"There's chaos on the Isar." This is how Andreas Kublik summarises the current situation in Munich's best-known trail area. The Isar floodplains are suffering under the pressure of leisure-seekers. The narrow strip of countryside between Hellabrunn Zoo and Schäftlarn Monastery, which has not been eaten away by concrete or tarmac, is not enough for almost 1.5 million Munich residents who want to relax in nature close to the city. Sure, the trails are good and, above all, easy to find. Everyone who takes up the sport ends up here first. But are there really no alternatives to the Isar trails in the whole of Munich? TOUR editor Andreas Kublik has been asking himself this question for over a year.
Kublik, born in Gräfelfing near Munich, 51 years old, lean, with a three-day beard, is a grump - a picture-book Bavarian. His colleague is charmingly grumpy, and he always expresses his own opinion bluntly. As a full-time editor at TOUR magazine, he spends a lot of time on his racing bike. In his world, altitude metres on the speedometer count more than likes under a Facebook post. It is the combination of these two traits, the grumbling and the desire to get fit, that ultimately led Kublik to look for alternative trails in the Munich area.
We start at the joint editorial office of BIKE and TOUR in Steinerstraße in Munich, roll past the zoo - the flyway for Isar bikers - and disappear a few kilometres further into the greenery of Perlacher Forst. Thousands of racing cyclists cross this forest every day on the tarmac cycle paths. However, the forest close to the city centre is not so popular with bikers. As flat as a football pitch and criss-crossed by wide gravel and tarmac roads, nobody would expect a single trail paradise here.
But it's not just Perlacher Forst that surprises us in a positive way. We find dirt spots in the city, visit the nearest bike parks and ride other congestion-free tours in the Munich area. You can download the complete travel article "Großstadtrevier München" from BIKE 9/2020 as a PDF in the download area below. The district guide costs 1.49 euros. The GPS data for the mountain bike tours in the Munich area can be found below as a free download.
