• Replay229

    Hello to everybody,

    I'm actually living in Belgium and I'm planning to move to Prague to live there next year.

    My passion is mountain biking since serveral years, mainly marathons and cross country.

    I'm wondering if I could continue to mountain biking when I'll live there (I dont want to stop my sport).

    I have a good level in marathon so I'd like to know if it's possible to make tracks from 60 to 120 km…

    I didnt decide yet where i'll live but my girldfriend would like to live in the city center (any advice is welcome)… a good compromise between city center and a short way to reach some nice tracks would be great !

    I don't speak CZECH, I only speak english !

    I got a garmin GPS where I can charge tracks on it…

    Thanks in Advance for your advices,

    Simon

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    • tonik666  

      So what is actually the question? Where to live?

      When I was doing the same choice, I picked this place: https://mapy.cz/s/1v9C7

      One of the best locations in the south, metro Budejovicka just in front of the house, large riding location nearby (Krcsky les), a good connection to railway (Nadrazi Krc) and good connection to the riverside bike path for riding south (where the best biking near prague is)

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    • jonti  

      Hello Simon, you can continue mountainbiking in Prague.

      Where you live in Prague is important, it's usually not worth crossing the whole city (>20km) for riding on the other side.

      Most of the good trails in the south and east. Depending on where you'll work it's best to live near a metro station, I suggest the C line between Vysehrad and Kacerov stations.

      You can surely find some videos of trails on youtube, look for keywords: Točná, Kunraťák, Prokopské údolí, Prokopák, Cukrák, Transbrdy.

      If you want to have some more trail fun in the summer check mtbtrilogy.cz.

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    •  
      Obsah tohoto příspěvku je blokován.
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    •  
      Obsah tohoto příspěvku je blokován.
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    • novas752  

      I think, it can be better here than in Belgium. :) Prague is quite good area for mtb.

      You should definitely choose some southern of city center – on the northern and eastern part of Prague, there are not so many options for mtb as on south and west.

      I live in Prague 13, we have metro line „B“ (10–15min to center) across whole housing estate, big mall near Nové Butovice station, huge mall and some other shops near Zličín station. And, there is small but nice place for mtb Prokopské údolí (Prokop's Valley) also called „Prokopák“ just few hundred meters from block of flats. Bigger and the best known area „Točná“ (consist of Modřanská rokle, area around small airport Točná, ruins of huge Celtic stronghold on the top of hills Šance and Závist and few deep valleys southern) is around 10–15km away. Southern from Prague 13 and Prokopák is not so famous (in mtb point of view) but large and nice area „Český kras“ and more southern, there are nice valleys around Sázava and Vltava rivers and Brdy-Hřebeny ridge (200–600m above sea level).

      You should check www.trailforks.com, there are most of trails in near surroudings of Prague (XC bike is good enough for most of them). And you have to download mapy.cz app to your phone – great free offline maps, way better than google. ;)

      If you would like to ride with local bikers, write a post here or to Facebook group „Bajkování v Praze a okolí“.

      PS: Sorry for my english. :)

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    • scota  

      The largest forest in Prague on the East suburbs. His name is Klanovicky forest. It is 20 minutes by train from Masaryk Station, whitch is in the center of Prague.

      https://mapy.cz/s/1vdq1

      50.0871614N, 14.6635333E

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    • jsflyin  

      Hi.

      I would recommend you getting a flat nearby a metro station. Our metro is the only public transport vehicle where you can transport bike in. And it can get you to good mtb locations :)

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      •  
        Obsah tohoto příspěvku je blokován.
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    • Replay229  

      Hello Guys,

      This is it, I'm gonna move to Prague soon !

      I found a job and I'll start that new job on the 1st of december.

      As you already know, I'm a mountain bike addict and it's important for me to be able to continue my sport in Prague (XC and Marathon).

      I have to admit that my budget to find a flat is really small and I said to my self that it will be difficult to have everything I need to continue biking in good condition… the flat that I'll rent will not be so big and I'll need a secured place where to let my bike, also I need to be able to wash it whenever I need, so I was expecting to find a flat with a common garden or private one (but as I said my budget is low and I'm not optimistic about that).

      Also, I'd like to register myself in a club to meet some new people and discover some tracks…

      Have you got any suggestions that could help me?

      Thanks in advance,

      Simon

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      • McBlacky  

        you can wash the bike on petrol stations. There is a plenty of those offering high pressure water. for 10czk you will manage to get off the worst for 20czk you can do thorough cleaning.

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      • nzg  

        Hi Simon,

        Common garden is not secure place neither private one. Even cellar is not good solution in most cases.

