After my visit in Slovenia on the occasion of the Trans Julius Bike Adventure in June, I decided that my next trip to this beautiful country must include Maribor. Why? First, downhill world cup track seems interesting, second – I was encouraged by the views in Julian Alps.
Unfortunalty Maribor isn’t a good idea to go for the views, but trails… let’s see!
When you arrive to Maribor you’ll see a mix of Polish towns – Kielce & Katowice – with a vast, but not very high peak. Me and my companions choose to stay on top of the mountain in Bolfenk, so we had a long and curvy road by the car. From Bolfenk we had short 2-minutes walk to the upper chairlift station and we can start our mountainbiking adventure!
There’s only one chairlift in the Bike Park which are open between 9.00-19.00. On mondays & tuesdays it takes mountainbikers every hour and from wednesday to friday every hour until 14.00 (14.00-19.00 non-stop). On the weekends & vacations it works non-stop. In practice it’s not bothersome, because trails in Maribor are very long and after every ride you’ll find some time to rest.
We have three routes here with varying difficulty: flow line (easiest), red line (medium difficulty) and downhill world cup (black). There’s also few unofficial links and one enduro trail which ends in the city, but I won’t write here anything about them ;) I’ll immediatly point that all trails in the Bike Park are steep, so don’t expect easy riding.
So let’s start with a Flow Trail. It’s the easiest trail in the Bike Park, 5.5km long. It was built in 2016 and rebuilt in 2019. You’ll find here a lot of tables, jumps, berms and small drops. The character of Flow Trail is similiar to Polish Żar’s Airline. Between technical elements we have long & fast sections on which we can get serious speeds. This trail is fully rideable for beginners and provides a lot of fun to advanced riders. In my opinion it’s perfect for a warm up. Few sections are shared with Red Line trail.
Red Line has a length of 2.9km and similiar to Flow Line it was built three years ago and fully rebuilt this year. You’ll find here much bigger jumps than on Flow Line. There’s also a lot of doubles, tables, corners with berms, root sections and loose rocks. Large part of it runs through the forest. The bouns is wooden drops with different heights, so you can easily progress on them. This trail is very interesting and everybody will find something for him. There’s also some toughest sections, but they have chicken lines & detours. I won’t recommend it to beginners due to root sections and overall steepness, but it’s perfect for medium & advanced riders.
It’s time for my favourite track – World Cup. It’s the oldest trail here and it was built in 1999 (2.1km long). It’s really steep (465m vertical drop), has a lot of drops, carpets from roots, part of the trail is led by steep traverse and… it has the most famous rock garden in the world! If you have any problems with roots or rocks – don’t go here.
But if you’re like me and you love hard & exciting trails, you’re not afraid of roots and you’re familiar with stones – than you’re in heaven!
In my private ranking World Cup trail from Maribor dethroned my beloved downhill track from Wisła and Leogang’s Speedster. It doesn’t matter if it’s dry or wet – you’ll have a lot of fun here. I need to add that with my friends we were curious how the best riders in the world goes through some sections and how they jump some rollers…
In general, Bike Park Pohorje captivated me very much and I’d like to go back there – we still have some unfinished business here ;)
Practical informations:
- Bike Park chairlift is a gondola cablecar.
- Ticket prices vary depending on the age of buyer & the day of the week – full prices here.
- During a strom chairlift are closed and starts 30 minutes after end of rain.
- There’s a bike shop & rental near the lower station.
- You’ll find well-stocked alcohol & catering point on both chairlift stations.
- We used the Bolfenk offer as accommodations and I can recommend it.
About Bike Park Pohorje – Maribor
Official website: visitpohorje.si
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