Pasmo Rowerowe Olbrzymy (Giants Biking Trails) are singletracks in the Karkonosze Mountains, characterized by a lot of rocks, both on descents and uphill sections. Opinions about these biking routes vary. Some people are delighted with them, while others complain that there is no “flow”, that in some places it is impossible to ride up and that in general it is constantly going up. So is it worth visiting?
The Olbrzymy Biking Trails is almost 60 km of MTB routes, which can be divided into two parts: the easier and longer eastern loop (around Przesieka and Borowice villages) and the more difficult and shorter western loop (around Piechowice). Each part consists of several short singletracks that can be ridden individually, but can also be combined into one large loop and thus make a 3-5-hour trip.
All trails are very well marked. Before entering each singletrack, there is a map, a description of the trail and information about its length and elevation gain/loss. Such data is also available before entering each section of the route.
On the route itself, you can see exclamation marks warning about more difficult places.
Singletrackss are interval in nature, i.e.you alternate between short uphill and short descents. Some sections are more uphill, others are more downhill, but even the downhill sections have short climbs in places. This gives the impression that you are constantly climbing and that there are more climbs than descents, which of course cannot be true if you are doing a loop.
East part of Olbrzymy (Przesieka part)
The entire loop of the easier part of the Giants Biking Trails is approximately 38 km. The track below shows less results because I wasn’t riding the Perun single track at that time.
Most of the routes are smooth forest paths, but here and there you can encounter rock gardens (parts lined with boulders) or single rocks.
This distinguishes Olbrzymy from the Glacensis Singletracks, where you will not find such attractions.
You can successfully ride Eastern Giants on a hardtail, but due to the short climbs and short descents, it is convenient to have a dropper post.
Almost all sections in this part of Pasmo Rowerowe Olbrzymy have blue difficulty. In the recordings below you can see the downhill sections of two sample singles.
The exception are two sections marked as red. One of them is part of the Licho singletrack.
The second one is Czart – definitely the most difficult singletrack in this part of the Olbrzymy. It has a few places that may cause problems for beginners.
West part of Olbrzymy (Piechowice part)
The western part of the Olbrzymy is mostly red. Just like in the eastern part, rock gardens can be found on every slope of the route, which makes even the ascent a challenge in places.
It’s also possible on a hardtail bike, but I wouldn’t want to ride without a dropper post and without protectors.
You also have descents interspersed with uphill sections here, but there is part definitely more uphill and more downhill. If you start in Piechowice, you will first have approx. 13 km of mainly uphill sections and then approx. 7 km of mainly downhill sections.
The downhill part is first a Doppler singletrail, with several small drops along the route (all of which can be bypassed) and individual small tables.
Next there is Zmora…
…and right behind it, the most interesting singletrack of the entire Pasmo Rowerowe Olbrzymy, i.e. Skarbek. On the route you will encounter several rock gardens, a few rollers, sharp turns, drops… sometimes it is difficult to ride over these rocks, but there is always something going on.
Finally, Rokitnik, the only single track on Olbrzymy, which has an obstacle that cannot be avoided and from which I have not yet dared to ride/jump. This is what it looks like from below:
And see what it looks like from above at 0:45 in this recording:
Is it worth visiting Olbrzymy Trails?
If you don’t like climbs and are looking for smooth flow trails, this is not the place for you. Indeed, it is difficult to catch flow on Giant Biking Trails, because every now and then we have an uphill, a rock garden or another obstacle that slows us down. It’s difficult to ride on red sections, especially if you don’t know them yet. From a distance, it is often impossible to see whether the obstacle is difficult or just appears to be so. Can you roll it or do you have to jump off? Therefore, if you have the opportunity, it is worth following someone who already knows these routes well. Or ride them more than once.
I like diversity, so I’m glad that we have such trails in Lower Silesia. They are completely different from the Glacensis Singletracks, from the Srebrna Góra Enduro Trails, from Zieleniec, from the enduro trails on Ślęża and Radunia Mounts. There are probably no such routes anywhere in Poland. The nature of the Olbrzymy is a bit like the Trutnov Trails and Rychleby Trails in the Czech Republic, but there, unlike the Olbrzymy, there are no loops, but you always go up the same trail and go down different ones.
Thank you :)
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