Riding The World’s Only Underground Black Trail Was TERRIFYING!

Riding The World’s Only Underground Black Trail Was TERRIFYING!

oh my god get on [Music] that’s wild [Music] yeah [Applause] oh yes today I’m 500 m underground riding in an abandoned mine system oh my god [Music] where is this almost unbelievable sounding trail it’s here in northern Slovenia in the Koska region close to the border with Austria before [Music] we ventured into the mine Anna our guide took us into the museum to explain what lied ahead of us a short drive to the entrance to the mine followed by a 2.5k pedal to the beginning of the black hole trail we ventured down the trail for another 2 and 1/2k followed by a 5 km pedal to get out this scary looking black hole is the Majika mine entrance that we are going to be diving into untouched for sort of 25 years or so and not mine for even longer so thank you to Insta 360 today i’ll be using their cameras to capture all the madness that’s going to be going on in there [Music] hey oh my god that looks terrifying now tall people need not apply for this ride what anna our guide over Anna how how tall is it in there
it’s sometimes 30 m sometimes 1 and a half
okay i am above 1 and 1/2 m so we’ll have to duck
oh my god all right well let’s go [Music] oh my god here we go it’s actually terrifying oh look it’s quite low there’s loads of bugs oh my goodness me this is insane this is I’m not even at Wow i may look like a haunted ghost right now but this is I wish I everyone should come and check this out because this is I’m hardly into the mine at all we’re not even at the actual black hole trail if I turn the lights off nothing split lane old mining equipment and that’s where we’ve come from watch oh lord
so that’s it we’re in now annie we’re in
we’re locked in
that’s it so only way is the way forward goodbye outside world absolute pitch black when the lights are off look so how you doing boys
good then welcome to the Alens Machita and now I can easily say to our big adventure the black hole trail today we start at level zero at 784 m of height and we are going down to level uh six uh level four sorry which is at around 640 m of height meaning we are doing 140 elevation the lowest digging of the mine was at 267 meters of height and the highest almost on top of Peter Mountain at 2,2 meters of height but these higher up levels they are not not counted as levels because they are not connected to the central area of the mine now imagine possible future we go now and ride the black hole trail we get to the bottom we get to this elevator we press a button we put the bikes in and we go one more run we just need to find half a million worth in Western and then we build it okay we can go back to the bikes
so boys if we are ready let’s hop on the bikes and start riding
let’s go [Music] right as I head on into the depths today’s bike of choice is a trail bike it’s my Canyon Spectral CFR 29in wheels front and rear 140 mil out back 150 mil up front reynolds wheels front and rear on Victoria Mazes i gone for the enduro casings cuz they’re nice soft compound as well to give me all the grip now I thought a trail bike would be the one because I still got to ride 10K but it’s kind of playful lightweight i can move maneuver it around nice and easy so should make life good and lovely little bonus on this bike is well it’s got that little storage compartment which I’ve jammed full of snacks and other bits and bobs I might need but anyway onwards and uh well downwards [Music] welcome to the black hole trail so when we came in the first time it was all like this like you can see here so there was actually no trail nothing was ridable okay oh wow then we spent 2 and 1/2 months Monday to Friday 8 hours per day 3 to five people to actually build the trail in okay later on in the next uh 3 years we spend another month of work to actually concrete some sections like I can’t imagine building a trail on top of the earth is like a bit involved this was like for this section maybe two three days
really
for this part and the beginning was sand in here
that’s insane yeah where do you get where does the cement mixer come in backpack unfortunately this is some work bud flipping heck Any questions can we shred
we can shred we can shred
ready
let’s do it
drop it in [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh it’s quite slick [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh my god get on yeah never have I been more excited to just ride and clean 30 m of trail right that is so it’s it’s unlike anything isn’t it
and especially hitting it for the first time
yeah that’s the the most adrenaline part
yeah like just hitting new trail for the first time is cool but you do that like all the time in the woods and you can see for miles here
here
you just you could you see for me
step by step yeah oh [Music] [Music] just Okay oh sh Why there are holes like this in every chamber like this
what because miners were smart so that they didn’t need to bring all the ore up on the surface and with the trucks around the surface to the separation factory they put it all the ore down to level seven and level seven was the main transporting level directly to the separation factory we saw okay
so that’s like ground level outside
yes
yeah we we because we’ve climbed up
yes
and now all of these holes don’t go closer they never go directly down yeah
but they go tic tac tic tac tic tac you know why this is
so it’s just breaks the fall
no why
that it breaks the rocks so miners were smart here when they used explosives big chunks of rocks fell down then they pushed it with machines in and they were hitting the walls and by hitting the walls they splintered and at the bottom they were smaller rocks so it was easier
smart miners
to put in the wagon
