Würzburg is located in the central Main Valley at the north-westernmost tip of Bavaria, between Nuremberg and Frankfurt. The oldest university city in Bavaria has a population of around 125,000. The bike area mainly runs to the left and right of the Main. The second trail centre is located in the forest area south of the city, called Steinbachtal. The A3 motorway runs through the middle of this area. The topography has the character of low mountain ranges with many short climbs and descents. You can gain around 100 metres in altitude in one go up to the high banks of the Main. The landscape here is characterised by many vineyards.
A landscape in which many well-known faces from the bike scene have settled and who now reveal their absolute trail favourites to us:
Tour 1: Main-Panorama
- Length. 57.4 kilometres
- Uphill: 820 metres in altitude
- Pure journey time: 4:45 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
This long tour leads along the east bank of the Main to Ochsenfurt. You then get to know some super trails near Kitzingen before heading back over the hills to Würzburg. After the start at Steinbachtal, you cross the Main and cycle along the cycle path to Randersacker. There, a tough climb to the Sonnenstuhlturm awaits. The tower, which the locals call the Potato Tower, was called the Adolf Hitler Tower during the Second World War. Then one trail highlight follows the next for many kilometres. The crowning glory is the Panorama Trail, which first winds along the slope shortly before Ochsenfurt and then drops down to the Main. The route now takes you along secluded forest and meadow paths through the hinterland towards Kitzingen. Wonderful trails await you again in the area of a former US military site. The way back shows a different side of the Franconian wine country. On the wide mountain ranges, the most you will encounter is a farmer on a tractor. A final flow trail begins at the Lindelbach quarry and leads back into the Main valley. From Randersacker on the cycle path to Würzburg. Refreshment tip: Weinstube Körner in Randersacker (hearty and delicious)!
Tour 2: M-Weg and Käppele
- Length. 52.6 kilometres
- Uphill: 1120 metres in altitude
- Pure travelling time: 5 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
The tour in the north of Würzburg is peppered with the best single trails in the region. The start is at Weingut am Stein on the northern bypass (near the main railway station). It starts with the trails around Veitshöchheim, whose sharp bends demand solid steering skills. Then you join the Main hiking trail (marked with a blue M). In constant ups and downs, it leads along the edge of the slope towards Thüngersheim. After the steep descent from Eckberg, you work your way back up through the vineyards. It's worth it, because the next descent to Retzbach is well worth it. At the northernmost point of the tour, you cross the river to Zellingen. The next metres in altitude await at Eschberg. The next trail adventure begins at the ruins of the old watchtower. Freeriders love the lines that lead back down to Zellingen. Continue: past the Erlabrunner Käppele, a chapel with stunning views, one trail follows the next. You could easily spend a whole day on this ridge alone. The last ten kilometres are along the Main back to Würzburg.
GPS data for the tours in the Würzburg MTB region
Scene Guide Würzburg
Typically a student city, Würzburg has a high density of pubs. Straight from the bike trail to partying? Of course you can! The locals reveal their favourite addresses.
Breakfast
- Unicafé: The classic in town, young crowd, great menu. Neubaustraße 2, Tel. 0931/15672, www.unicafe-wuerzburg.de
- Wunschlos Glücklich Cafe: Relaxed atmosphere with a cabaret stage, jazz breakfast every first Sunday of the month. Bronnbachergasse 22R, www.wunschlos-gluecklich.net
- Café am Dom: Superb breakfast buffet in the centre of the city, outdoor terrace with a view of the cathedral. Kürschnerhof 2
- Café Fred: trendy breakfast and brunch address with a very varied offer, also for vegans. Herzogenstraße 4, www.cafefred.de
- Caféhaus Brückenbäck: Romantic, modern café atmosphere right by the old Main bridge, great menu, book in advance. Zeller Straße 2, www.brueckenbaeck.de
Snack / Snack bar
Tip: Eat a Franconian bratwurst on the market square! Not to be confused with the small Nuremberg bratwurst! In western Franconia, the sausage is longer and thicker, and sometimes comes in pairs on the plate (for example with cabbage) or in a roll. The best bratwurst in Würzburg can be found at the Knüpfing bratwurst stand in the Ladenzeile. Ketchup is frowned upon, by the way! It's traditionally served with mustard or horseradish. The Green Market with many regional specialities takes place on the market square on Tues/Wed and Fri/Sat.
