Bike Kingdom Celebrates Ten Years Of The Bike Park In Lenzerheide

After the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup recently took place in Lenzerheide, the celebrations continue seamlessly. The Bike Kingdom Park (formerly Lenzerheide Bikepark) is the heart of the Bike Kingdom and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this summer. Reason enough for the release of a documentary film that looks back on the beginnings and development of the park and the sport of mountain biking in Lenzerheide itself, various attractions such as parties and workshops as well as innovations in the park and extended opening times during the high season.

Lenzerheide and mountain biking - they simply belong together. It was the entire holiday region that was one of the first in Switzerland to lay the foundation for a successful positioning more than ten years ago. The potential of the former fringe sport of mountain biking was recognized and actively worked on as a strategic business field by politicians and the population. A bike park was set up, investments were made constantly and the trail network was expanded, mountain bike events were organized for amateurs and professionals, and the World Cup and even a world championship were brought to Lenzerheide. Today, the Lenzerheide holiday region with the neighboring regions known as the Bike Kingdom as a kingdom for mountain bikers is a well-established concept and a meeting place for mountain biking professionals, advanced bikers, beginners and families with children - a success story

Beginnings and development of the bike park

In 2012, the Lenzerheide Bike Park was launched, which was to be built on the east side of the Lenzerheide high valley. Trail builder Rafael "Tschäff" Rhyner (Trailworks), former downhill pro Steve Peat and Lenzerheide Marketing und Support AG were in the lead. After the first lines were built, it quickly became clear that something big was going to be created here. More lines followed in 2013, as well as a rescue concept and a permanent maintenance team in 2014, which ultimately professionalized the bike park.

The following year, Lenzerheide was able to host the first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in the downhill and cross-country disciplines. An event, which was to carry the name Lenzerheide out into the world for the first time in connection with mountain biking - in addition to the already existing positioning in the area of ​​alpine skiing with the Ski World Cup. The next boom followed, which resulted in the construction of the skill center with a pump track and practice jumps at the Rothorn valley station, as well as the construction of new jumplines (2016/17).

After three world cups, the mountain bike world championships in the summer of 2018 were followed by a highlight that is still very much present today - not least because of the world championship title of the local Nino Schurter, who is now the ambassador of the Bike Kingdom. which resulted in the construction of the skill center with a pump track and practice jumps at the Rothorn valley station as well as the construction of new jumplines (2016/17).

But even after 2018, things did not get quiet in Lenzerheide: World Cups continued to be held annually (with the exception of Corona-2020), new lines were built or expanded and the bike park was renamed and made more attractive as part of the repositioning of the mountain bike region to the Bike Kingdom Park. Today, the park between the Rothorn valley station and the Scharmoin middle station offers five different routes from the simple family route FLOWline to the World Cup route STRAIGHTline, for which ten shapers and seven rescue workers are on duty seasonally. On peak days, over 2,000 guests are registered at the Bike Kingdom Park.

In conversations with those involved from the founding period as well as loyal and new fans, the beginnings and the development of the park and the sport of mountain biking in Lenzerheide are looked back on. The documentary film celebrating the 10th anniversary of the bike park in Lenzerheide is now available on YouTube, the Bike Kingdom website and social media channels.

Innovations from 2022

The construction of the new BIG DAISY jump at the Rothorn valley station is the highlight of the anniversary summer in terms of construction. At Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG, investments were also made in relation to the facility as part of the anniversary: ​​additional new gondolas were purchased for the Rothorn 1 gondola lift, resulting in a 20 percent increase in capacity. And: The Bike Kingdom Park is now open daily until 9 p.m. during the high season from July 15 to August 14, 2022. The Late Shred will start on July 15th with a DJ session and drinks. Public photo shoots, photo workshops, jump sessions, adilette raves, braap off, whip off sessions and much more follow - all the details are available at bikekingdompark.ch .