        Best way to keep you bike safe is directly in flat. Buy some wall hanger and you and your bike will sleep well :-)

        About rides – there are some paids rides (trail guide), but better way is to connect with people via this forum or FB sites like https://www.facebook.com/…69844132024/ or if you are roadie https://www.facebook.com/groups/GKV.ms/

        Also strava clubs helps a lot.

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      • m9ra  

        As nzg said, best way to keep your bike safe is directly in flat.

        For flats check sreality.cz or bezrealitky.cz there you will find all flats on market.

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      • bezdratova.sprcha  

        A solution to your bike cleaning problem

        Keeping your bike clean on a flat can be a hassle and getting to a gas station every time you need to wash the damn thing will discourage you from doing so often enough. Especially if you want to be able to clean both the frame and drivetrain in one go within a 30 minute time frame. Carrying a degreaser, rags and what not to the gas station, setting up shop there and then packing everything afterwards. Been there, done that, never again.

        A 5 litre pressure sprayer (like the one in the link above) is enough to give one bike a generous cleaning or a quick (but complete) clean to two bikes. Might not be enough of a cleaning for the obsessive roadie type, but for a hobbyist XC rider it will do the trick. The water pressure alone isn't enough to get aggressive dirt off though. I'd recommend getting some bike specific washing solution to help with that, but car shampoo without wax works just as well. Some people will argue that it can contaminate your rotors… well, don't spray it on the rotors, duh!

        As for bike storage, try to find a flat that has a basement included in the deal, unless you're keen on keeping your bike inside the actual apartment. The only other alternative i can think of is renting a garage, which doesn't really make sense unless you have a whole fleet of bikes.

        As you're about to find out, very few people in Czech Republic speak English fluently enough to have a casual conversation, and that's if they speak English at all. So if you're the chatty type, you might find yourself frustrated sometimes. You're not very likely to casually bump into riders who speak English and are willing to show you around. Finding a club or a group of people to ride with is definitely a good idea. I'd start on Facebook. Maybe try to get in touch with them before you even arrive. Having someone showing you around the locale right off the bat is probably better than exploring it on your own.

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        • novas752  

          Or 1–2 10l buckets of water + 10l can, some sponge or big brushes like these: and some bike cleaner like Cyclostar with spray. And cheap bikestand from Lidl.

          And for cleaning of chain, you will need quick link + 2 bottles – one with oil (diesel), one with water + few ml of cyclostar.

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          • bezdratova.sprcha  

            Whatever floats your boat. The sprayer can be stored wherever with water in it without running a risk of spillage. But if you're the bucket and sponge kinda guy, that's also an option.

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      • jc1978  

        Hi Simon,

        Im pretty much same wagon as u mate, i live in Prague and love mtb, its a great place to live and to ride, can find places to ride in, just outside city and around country.

        best of luck with move

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    • Replay229  

      Hi Guys,

      A little update of my situation :

      I found a flat 2 days ago (what a pain to find something that fits with my wished and the one's of my girlfriend)…

      It's located in Nusle, not so far from the Vrsovice train station.

      I also bought a road bike to be sure to have all the cards in hands to stay in good „bike conditions“…

      The flat that I found has a Balcony, a little sklep inside and common garden/court (I still have to see if I can plug a tube somewhere to have some water).

      The flat will be available only on the 29th of november so for now i'm statying in my girlfriend's ac­tual flat.

      I already brought my road bike in Prague and i'm trying to find some good tracks to follow with my GPS but the strava system is not that good, I mean, when you put the location („Praha“) it doenst work, you have to put a keyword aswell to be able to find something , so I use „praha“ as keyword and a big list of tracks appears but nothing to sort them excepted the disctance, elevation and time. It would be much better to be able to find something with a map, just the same system as for the segments research. So, all of this to say that i'm didnt find yet a good way to find some tracks according some filters as disctance and be albe to look at the different tracks directly on a map.

      If anybody has good GPS tracks that I can reach easily from Nusle area (road or MTB) I'll be glad to try them…

      Also, I'll have to find a good place for mechanical stuff to do on my bike (I can do a lot but not everything)…

      Does someone has any club recommandation, it could help me to meet people and discover things ?

      By the way, I'm on Strava aswell, my name is Simon Lebailly on it, if you have anything interesting to show me in your profile, you can add me please !

      Thanks in advance for your help,

      Simon

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      • nzg  

        Hi Simon,

        for road cycling try these tracks: http://www.krivoklatskeokruhy.cz/…tske-okruhy/ , my daily bread.

        Starting point could be Zlicin Metro station.

        In Strava use Segment Explore function instead of Segment Search.

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        • Replay229  

          I tried to download one of the tracks but when I click on „GPX soubor trasy ke stažení“ it sends me to a page with a lot of „codes“ and in the top of the page it says „This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.“ , how to get the gpx file then?

