It has been rumoured for some time that promising little excavators are at work in the forest above the wine village of Kiedrich near Wiesbaden - now it's certain: the new hotel above the Rheingau Hahnwald forest will open its own trail park for mountain bikers in March.
In fact, there has never been a project like this before in Germany: An Ingelheim-based group of companies is building a new conference and wellness hotel in the middle of a sea of forests in the Rheingau region of Hesse, in a particularly scenic location on the summit, and is also creating a full-blown trail park on the forest slope below.
"I've never experienced anything like this before," says Kim Christian, who was able to realise the construction of this trail park with his trail construction company Natur-Projekte. "We normally get the contracts from clubs or local authorities. Here in Kiedrich, it was the passionate owner of a hotel."
Trail park with 5 lines: from Forst Flow to the Rhine Falls
The WALD.WEIT Rheingau Hotel & Retreat provided 18 hectares of Hahnwald forest especially for its outdoor project and trail builder Kim Christian found space for 5 trails with a total length of 4.1 kilometres (3.1 km flow trails/ 1 km uphill):
- Forst Flow: for beginners and advanced users
Most of the Forst Flow Trail (difficulty level green) can be ridden with your eyes from the hotel: It winds through open forest and meadow areas and enables short excursions to the next level of riding technique with steep bends, berms and wall rides. At the end, you cross small bridges over the hotel's water catchment basin. - Rinden Ride: Flow with surprises
The Rinden Ride (difficulty level green) impresses with its numerous berms and steep bends, as well as creatively integrated surprises. - Beech Bounce: Unrestrained flow
On the Buchen Bounce Trail (difficulty level blue), curves and jumps flow harmoniously into one another. You can roll down it slowly, but if you step on the gas, you can also experience a lot of airtime. Short counter-slopes take care of the braking. - Task Forst: the Enduro Line
The Task Forst Trail (difficulty level red) is challenging over roots and stones and has the charm of an untamed nature trail. - Rhine Falls: experts only
The black descent winds down steep slopes, threads its way into complex Northshores and demands precision and technical skill on its jumps.
There is also a practice course: for warming up and practising with drops, steep turns, tables and various wooden features.
It was built exclusively with local soil and wood, in line with the credo of the company Natur-Projekte, which also creates trails for hikers in addition to bike trails.
Do you have to be a hotel guest to ride the trails?
No. Even though staying at the WALD.WEIT Rheingau Hotel & Retreat is likely to be very spectacular, as it is enthroned on the mountain plateau above the Hahnwald forest with sensational views over the Rhine and the sea of forests (hence the name of the hotel). The rooftop floor not only has a bar, but also three themed saunas. A wellness area that is to be expanded in the coming construction phases. There is also training counselling, a chic in-house restaurant, a summer garden and a very sophisticated wash station-workshop-room corridor for particularly muddy trail days.
Unsurprisingly, the accommodation prices are also set higher: The most basic double room category costs 260 euros per night (for 2 people including breakfast). But as I said, you don't have to be a hotel guest to use the trails. The hotel's trail park and summer garden are open to all bikers. The Wurzelwerke bike school from Wiesbaden will even be offering technical courses with yoga sessions and a food truck will be located at the lower meeting point of the trail park where you can get snacks from the hotel kitchen.
The grand opening party in March
The hotel has been open since February, but still has a few construction phases ahead of it. The trails are ready, but are still being compacted and one or two landings still need to be shaped. By the way, slopestyle pro Max Mey is doing the finishing touches. He is permanently employed at the hotel and will take care of the maintenance of the trail park, as well as the riding technique and touring programmes and the grand opening party on 16 March.
The three companies Nicolai, Rotwild and Specialized have already confirmed that they will be attending the party with test bikes.
How do you come up with the idea of designing a luxury hotel with its own trail park? We asked Tim Gemünden, the owner of the WALD.WEIT hotel, for an interview via Teams:
I'm not going to spend years fighting for legal trails in the region and then put a stop to it myself!
BIKE: Mr Gemünden, let us guess: you are a passionate mountain biker yourself, aren't you?
Tim Gemünden: Of course! I bought my first mountain bike in 1988 - it still had a lugged steel frame. I rode it wildly in the Bingen forest, together with Thomas Kleinjohann from Dimb and the guys from the Beinhart MTB club. To this day, I still meet up with friends twice a week to go for a trail ride.
Then Thomas Kleinjohann will tell you a thing or two about trail legalisation?
Up close and personal. I have also supported the DIMB flow trail concept as a sponsor. Especially, of course, the Stromberg Flowtrail here around the corner. But I've also seen how gruelling it can be to try and legalise more trails for mountain bikers. It can take years.
And so you decided to simply buy the Hahnwald forest on your hotel doorstep?
In fact, the forest was already there. My father once bought this mountain. The idea of building this hotel on top of the mountain plateau with our construction company came about at some point. And then it was clear: the forest slope below also belongs to us, so we can now create trails according to our ideas - in consultation with the Lower Nature Conservation Authority, of course, and with ecological construction supervision.
They attached great importance to a gentle construction method. After all, Kim Christian was hired by the trail construction company "Natur-Projekte".
Kim Christian is one thing above all: an artist in his profession. When you consider that he was standing in front of these 18 hectares of woodland, which had not been cultivated for many years. There was a lot of dead wood lying around, as you can imagine. And even from this wood, he created creative obstacles for our trails.
And not a crumb of crushed sand carted in?
I have to say that we are really outrageously lucky: the lower part of the slope consists of broken slate. Surface water dries off super quickly on such a surface. And the tyre grip is perfect. The upper area, on the other hand, will probably require more maintenance because it is normal loess soil. But Max Mey will take care of that in future. As a slopestyler, he knows all about meticulous trail maintenance.
Do you actually have to make the trail park open to the public because of the right to enter the forest in Germany?
No. The mountain is private property. We could simply put up a fence around the trails if we wanted to. But I'm not going to spend half my life fighting for legal trails in the region and then put up a barrier myself!
How delighted are you that companies such as Nicolai, Rotwild and Specialized will also be attending the inauguration party?
Huge! We have also invited other bike companies. But I'm particularly pleased that the brands I've already owned a bike from will be represented. Now the weather just has to be right on 16 March. When I look out of the window here, there's a lot of fog and damp in the forest at the moment and not all the trail sections have been compacted yet. But: it will be fine!
We keep both fingers crossed and wish them every success!
All information about the current trail opening times and the hotel: wald-weit.com
Gitta Beimfohr
Editor
