27 Apr 2020

DIGGING TRAILS FROM SCRATCH - CRACK WOODS, PRAGUE

Dirt perfection deep in the Czech Republic

Photos by Milan Tykal / @emetphoto

Our Prague trails story begins in the autumn of 2016. Our names are Martin Capek and Vojta Panek, two friends riding BMX and building trails. We found a nice place to build a new trails spot. Good clay that went deep, a little down a hill, next to a stream and in old overgrown woods. We started to dig there without permission. It was only ever us two guys digging. From time to time some of our friends came to help, but not very often. A few times someone stole our shovels that we'd hidden in bushes, but we were still digging a lot and the line was slowly growing. After a few months of digging five-times a week some guys started to clean this area - the jumps were untouched. They only tidied up the bushes and planted new trees. But a few weeks later we came and everything was FLAT! FUCK!!! After more than half a year of digging, five days a week, everything was gone. We were two jumps from finishing this line. Six jumps, rollers, berms, speed jump… everything was flat!

At that time we said, "Ok, we need to find some official place to build trails, because we definitely don’t want this to happen again." So we started to ask everyone. Friends, family members of our friends, co-workers... everyone. After a few weeks we got a contact for one guy from the town hall in one of Prague’s districts. We found one place, made a meeting there with this guy, and he then said that this was not good for this area for this reason and that reason… We went through this several times, with several different guys from different districts of Prague. After eight months of searching and a lot of meetings, we finally found the right person and the right place.

It was the beginning of May 2018. We rented a place and started from scratch again. This place is an old orchard, with nobody taking care of it for maybe ten years. It was a jungle when we got there - the perfect place for trails. It’s down a hill, there is good clay, but a bit lower and hidden. After a few days of cutting bushes we could start with the digging. We can build almost anything, but only 1,5 meter up and 1,5 meter down from the ground. It doesn't sound like a lot, but in total it’s 3 meters and that’s fine.

12 Photo 1X Milan Tykal 3X Martin Capek Copy

After a few months of digging we put some money together and we rented excavator for three days. Last summer we got half of a line rideable and got some laps in. Everything worked perfectly! Only one landing was too steep, it was fine, but not really comfy. Also both of us crashed there... But after a small change everything was working perfect. Everything is smooth, steep enough and you fly pretty high!

"It was a jungle when we got there - the perfect place for trails"

At the end of summer I left to Málaga, Spain for Erasmus and Martin was digging all autumn and winter alone. Now I am back and digging with him again. Hopefully we will finish this line by May and then it will be riding only, having fun and drinking beer! Plans are big, like an extension of the big line with several branches, and we'll also start a some smaller line during summer. Stay tuned!