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      • snílek  

        Hi Simon, just two things. Never leave your bike in basement, only inside your flat. My expat friend, his name is Simon too:), got his bikes stolen because he left them in basement. And Nusle are pretty good place to stay – close to centre and good starting point for both MTB and road rides.

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      • Mereck  

        Hi Simon,

        I live in Nusle as well. If you want to dodge Prague's traffic, why don't you take the train from Vršovické nádraží to either Praha-Komořany or Praha-Kolovraty? Both are near good MTB trails and you can travel for free if you've got a travel pass (Lítačka or Opencard). Otherwise you'll end up paying roundabout CZK 50 per ticket. The train ride takes roundabout 20 mins either way.

        Happy trails, man.

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    • Replay229  

      Hi !

      thanks for the tracks I'll try one of them in the next days…

      I don't really mind about finding segments, what I meant is that the tracks system reseach should be the same as the segment reseach system…

      Simon

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      • novas752  

        I think, making of own track using segments, heatmap, satelite images, Google Street View or Mapy.cz Panorama functions etc. work's much better than searching whole track.

        You can use almost every road in Southwest and West side of Prague, look at heatmap.

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        • Replay229  

          Yes maybe that it works for the Road bike but not for the mountain bike…

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          • novas752  

            Sure, for planning mountainbike rides, there is trailforks.com, touristic map on mapy.cz and also Strava Heatmap. Or you can ride with local bikers.

            Do you have your bike already in Prague?

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            • Replay229  

              Yes, I've my road bike already and I plan to bring my MTB by the end of the month…

              It would be a pleasure to ride with locals and learn some tracks (especially for mtb wich is harder to find)…

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              • Mereck  

                Hey.

                I probably live next door to you. I'm a XC-oriented weekend warrior :-) I prefer to do 30–70 km long rides in autumn/winter. If that's the bag you're into, I could show you around Říčany&Posázaví, Komořany, or Brdy.

                If you're looking to ride bike parks and do jumps and tricks, I suggest you ask around here. Someone else will show you around.

                Cheerio.

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                • Replay229  

                  Hi Mereck,

                  It's exactly what I need! I'm not a „tricky“, „jumpy“ biker…

                  We could meet somewhere once before (even for a drink)…

                  Are you on facebook, so I can add you?

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                  • m9ra  

                    As many of us said, you can use mapy.cz, where you can see and follow red/green/yellow/blue paths (for mtb) link: https://mapy.cz/turisticka?…

                    Or there are pink one for road.

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                  • bezdratova.sprcha  

                    Seconding what others said – try to get familiar with Mapy.cz app. Available for iOS, Android and even Windows phone if I'm not mistaken. If you're tech savvy, you should be able to figure the interface out even without knowing the language. After all, it's just a map app. Just make sure to select the touring map. Tap the three dots on top and select „turistická“.

                    Pretty much every marked trail is in there and most of the unmarked ones are there as well. If you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, it's the best thing to help you decide where to go next.

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    • Replay229  

      I tired my first road bike ride today and I have to say that it was really fun, a bit hard to get out of the main roads of Prague full of cars (breathing the CO2 was not fun in the begining) but after that it was ok ! I met a guy on the way and he showed me some good roads !

      I uploaded my track map just to show you ;-)…

      I passed through a forest close from Batronice wich seemed really interesting for mountain bike, a bit far but interesting… unless there is some „offroad ways“ to reach it without making 25 km by road before.

      I made arround 70km and 800m of denivelation , a good start because I didnt ride any bikes for 2 months.

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      • novas752  

        Nice.

        There is always a lot of traffic on Friday before nice weekend.

        Personally, I would go by Metro B Line through the city to Stodůlky or Zličín station and than for example like this ride – from Zličín to Stodůlky it is around 95km and 1450m elevation

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    • Replay229  

      I was wondering, where do you guys order your parts and tools?

      I used to order them on internet but on belgian deliveries websites wich are mostly french or german websites so if you have any suggestions to order parts for a good price?

      Also , I got a Canyon Lux, I'd like to find a good place to make some mechanical things on my bike if needed (and I know that you when you come with a Canyon bike to a shop, you're mostly seen as an asshole)…

      Thanks,

      Simon

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      • Mereck  

        I usually buy from www.kupkolo.cz (lower prices but +100 shipping costs) and www.bike-eshop.cz (no shipping as you pick everything up at Kobylisy metro station – close to, anyway). Better deals can occasionally be had if you Google particular components for a while, but I tend to stick with the above-mentioned shops.

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      • novas752  

        kupkolo.cz

        koloshop.cz

        german eshops like bike24.de etc.

        aliexpress.com

        Lot of peolple in Czech Rep. have Canyon, Radon and other direct-sale brands and there is no problem with it in most of bikeshops.

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