- Sir Quickly: Two different vegetarian dishes to choose from every day - almost a gourmet meeting place. Herzogenstraße 5, www.sir-quickly.info
- My sausage: Classic snack bar, from currywurst to hot dogs, also vegetarian alternatives. Eichhornstraße 2.5
- Crab fish barAlmost like behind the dyke! Fish & chips on a floating snack cutter. On the Main quay (Alter Kranen)
Food and drink
Tip: take part in a wine tasting! Vineyards, wineries and wine taverns are omnipresent in Franconia. For example at Weingut Stein (starting point of Tour 2). Information about the wine events: www.wuerzburgerweinfestkalender.de
- Sanderstrasse: Sanderstraße is the epicentre of Würzburg's pubs (between Alter Main-Brücke and Ludwigsbrücke). You'll always get stuck somewhere here.
. Veggie Bros: vegetarian, fresh and delicious. Juliuspromenade 38, www.veggiebros.de
- Backöfele: Franconian original pub with corresponding offer, historical ambience. Ursulinergasse 2, www.backoefele.de
- Babett's wine bar: Typical Franconian wine tavern with Franconian cuisine, the daughter of the house is a former wine queen. Franziskanerplatz 1
Bike shops
- Bikestorecompetent and well-stocked, test bike hire. Wölffelstraße 1, www.bikestore-wuerzburg.de
- FX-Sports: Renowned shop with its own racing team. Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 2 (Würzburg-Höchberg), www.fxsports.de
- Eighty-Aid (Headshok Clinic): Founders Larry Westney and Markus Dellinger are among the veterans of the Würzburg bike scene. The heart of the Cannondale store is the world's largest collection of Lefty and Headshok forks. Leistenstr. 3, Tel. 0931/783250, www.eighty-aid.com
Bikeclub RSG Würzburg
RSG Würzburg offers joint training rides during the summer months. Club members can also sign up for joint marathon excursions in the region. Next date: The Christmas tour on 24.12.23.
An event date has already been set for next season: the next MTB evening race will take place on 5 May 24. Information and further dates will follow: www.rsg-wuerburg.de
Maps and tour information
The Supertrail Map "Würzburg" with 40 trail loops around the city (scale 1:25000) is available from 16.95 euros, for example here: www.supertrail-map.com or www.bergzeit.de
Accommodation
Everything from youth hostels to star hotels. Overview at the tourist office. BIKE tip: Hotel Weisses Lamm. The best trails are right on the doorstep of this bed & bike establishment. Kirchstraße 24 in Veitshöchheim, www.hotel-weisses-lamm.de
General information
Tourist Information Würzburg, Turmgasse 11, 97070 Würzburg, Tel. 0931/372335, www.wuerzburg.de
The report MTB-Revier Würzburg: With the locals after closing time
Almost every biker knows it: the after-work ride. Popular, invigorating or notorious. Depending on what mood you're in. The Feierabendrunde follows its own dramaturgy, its own laws and rituals. This is certainly the case in every city, and Würzburg is no exception. The bikers of the RSG Würzburg meet regularly in the summer to train together. Conscientious as I am, I'm at the starting point a quarter of an hour early - and of course I'm not the first. Mike Schramm, sports director of the RSG, gives himself away with his yellow and red club jersey. His colleague Thomas Geissel stands out with his artistically painted bike.
