Spend the best four enduro days in the very best Enduro locations in Slovakia – Shuttle & Lift-assisted for maximum downhill pleasure and only minimum pedalling required. The trip will take you to Martinske hole – all three directions, the super gnarly and fun Malino Brdo Bike Park & probably the lowest altitude but most fun bike park ever in Kalnica. This full-on trip will challenge your skills, stamina and experience MTB like never before, but you will discover a gem in the heart of Europe that you will want to come back to with your friends over and over in future.
Our top of Slovakia trip will start in one of the most iconic and the most popular place to ride Enduro in Slovakia on Martinske hole with the first day on Turiec Trails with the local team that is building and caring for the trails. Martinske hole are a unique mountain range in the Mala Fatra region 1400 meters above the city of Martin and thanks to its empty planes on top offer spectacular views of the surrounding country and Velka Fatra mountain range. Going downhill Hole offer some of the most gnarly MTB adventure out there. You can expect an unending Roots, Rocks MTB Reggae with tons of trails winding down almost all the way to the city. The trail difficulty is between red and black leaning towards the black side of things esp. due to the incline and big-ass rock gardens on the way. There are 3 different directions – Martin, Strecno & Kunerad and we will explore during the upcoming two days, but one of the biggest benefits is that all of them start more or less from the same place and its accessible by our shuttle and trailer for minimum.
On our first day after the long trip to Slovakia we will kick the pedals on the Hole with the Turiec Trails with the easiest access down to Martin, with the trails going the same direction as the road uphill. Therefore we will be able to do as many runs as we will want with a big-ass burger just below the trails for lunch and a fantastic traditional dinner in the evening.
On our first run we will pedal up all the way to the top which is about 200 height meters from the parking lot. With a quick coffee at the Chata Javorina we will drop in from the very top and the nicest view. From there we will go down to the old Martinske Hole hut and follow the old DH race trails and fun trails like Duky, Prasivec and others.
Day two we will switch gears and after a hearty breakfast and drive to Ruzomberok, home of the iconic Malino Brdo bike park. By all accounts the #1 natural gnaar place in Slovakia with a fast gondola taking you all the way up to the trail head. This place is an enduro riders dream come true with probably the best trail mix of difficulty and pure bike joy – blue (Blue Velvet, Blizzard), red (Monster Dog, Bedaskyn) and black though the most difficult black (Intro DH) and double black diamond (DH Pro & NZ) ones are our favorites. Everything from shaped features, wooden drops, teeter-totters, whale tail and many north shores down to pure natural full-blown DH trails with some sections that even we’re not brave enough to tackle. Our hearts will flutter with good vibes, eyes wide and s big smile across our face. Before heading back to the HQ, we will have dinner in one (or maybe even THE) most famous traditional restaurants in Slovakia Pastiersky dvor (Shepherds court 4.7* from 4,5k people on Google) for an out of this world experience of traditional recipes made from highest quality ingredients and with a modern twist.
If we want we can also take a shuttle ride all the way to Smrekovica and do one ride down from there. For a relaxed round we can get a lift up to the trail head and checkout Vlkolinec, one of the oldest picturesque Slovak village museum and then take the Sidorovo trail down to the base to finish the ride.
Day three we will return to Martinske Hole once more, but this time we will have a different experience – 2 shuttles combined with some pedalling, but nonetheless still breathtaking/full-on experience. After grabing a good meal for breakfast we will do a thorough Bike Check to ensure that our ride’s are ready to go after the 2 heavy enduro days. Then the shuttle will bring us up to Martinské Hole, from where we will climb the remaining 200 height meters to the top. From there our first descent will take us down and up towards Minčol a beautiful photo spot with an iconic cross on top and then traversing the mountains all the way down below the ruin of Castle Strečno.
You can expect epic views, gnarly narrow trails with many rocks and occassional hidden gulleys, which sometime can swallow your entire wheel. There are also very steep descents, which are really a challenge for even the most advanced of riders. Once in Strečno we will be picked up by the crew and while loading the bikes, we will grab a quick drink at the bar here. The we go back up again on Martinské Hole where we will have a hearty lunch and take a breather. Then we will tackle the uphill to the top one last time where the second and even more exciting part of the day’s bike adventure begins.
From the top we will set off on a hiking trail towards Kunerad, otherwise called aptly as “The Viper”. As with the first descent, this is a true-blood Enduro ride which will tax your strength and endurance significantly even though its almost all downhill. Expect beautiful views of blackberry shrubs and our trail winding through them, very fun riding within these narrow parths and then entering the woods where the fun starts with a really rooty experience followed by a steep and rough rock garden. We will go down trails which have been around for decades already. Kunerad is home to so many fantastic trails that we will only manage to do a few downt there depending on how much energy we have. Aside of the Viper there is Valibuk (Goliath?), Ozembuch (Groundslammer), Rozpravkovy (Fairy Taile) and more, all very much worth the pedalling required to get there, but the choice will depend on our energy levels. In the evening we will do a traditional grill evening by the fire, cooking and roasting things on the flame in the middle of the forest.
Our final day of departure we will visit the most popular and for many also the most fun bike park in Slovakia called Kalnica, which is the home to Bike Fest the biggest annual festival with up to 20k people visiting the 3 day event also because of the Silver-level Slopestyle competition (only 6 places in the world have this license). Kalnica is a small hill with just about 500 height meters, but boasts a huge network of 20 trails, a relatively fast lift with cool hip hop music making the ride up even more enjoyable. Speed, air and shape is what you can expect as the park is geared towards exactly these characteristics with a full 10 people team shaping the park so that its perfect without braking bumps. You’ll find all the features from an air-force style park – jumps of all shapes and sizes, from small tables, through gaps to monstrous 15 meter jumps only for the clinically mad. There is a dirt park, a huge pump track, a skill park, many manmade wooden drops that you can progress through easily. Its just the perfect place to say goodbye to Slovakia before going on your way home.
We can ride as much or as little as we will want here to explore all the trails.
If all goes according to our plans we will be accommodated in a modern ski hut that we will have for ourselves including a huge common space, saunas, jaquzzi etc. right on top of Martinske Hole which will make the experience even nicer.
Beware both Martinske Hole and Malino Brdo are infamously known for the high number of hungry bears in the area, there’s even a video of a bear chasing a rider at Malino Bike Park, so be sure you’re in good shape to out-pedal your colleagues.