A SLOVAKIAN TRAIL QUEST
Pilsner beer, ice hockey, and the former Czechoslovakia: this is what I knew about Slovakia before coming. I came to ride my bike, to search out epic trails, and to get in touch with the local bike culture. It all started with a Google Earth session after someone mentioned the Tatras Mountains; searching the internet, I found Slovakia could be sitting on a trail goldmine. Now I’m standing on the corner with heavy bags, pondering the bus driver’s directions, given while pointing up the hill: “Now you walk.”
The driver was right. After half an hour of dragging my luggage, I arrive in Bachledova Dolina, where the local bike rental outfit stands out from the wooden houses and farms with its flags and parasols. The weather forecast doesn’t look good for the upcoming days and I’m eager to ride today. My local host, 22-year-old Samuel “Samo” Jakub, takes me up a slow three-man chairlift and I get a glimpse of the trails in the empty Bachledka bike park before dense pine forest takes over.
Samo is studying Civil Engineering at the University of Kosice and also manages the park. He loves riding—he competed in the Slovakian Downhill Cup—though he’s currently rehabilitating a broken collarbone. “I must rest, but I’m not resting”, he says as he pulls down his full-face helmet, covering up his blond pencil moustache. I follow him down a dusty trail back towards the valley with a magnificent backdrop of tall, dark mountains. Despite its pedestrian name, the Family Trail is worthy, offering smooth, fast riding, including some wide machine-built berms and smaller jumps. It’s a perfect warm-up. Back on the lift, Samo tells me that Bachledka is one of the country’s oldest bike parks.
