"One million euros for the Bikepark Schöneck." This headline made us sit up and take notice. We were already familiar with the park in Saxony, but it only flickered faintly on our radar. On our last visit in 2013, only two main routes wound their way down the short slope (130 metres in altitude) in a rather unspectacular manner. Now the park has been given a big injection of EU funding. To spruce things up, the Vogtland region hired the trail construction company Velosolution with frontman and World Cup commentator Claudio Calouri. He was commissioned to build a jump trail modelled on the legendary A-Line in Whistler and a tamer trail in flow country format. Park construction guru Diddie Schneider was also brought on board; he built a large practice course with table lines, drop battery and pump track on the plateau at the lift exit.
The comments under the web clip of the new jump trail made us curious.
#Stephan: "How fat is that! Awesome!"
#Prttymthrfckr "Holy shit, is that cool?! German Coast Gravity Park at the start?"
#S3L3C7A "OMG - Germans built something like this? There's still hope after all!"
We said: let's go!
The trails of Schöneck
There are four main routes, all around 1 to 1.5 kilometres long. In other words: quite short. The "Erich Popp" trail (awesome name!) is a snaking line with berms. Ideal for beginners and families. Or for warming up. Although the trail curves down gently and with good curve radii, it is not as flowy and fun as the flow country model.
But we hadn't come for Erich Popp either: We wanted to see the German A-Line, the centrepiece of the park and the reason why we made the 3.5-hour drive from Munich in the first place. First run, first impression: challenging, this is no easy peacy course. In order to manage the impressive jumps, you have to let it run properly and hit the jumps well - then a lot of airtime is guaranteed. The speed is not quite right yet. Sometimes you sail a little too far, then you get stuck again. Good: almost every jump has a double (marked in red) and a table variant (marked in green). The trail is fun, but there are still no feelings of elation.
There is also a downhill in Schöneck. It leads over roots and stones, turns onto the jumptrail for a short distance (watch out when turning in!) and continues to rumble over root fields through the forest. There is a small road gap at the end. Quite nice! We really liked the practice course. You can spend a long time there without getting bored.
ConclusionYes, it's going in the right direction! Schöneck has become more attractive thanks to modern trails. Unfortunately, there are only a few metres in altitude.
Information about the Bikepark Schöneck:
- Routes 4 main routes
- Lift Chairlift
- Start of the May season
- Opening hours Fri 14-18 h, Sat/Sun 10-17 h; July, August from Wednesday to Sunday 10-18 h
- Day ticket adults 23 Euro
Distances:
- Stuttgart 3.5 hours
- Munich 3 hours
- Frankfurt 3.5 hours
- Innsbruck 3.5 hours
