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[Trail Hunter] Maribor Bike park and DH world Cup Track
Of all the locations used on the UCI Downhill Worldcup circuit over the years Maribor doesn’t jump into the mind at the moment as it has been absent but not forgotten. After watching Steve Peats new film, “Won’t Back Down. We thought we would pay a visit to the track and bike park, breakout the new Ghost Downhill bike we had been given to test and see if we could conquer the track first go. Oh how wrong we were, what a track, one of the hardest things we have ridden in years. How pro riders get down it at the speed they do is a mystery to us, we are just a normal experienced rider with maybe more bike time than most. We also took a look around the rest of the park and saw what else was on offer, which was great fun to ride for most skill levels.
Maribor is currently used for the IXS European cup. But there is more to the park than one trail, however no matter what we did we were always drawn back to the DH track, trying to challenge ourselves each time to push ourselves, go a little bit faster and have fun without falling off. Due to the nature of the track we didn’t bring our normal camera as riding with it wasn’t an option. Instead we tried to do everything with a helmet camera.
Clean new DH bike and gondola to the top.No pedalling to the top.Being at Maribor with terrible weather made me think of the history of the place, so I created a communist colour filter to the pictures as Maribor appeared through the mist.Time to get this girl dirty…From here a whole lot of fun is to be had.No view today.The word for exit in Slovenian.Three choices, hard, harder, or really hard.The world cup DH track is incredibly tough to ride.Every which way you look there are wet roots ready to send you into the trees.The rock garden is so gnarly this picture doesn’t even do it justice, one of the hardest pieces of trail I have ever ridden in my life, respect to the pros who take it at speed.From this view the UCI DH course looks easy.Look the other way though and this is the view, incredibly hard to ride without trying not to brake especially in the wet, bike slides in every direction if you do brake and the forest floor is covered in roots which hurt if you fall.Awkward landing so better to stop.We found a group of riders that day and went for a ride this was the moment after a crash, wet roots and wrong braking.Death gap, look before you leap.The bike park features are integrated into the main trails.Confusion about how to survive in driving rain and have fun, the Austrian riders I was with were convinced they were crazy.It’s obligatory to wash your bike before each run, in order not to get the lift dirty.Beer between each descent for some riders after washing the bike.At first glance the girl on the pool side looks naked.Such beautiful woods and trails curving through the trees.Nothing like alpine forests and space to build what you like.Trail conditions even in the wet are great with well maintained runs.As i’m not a mushroom expert, wondering if eating these would give a blurry effect.It’s not that big the drop.The fog started to clear, and Maribor appeared.Some dry lines existed.The left choice looks easier.This is at the end of the left choice, one hell of a gap jump.Everyone wants to do it, but you need to be really good and have no fear.A fisherman’s clothing outfit used for biking in mud, ironically this rider lived on the coast 4 hours away.More perfect banked corners.Very few braking bumps are present here.The last feature of the bike park requires some balls to ride.No queues for the bike washes.Each run the bike had to be clean like this, or no ride to the top.The sun came out just as we left.Bike shop and ticket sales are easy to find.With no one to shoot, we had to stop for our own picture.
Our Experience
Overall we found the bike park fun to ride, but if you want to get the most out of it you need a bike with enough travel and or a big pair of balls. Fear was the word especially when the tracks were wet. The trails were well maintained and there weren’t many braking bumps, they also stood up to the wet conditions incredibly well. We did find directions a bit sketchy to the trails, finding the DH track wasn’t that easy at first, eventually we got the idea of where we had to go. If its wet you have to wash your bike before each run. Ticket prices are ok with a day ticket costing 28 euros. Definitely worth a visit if you have an Enduro Bike or a DH bike, we would avoid riding a trail bike down the trails, the trails will wear out the bike and you, as it is very rough in places and won’t be kind to small rotors and punny brakes, unless of course you are a rider that doesn’t brake. Maribor do or die.
