Let's not kid ourselves: It's getting tighter and tighter in the mountains and on the trails. More bikes on the trails, more hikers on the trails, more insta-fame for remote spots and all over again. Ever since the wild MTB rogues of the 90s discovered the forest for themselves, there has always been trouble between them. Consideration or not.
Two years ago, people in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, got their hands on a shovel, money and a mobile app and started the Bike Kingdom proclaimed. The goal is as simple as it is complicated: a peaceful coexistence, or rather: coexistence of mountain biking and hiking.
In Lenzerheide, biking and hiking are possible on separate trails
Since 2020, Lenzerheide has consistently pursued the plan of simply separating bikers and hikers on the trails. But Switzerland wouldn't be Switzerland if this was done through bans, fines and coercion. In Lenzerheide, everyone from the mountain railway to the alpine farmers and local politicians have cooperated and converted and expanded the trail network so that studded tyres and hiking boots can sometimes go completely separate ways.
Where there's too much going on, so-called "unbundling trails" have been created. Around 30 kilometres of these trails divert mountain bikes from the hiking trails. At all other points in the Bike Kingdom, signs, information boards and lift operators help to equalise outdoor traffic - and the Bike Kingdom app is the central element!
Bike Kingdom app: navigation, gamification - and traffic control
The Bike Kingdom app offers its users two things: an information platform for Routes, navigation and info about the bike park and gamification. Routes become challenges. Points, titles and prizes are on offer. Since its launch two years ago, the app has been downloaded 64,000 times. According to Pascal Krieger, Brand Manager of Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide, 16,000 users per month used the app last season.
Under the bonnet, guests in Lenzerheide are gently guided by the app. Thanks to the software's analysis data, the operators know which mountain railway is full, where there are waiting times in the bike park and which routes are currently popular. Accordingly, the app makes route recommendations or suggests challenges that avoid these hotspots. Brand Manager Pascal makes it clear: "There are only two trails in Lenzerheide that are closed to bikers. Rather, we have tried to make the trails more attractive for the respective target group. The biker thinks: I'd rather ride the exciting trail than the wide hiking trail." But the "trail tolerance and rules" are formulated just as strictly as those of the DIMBbut they cater specifically for hikers.
"Trail tolerance and rules:
(...) Coexistence
- You always let the hikers go first.
- You pass at walking pace or dismount briefly.
- Leave the themed trails to the families. (...)
- No shortcuts: Stay on the marked and signposted routes. (...)"
- Bikekingdom.ch
From the town hall to the shepherd, everyone is behind the trail concept
The Slow Mobility Masterplan 3.0 stands above all measures; this means everyone, whether on foot or by bike. The municipality of Lenzerheide is not the only one to realise that with Earning money in sports tourism and - due to a lack of snow - may have to. However, if more people come to the village near Davos, which is actually known as a ski resort, in summer, it will not only become more crowded on the mountains - but also in the valley. In the coming years, the master plan should also take effect here and create footpaths and cycle paths, for example, where now only lorries and cars speed along at 80 km/h.
"We also recently sat down with the alpine farmers and farmers. It's a give and take," says Pascal, the Bike Kingdom's Brand Manager. "We need land for new trails in return for renaturalised areas elsewhere. And people are no longer criss-crossing the mountain meadows."
Measure, analyse, expand - then the trail network in the Bike Kingdom will grow
The next step for Lenzerheide is a further traffic analysis using an app, but also radar, GPS and other data sources to see where sports enthusiasts are still standing on each other's feet. Other hiking trails are also to be renovated or old routes revitalised. Communication about the separation of paths is also to be extended to hiking tourism.
But that's not all: "We are in contact with other municipalities in the Bike Kingdom to equip two areas with trails and infrastructure," says Pascal. "We want to start planning in the autumn, but certainly in 2023." An important area in the expansion of the trail network is, of course, the infrastructure for e-bikes. A few years ago, only the toughest mountain bike heroes would stop at mountain huts because they were too high or too steep to reach, but now a few e-MTBs are regularly parked outside. And their riders are increasingly asking not only for food and drink, but also for an electric boost for their batteries.
The hut operators are also investing in charging stations, which in turn is subsidised by the municipalities. The Bike Kingdom app also indicates whether a bike route is suitable for an e-MTB, for example because it includes a longer carrying section. For the bike park in Lenzerheide, says Pascal, not much has changed in comparison. Anyone who can can also whip their Stromer through the jumps.
Unbundling and control: a concept that others could learn from Lenzerheide
Initial criticism from locals, especially the bike schools in Lenzerheide, that the app was taking customers away from them has been silenced, says Pascal. This is because the guides can now ride to the "specialities" and secret spots that are not even displayed to app bikers. In fact, the app has even strengthened the guides' unique selling point, he explains.
And nobody can seriously complain about more sustainable tourism for bike enthusiasts and hiking fans anyway. Managing hiking and biking traffic in this way with various levers is not easy, but perhaps Lenzerheide offers a good example that other municipalities can adopt in principle so that the avoidable duels between bikers and hikers do not occur again in the coming summers. The Bike Kingdom: where bikers and hikers say "Grüezi" to each other.
More information about the Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide at: bikekingdom.ch/en
Marc Strucken
Editor
