Family Bike Park Zieleniec is known as a place for beginners, boring for advanced. Indeed, most of the trails are for people with low skills, but it seems to me that you need to have high skills to take full advantage of these trails. Especially the new Crazy Dad.
Read introduction.
Zieleniec is a popular ski resort in Duszniki-Zdrój, where a bike park was created in 2021. At the end of the 2022 season, there were 5 trails in it. 4 easy flow trails and one short but difficult downhill trail.
The article was based on my riding impressions in 2022. However, the recordings come from 2023 (now I’m riding full suspension). At the end you will find my current impressions, from the perspective of a person who has already a bit better skills.
Bike Park Zieleniec – Sztos trail
The easiest trail in Zieleniec. Beginners, including small children, should be able to handle it. At the same time, riding on sharp berms, rollers and tabletops will be an interesting challenge for them. Riders with more skills can use tabletops and other obstacles to jump a bit.
However, it can be boring for riders who already have some skills, but not large, like me. I would like to jump, but there aren’t any obstacles for me… I avoid the stone drop at the very beginning, because I see that I will not make it to the landing, and I don’t like landing on a flat surface with a hardtail. A bit further, I also avoid the jump over the tree, because I imagine that I will land the rear wheel on this tree. I can’t send tabletops because I have too little speed before them…
Bike Park Zieleniec – Bom-Bel trail
The second trail in Zieleniec marked as “easy”. In the lower part it connects with the Zig-Zag trail. In my opinion, it’s a bit harder than Sztos due to some berms, especially those when combined with Zig-Zag. But I like it better than Sztos. It’s smoother and allows you to gain some nice speed. If you can, you can also get off the ground here and there.
On the recording Bom-Bel alone (until connection with the Zig-Zag line).
Bike Park Zieleniec – Zig-Zag trail
The trail is marked as “medium”, but in my opinion it is not much more difficult than Bom-Bel. Especially that they connect with each other and in the section with very sharp turns, which can be a big challenge for beginners.
The drop, which is approached from the connector between the Patataj and Zig-Zag trails, is interesting. For now, I just looked at it, because I don’t like that the landing is on the berm, i.e. is tilted to the side, not down.
Further on, there is a long straight with a few jumps. If you have skills, you can have fun on them.
An interesting variation is also an easy roll down. It may look scary for beginners, but seriously, it’s nothing difficult. Just slow down before entering the forest right behind the roll down, because there the creators of the trail have prepared another attraction, namely a short section with stones (rock garden).
Bike Park Zieleniec – Patataj trail
The second line marked “medium”. I have the impression that it is the most difficult of the four, but if you are able to ride Sztos and Bom-Bel, even slowly, but without fear, I think that you will also be able to ride Patataj.
Apart from the berms, which are quite steep in places, there are a few tabletops on the trail. Unfortunately, I can’t jump over them because I can’t gain enough speed in front of them. In general, I have the impression that some of them are made just where it is slightly uphill…
Bike Park Zieleniec – Crazy Dad trail
The trail was built in the second half of 2022. For now, it connects to the Zig-Zag route at the bottom of that trail, but it is to be routed all the way down.
Unlike the other trails, which are smoothed and therefore perfect for a hardtail, the Crazy Dad has a natural character. Also doable on a hardtail, but requires much more skill than the other 4 lines. There are a lot of roots, it is steep in places and there are two steep sections that do not have a chickenline.
The first one easier:
and the second one more difficult, because the easiest line goes straight to the tree.
My attempt to send it ended like this ;)
And here’s the whole trail.
Family Bike Park Zieleniec – for who?
I can definitely recommend Zieleniec to beginners and families with children. Just don’t go to Crazy Dad ;)
Personally, however, I felt that I would have had more fun there if I had more skills. I’m at a level where I’m starting to get bored of just riding smooth trails. I really like to take the wheels off the ground, but for that I need an obstacle that is easy to jump off and that forgives mistakes. Unfortunately, there are very few of them in Zieleniec. It is much better in this respect in Dolni Morava and Słotwiny.
People who already have great skills, I think, can get a lot of fun from Zieleniec. As long as they are not followers of only natural trails. For such riders, there is only the short Crazy Dad for now.
As the map below shows, however, there are plans for more trails (marked in red dots).
I’m very curious what it will be. Personally, I miss the natural trail, but a bit easier than Crazy Dad, and the flow trail, with a lot of tabletops, but located in such places that you can easily jump off.
Update – July 2023
As you could see in the recordings, I’m jumping somewhere, even though I write that I have nowhere to go. Well… in the meantime, I learned from other places. As I wrote earlier, you need to have skills to take advantage of the obstacles in Zieleniec. I still can’t jump on some tabletops, but I’m already clearing some of them because I learned to do it without having a lot of speed. With better skills, jumping over a tree on Sztos is not so scary anymore, on Zig-Zag (my favorite trail) I have a few nice places to take the wheels off the ground and even a drop on the Patataj – Zig-Zag connector went without a problem :)
I will gladly come to Zieleniec from time to time and I still can’t wait for new lines :)
Thank you :)
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