The love for his homeland is unmistakable. An airbrush artist has immortalised Marienberg Fortress, one of the landmarks of the city on the River Main, on the chainstay of his carbon bike. The mood is relaxed. Still. There is heavy traffic at the entrance to Steinbachtal. Cyclists of all classes whizz past, joggers stretch their muscles on a park bench, walkers take their dogs out. The valley is not only a district of Würzburg, but also the starting point for bike tours through the city forest and the neighbouring Guttenberg Forest. A huge area where you can do laps for hours. And in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. Names like Rollercoaster, Root Trail and Ninja Trail sound promising. But you have to find them first! This also applies to today's planned route, which follows the Main Valley southwards. According to the "Supertrail Map", a special trail map for bikers, one trail follows the next.
The first hurdles are not long in coming
The group is almost complete at just before six. Alex Pscheidl just rolls up. The local has contributed a lot of information to the map with his detailed local knowledge. "But the main work was done by my former team mate Lukas," says Alex as he sets the computer on the handlebars to zero. "You're about to experience it." The guys around me are fit, you can see that at first glance. Tight Lycra stretches around sinewy thighs. Fast, lightweight hardtails dominate. Only three men stand out with their casual clothes and enduro bikes, because apart from me, Johann and Daniel have joined us as guests. The two of them have already travelled to enduro competitions for the Propain Factory team. "Although I've lived in Würzburg for a while now, I'm still far from knowing all the good trails," says Johann. Mount up! The entourage sets off and immediately picks up speed. The route is still flat along the Main, but the first hurdles are not long in coming. Anyone who has ever sped past Würzburg on the A3 will be familiar with the notorious motorway ramps where lorries clog up the right-hand lane at a snail's pace. That's exactly how I feel on my enduro bike as the road suddenly heads skywards. The rear wheels of those in front of me quickly disappear from view. Topographical nasties like this are simply pushed away in racing circles. At the top, a typical after-work lap situation. And that means: "Onwards when the last one is there." As soon as I've caught up with the chatting group with a pulse of 180 in my throat, the front of the pack pushes on again. Probably to prevent me from cooling down unnecessarily as a guest rider.
But now the fun starts with the single trails. And how! The pace is still as fast as ever, but I can keep up reasonably well in surf mode. The RSG Express hurtles through the woods with tunnel vision. Now I also realise why many locals ride their bikes with very narrow handlebars. A few times I almost get stuck with my 70-centimetre bar on narrow trees. It's clear that the guys are only guiding me along the best bits of the region. After just a few kilometres, I realise that without the guides, I would simply speed past most of the trail sections. Sometimes it's just an inconspicuous gap in the bushes that reveals the entrance to the next trail. Signposts? Markings? No signposts. We continue to work our way along the high banks of the Main, occasionally catching a glimpse of the river below. The ribbon of water cuts through the landscape here in huge loops.
As the leader of the training rides, Alex has mastered the art of connecting the trail network into a coherent route. A short breather at an old, overgrown quarry. While the enduro riders get their adrenaline pumping on a few rockfalls, I ask Alex how all the trails found their way onto the map. "We knew a lot of the routes from our years of riding, of course," Alex explains. "Lukas tracked down the rest by trial and error." Over the course of several weeks, his former team colleague travelled all the routes in the region. "And I mean that literally," Alex emphasises. "On some evenings, Lukas had 4000 metres of altitude and more on his watch!" He also discovered umpteen new trails on his exploratory rides that even the long-established locals hadn't yet put on the map. That's what I call a serious work ethic! The wild chase continues. The only thing that worries me is the fact that the sun is just a hand's breadth above the horizon, but we are still heading away from Würzburg.
Just one more descent," Alex calls out to me against the wind, "You absolutely have to experience it as a guest, after that we'll roll easily back to Würzburg on the cycle path."
