{"id":164748,"date":"2018-05-17T12:40:52","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T12:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=164748"},"modified":"2018-05-17T12:40:52","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T12:40:52","slug":"10-things-to-consider-if-you-want-to-build-a-prosperous-trail-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/05\/17\/10-things-to-consider-if-you-want-to-build-a-prosperous-trail-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things to Consider if You Want to Build a Prosperous Trail Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shortly after visiting and riding in places like Whistler Bike Park or the trail centres in Wales, Pavel Hornik resolved to bring something similar near his own porch. It’s already been ten years since he started fulfilling his dream by building bike trails across the woods of the Rychleby Mountains in northern Silesia, just on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His project \u201cRychlebske stezky\u201d has attracted huge interest, as today, the area is visited by approximately 60,000 bikers per year, mostly coming from the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. More and more riders are also coming from western countries like Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Austria. \u201cAttracting the attention of people from the Alpine countries is particularly difficult because they have beautiful mountains everywhere. However, once a group of people comes here, they are usually excited and come back with some friends next year,\u201d Pavel explains. It was him who brought tourists to the deserted mountains of Rychleby and turned the area into a tourist attraction. Even MTB celebrities have shown up, like the trial legend Hans \u201cNo Way\u201d Rey, freerider and Red Bull Rampage participant Geoff Gulevich, and Whistler Bike Park ex-manager Tom Prochazka.<\/p>\n

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Pavel (left) planning another route.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because his work has benefited the region greatly, Pavel was elected city mayor several times, but he then realised that being engaged in two projects at once was too hard and returned to his full job in the trail centre. So what is so special about his trail centre? Let him explain this to you in 10 points.<\/p>\n

Wonderful places<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe original idea was to show visitors how lovely our mountains are. Our philosophy is based on the idea that we’ve been building trails for both kinds of bikers \u2013 those who prefer great riding and those who enjoy being in a wonderful landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Negotiating with the authorities<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cFrom the outset, we didn\u2019t have much money in the budget but we didn’t care. What turned out to be much worse was negotiating with the property owner, which was a state-owned company whose official didn’t get what I intended to do in the woods. Building bike trails? What is it good for? I never give up easily, though, so I kept visiting the company for so long that they finally issued a permit that enabled me to start with the construction. They probably thought that my resolution would fade, but soon after the first riders came, my project was officially recognised as reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe lack of money turned out to be an advantage because each step, as well as each coin ever spent, had to be carefully considered. That\u2019s why the new trails were growing not only quite slowly, but also meticulously. In some bike parks, there are dozens of trails built within a short period of time, and only a few of them are genuinely popular. It’s always good to have a lot of time to think twice before you start digging and shovelling. If you make the trails perfect, bikers will appreciate every detail.\u201d<\/p>\n