Having done the usual research settling in a new place – this time Riga, Latvia – I came across OZK quickly. Just the name made it sound cool. OZK is short for Ogres Zilie Kalni. Blue Mountains of Ogre. I don’t know too much yet about the language, but Kalni seems to be the same word for mountain and hill, which makes sense. The country is super flat and there are absolutely no mountains, but indeed some small hills here and there. Sooo, the blue hills of Ogre it is… or just OZK. Much cooler.
It’s 40 min from Riga by car – towards Moscow:
I’ve done my homework, so I know where to go for the jumps and berms 😊
After some laps around the different trails with built features I continue to the natural trails in a hilly pine forest around a lake. The lake is most probably the result of an old sandpit.
The trails are just so smooth and there is actually some elevation to be covered biking them up and down.
Smooth it is, but sometimes it comes to a stop
After some trail riding, I go back to the built stuff and meet Aivars Sablis. He is one of the founders if not THE founder of the bike park looking features. And in fact, he is now working on officially turning it into a bike park with the right permits and support going forward. Such a nice guy and on top of it he has lived in Sweden and we share memories from biking in Vallåsen.
It’s about to get dark but good to know that you can get a cup of Swedish coffee at the parking….