Loose? Another misleading expression from the jargon of after-work rounds. Translated, it means something like: Chain to the right and duck frantically into the slipstream of the vehicle in front. Just don't lose the connection, otherwise it will hurt even more. And as far as the position of the sun is concerned: luckily Mike at least has a flashing rear light in his emergency luggage and secures the end of the D-train. Because when we reach Würzburg again after almost 50 kilometres, it's pitch black. A typical after-work ride. But it was great!
Change of scene. When Würzburg bikers talk about the Käppele, they are not usually referring to the double-towered pilgrimage church near Marienberg Fortress. No, they are talking about the Erlabrunner Käppele, a really small chapel north of the city. The little church of Mariahilf is enthroned high above the River Main, on the slope of the striking Volkenberg. There is even an Erlabrunn pilgrimage up there, which takes place once a year. Mountain bikers make a pilgrimage to the Käppele mainly because of the legendary trails. The trails wind their way through a sparse black pine forest between Eschberg and Volkenberg. Names like Zickzack-Weg or Huber-Trail bring a grin to everyone's face. This time I'm travelling with a much more freeride-oriented group - at least as far as the casual clothing and suspension travel are concerned. But when it comes to sporty biking, the guys around Michael Herbig don't miss a beat either.
The day's programme for the bike celebrities is tight:
First, we take the so-called M-Weg, another local classic, which leads down the Main to Retzbach. There we switch to the other side of the river and cycle back over the aforementioned ridge past the Käppele. Of course, the profile resembles an endless saw blade - after all, we're not in the Alps, where it's almost boring to go up and down again. Michael enters the labyrinth of paths at the Schenkenturm airfield. The small forest near Veitshöchheim is one of the spots where the trails are partly created by the locals. One of the active riders is Larry Westney, who, like Michael, is a veteran of the Würzburg bike scene.
The US American is probably also known to many Cannondale riders under the pseudonym "Mister Headshok". Together with partner Markus Dellinger, he founded the shop Eighty Aid at the end of the 1990s. With the vocation of exclusively servicing Headshok and Lefty suspension forks. Larry has long been an expert in this field, and anyone who has always wanted to see all the models ever produced in series should definitely pay a visit to his small Headshok museum. But the fact that Larry also knows how to harmoniously thread a trail around tree trunks is something we can enjoy at full speed.
But not enough of the local celebrities. Right here, on the cosy forest trails north of Würzburg, you are likely to come across bikes with futuristic spoked wheels made of carbon. And sometimes even the designer of the lightweight propellers sits in the saddle himself. That's when Christian Gemperlein, head of Bike Ahead Composites, is once again on a test ride with new prototypes. The carbon specialist studied plastics engineering in Würzburg and then turned his hobby into a profession. In Veitshöchheim, where the sacred production halls are located today, he can jet straight from the workshop to the best trails. For purely professional reasons, of course. The man is undoubtedly to be envied, I think, as Michael dives back into the undergrowth.
The bends are starting to make me almost dizzy. Every now and then, however, passages through the vineyards provide marvellous panoramas over the Main valley. Shortly before Retzbach, we are already winding our way back up to the top, where wind turbines circle lazily and bright yellow rapeseed fields wallpaper the hills. This feat of strength wouldn't be necessary, as we could just as easily join the trails at the bottom. But it's all about the momentum that we carry from up there into the long descent down to the Main. A bike tour could hardly be more varied. And according to Michael's promises, the best part of the route is still ahead of us. At the Eschberg, we are greeted by a Mediterranean forest of gnarled trees and the smell of the south and the sea. A very special ambience surrounds the paths that meander towards Käppele.
The last of their strength is mobilised and the group romps over the permanent waves at full throttle. Can that be topped? Not really. But the locals have another ace up their sleeve. Right in the centre of the city. We head towards the old Main Bridge and just as I'm looking for another trail, I spot people with goblets in their hands. After riding the trails together, the locals meet here to chill out and enjoy a Franconian pint with a view of the river. This is also one of the special after-work rituals in Würzburg. A great idea - it doesn't always have to be a wheat beer under chestnut trees.
