike Parks in whole Slovenia. Adding to this another 3 shorter trails located near the higher chairlift, we get a total length of 16 km of downhill and enduro trails. And if You count  also all marked out loops for XC cyclists, the place offers 30 km of prepared biking trails!

My visit at Bike Park Krvavec was planned for the end of April 2019, in which, as we all know, the weather was, let’s call it gently, “not so good”. The initial plan assumed a whole day of riding with the sun shining and dry trails. But just before arrival it turned out that on this particular day weather freaks out and forecasts show high possibility of snow (!) and storms. That’s why we quickly decided to come there day earlier, not for the full day ride, but to use a few hours in good weather and see at least some fragment of the bike park. Of course, even day earlier weather wasn’t very helpful and we have some short but heavy rainfall, but in any case, along with my guide Gasper, we were having a lot of fun even in the mud. What I could see only confirmed the good opinions that I’ve heard about the trails. Now I definitely want to visit this place for longer time and hopefully in better conditions.

Trails

Muci Trail (called also Pussycat trail) – from this trail I’ve started to explore the bike park Krvavec. 9 km downhill and 850 meters of descent definitely got me warm up well. It is a fairly gently run trail with medium difficulty level. It avoids the biggest steep slopes, but thanks to the interesting course, we will definitely not be bored with it. It is mainly a natural trail with roots and stones, but with good shaped berms on corners that allows You to carry a lot of good speed and flow. We will find more opened sections on which we can go really fast, as well as tighter and more technical ones, but we will not encounter very large or difficult obstacles here. In some places we have to go on asphalt road, but it will allow us a little rest. And we will need some because this trail is really long!

Rock & Flow – after the warm-up it was time for the most known trail on the mountain. It is a difficult trail, and the name fully shows its character. The first half is a steep downhill course where you will ride a lot of stones and roots on more technical sections, while the second half is a bit gentler slope, where You can find a lot of flow in beautifully shaped berms. The total length is 6 km and again 850 meters of altitude to descent. Personally, I did not count the number of mine short breaks along the way, but the feeling is like you’re riding 2, 3 or even 4 trails at once! Along the way you can see the amount of work put into this trail, making it both flowy but demanding also. On steep sections or traverses You can always find the right support for Your tires, which allows you to maintain speed, and in some spots You will have some smaller and bigger jumps. You can really find pretty much everything on Rock & Flow combined into one really long trail.

In addition to Muci and Rock & Flow are Bambino, Panorama, and Jezerce trails, which lead from the chair lift located higher. Due to “not so good” conditions and snow higher on the mountain, during my visit, they were not prepared for the season yet.

Bambino – a smooth flow trail, with high profiled berms, some rollers and few table jumps.

Panorama – a gentle singletrail that traverses the mountainside with amazing views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

Jezerca – another singletrail, by which we can get from the top of the chairlift to the beginning of Muci trail.

My impressions

Biggest impression on me, of course, made the lengths of these trails. It is really hard to compare it with other “usual” Bike Parks. Another very important thing was really great preparation of trails. It was the beginning of the season and despite the bad weather and the large amount of mud, there was not a single “braking bump”, and the profiles in the corners were smooth and provided great support for tires. It is worth mentioning here that the all of the trails are prepared manually, without the use of the excavators, which provides more natural feelings. When it comes to the best type of bike for these trails, in my opinion, the aggressive Enduro will work best on every trail here. However, if someone comes with a typical downhill bike, definitely he will be able to use it well on “Rock and Flow” trail. The gondola lift allows you to get to the top very quickly, and the infrastructure for bikers is standing at a high level. While visiting Slovenia, it’s really worth considering to come there, and check it by Yourselves,  because the trails there are built and prepared at a very high level, and the Rock & Flow trail made a really huge positive impression on me!

Practical information:

• Bike Park is located about 30 km from Ljubljana and only 8 km from the nearest airport.
• By car, the most convenient way is to reach the lower station of the gondola lift, where Muci and Rock & Flow trails run, but You can also drive up the asphalt road to the Jezerce parking lot. If You want to go further, You will have to pay for entry by car and then You can also park near the top station of the gondola lift.
• In the 2019 season, the bike park will be open thru the whole week, but before and after the summer holidays, the upper chairlift will work for bikers only on weekends
• On the spot it is possible to rent a XC, Enduro or DH bike, and there is also available bike service and a bicycle wash station
• All-day pass cost EUR 26, but cheaper: 3-hour and pre-sale passes are also available.
• Krvavec Bike Park is working with Gravity Card, thanks to which, after purchasing the pass, You have unlimited access to 20 European bike parks (in Slovenia also Kranjska Gora). More info here: gravity-card.com
• If you are looking for accommodation in the area, we highly recommend the Hotel Krvavec. Bike Park trails are starting just from the front doors of it. In the offer you can find packages for bikers (Overnight + Half Board + Bike Park pass).
• In the case of bad weather, the lifts and the Bike Park can be closed.

For current information, I recommend you to check facebook.com/BikeParkKrvavec, For more information on other summer and winter attractions, take a look at: rtc-krvavec.si/en. For more information about what you can do in the area, I recommend you check our blog: balkanyrudej.pl

Article was created in cooperation with Bike Park Krvavec and Slovenian Tourism Board. Thank You for help!

Text: Marek Chabros
Photos: Marek Chabros & Ola Zagórska-Chabros, Sandi Bertoncelj /Bike Park Krvavec