Kross Bikes – Rychleby in the Moonlight
Kross Bikes had to postpone their trip to Rychleby several times, mainly because of bad weather. It seemed that the sun was only out on work days and as the weekend rolled in, so did the rain. But finally it happened, the trip was on! “Rychleby in the Moonlight”:
To our disappointment the weather wasn’t so good in the weeks building up to the trip, we nervously kept checked the sky from time to time when we were packing our minibus on Friday. In the middle of the night, after a 7-hour trip, we arrived at the destination. We looked with hope into the clear sky, illuminated by the moon and hoped that tomorrow would be a perfect day for riding. The wake-up call at 6 confirmed our predictions. The sight of the rising sun and morning coffee gave us an energy shot for the rest of the day.
On Saturday, the Falcon Ultimate Enduro competition (in which we took part) was held in Rychleby. It was a disappointing day for results, coming in 36th or 37th is not really what we were after. Despite this, the event itself was great fun as the special stages had been routed outside “civilian” tracks. We were surprised by the on-sight competition formula which meant that each rider was hitting the route for the first time, without any practice. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the best views and places for photo session. There were many to choose from. Rychleby trails are rich in amazing landscapes. Sections 3 and 4 of the much-praised Super flow route was the jackpot. We had great fun there. Czechs did an excellent job. We had hit the tracks several times and each new hit gave us more joy. We had to admit that the increase in speed went hand in hand with growing confidence, and we got the feeling if we rode longer, it could end quite badly. Fortunately, the sun started to set and this cooled down our irresponsible aspirations. We spent the evening watching the latest bike edits and drinking tasty Czech beer.
Sunday greeted us not only with the sun, but also with slight muscle pain caused by too many hours spent in the office. A quick breakfast and some black coffee got us back on our feet. Our target was the Velryba route that everyone raved about. If you ever get there you absolutely must try the astonishing Dr Wiessner path, where a moment of carelessness might mean falling several metres. After riding a gravel trail, we arrived at Velryba. This part was really impressive. The track was strewn with huge stones, sharp turns and technical sections. It required focus throughout entire length. It was one of those trails that you could ride again and again, when you ride out of the finish, the only thing you want to do is go back into the forest. There is an easy way back to the beginning of the trail so we had to hit the trail a few times..
With the trail called Wales, the situation is similar. You need to be in good shape to handle sharp uphill sections and have really good skills because the downhill sections are littered with boulders everywhere. Regrettably, time passed quickly and the day was coming to an end. There was nothing left to do but ride down to our minibus and return to Przasnysz. Our trip to Rychleby, which certainly is an astonishing place with a huge potential for development, had come to an end.
Words & Photos: Kross Bikes