not smart riders to drop
Ollie wanted a challenge and I gave it to him so when they first did kind of the opening video of the black hole trail there’s this big crazy feature it’s not in the trail it’s like a one-off that Anna and a few others built and it’s this insane drop here and we come across the top and round and stuff like that but like basically it’s once you’re in you’re committed because there’s this really steep run in the drop itself isn’t massive but the run out is quite short and then it goes into the abyss you obviously don’t go down the abyss hopefully you stop before then but [Music] [Applause] This is not fun it’s so low so low there that is that the lowest part of the trail
yes it is oh thank goodness there’s a Yeah wow let’s drop [Applause] [Music] [Applause] nice
yeah now like every time you ride it still just smiling
still smiling
find a lot of adrenaline
and a bit of pace you can get a bit of pace going
yeah a bit more speed escaping from the from the people
yeah right it’s wild like that was a cool straight line through there so that was segment two
yes
so now we go
now we have a long flat some huge chambers
so also enjoy those chambers and then we have the segment three following
all right let’s go to Z segment segment three oh wow oh bloody so here is one of the bigger chambers in our area
oh my god and here the question arises how did they do it in the beginning in 1665 they were using only a chisel and a hammer at that time they were digging 120 cm high and 80 cm wide tunnels
yeah so their working shift at that time was 14 hours per day
do you know how much did they dig in this 14 hours
a lot of that
20 to 30 cm
okay later on they started using black powder with black powder they came to a meter or two per day and later on they started using dynamite and only when they started using dynamite chambers like this emerged
flip
now an interesting thing here as well the big rock that I threw in the hole it fell here down
and it continued further down
so
it popped out over there so that rock he threw down popped out somewhere over here and is now just into the middle of the earth
wallowed all the way down probably gandalf fighting a demon
and another interesting thing boys we are actually standing in the air this chamber is going towards our bikes there and also the whole tunnel is in the air that I would rather have not known
yeah that’s why let’s go to the bikes
yeah let’s go to the bikes pretty quick i’m out face leo
if you step here but don’t go closer i’ll I’ll grab you or give me the hand now you can lean in and you see that’s so far down anna’s actually won’t even let me like kind of lean over which I’m glad yeah that’s a long way down i don’t I don’t like that very much so this is the second hardest segment of the trail you’re saying
yep and what’s it called does it got a name uh this one at the moment
steep shoot of doom
steep shoot of doom
steep shoot of doom all right let’s do it boom let’s have it man [Music] [Music] that was ran that’s a buzz coming down that one that’s like the longest straightest fast bit at the end of there that’s wild that’s some pace isn’t it i mean look back up where we just came down that would be a scary shoot just in the woods for a lot of people and we’ve just done it underground
boys imagine this when we came in the first time
the wall was this high
really there was nothing
that tunnel was flat to that tunnel
so actually it was straight down drop 4 m high
there was only one rail there and we had to climb down it and then people didn’t believe that we can make this section ridable at all do you want to see how we did it yeah i’ll show show you a short clip oh he’s the X minor that we just met in front of the Yeah
so without them we would never be able to do something like this we had to do things
oh look at that big rock
yeah just around 12 and we use some dynamite
so who can say he built a trail with a dynamite i can
i want to build trails with dynamite we have arrived at the infamous crack section now Anna is just taking the cameraman’s bike down hey and once you’re in look you’re in and is that the bottom just there
no no no calm down calm down
oh my god far from it
far from it
here is a small drop then you have a left corner here
look at that
here is a super low ceiling oh look how low that is
low ceiling
yeah no run out here down again
okay seeing Anna push the bike down kind of gives you a an idea of what it is should we say and that’s the bottom
yeah come and check it out
all right here we go i mean there’s ropes to walk up and down look it’s pretty gnarly are you okay
yeah yeah and that’s the that’s where you stop
yeah the right right turn and then there you finish where the bike is
oh no that’s pretty That’s a gnarly section right yeah this is a bit scary this one but I think it’d be okay it’s just this is very low if you were to see a gradient like that on the trail you’d be like “Oh that’s no problem.” And then you see a rock at head height but we’ll be all right but it’s a commitment one when you’re in you’re in oh okay let’s do it the cracking in you got it [Music] [Music] yo yes oh my god that’s wild man actually buzzing for that that’s insane cuz when you’re in
you’re in like you can’t you can make stuff in between if you
Yeah yeah but otherwise
No way
oh yes yes stoked to have made it through that that’s where we just go it’s insane i don’t think I’ve ever been more hyped to ride a trail like to clean through a section hardest bit done so now it’s all fun stuff right
now it’s the fun stuff there is one section of the trail then actually we thought it was not ridable but then four boys rode it first was Elliot Hip second was Killian Brun third was Ollie Wilkins and Jonah Jones
so it’s just gnarly riders
have you done it n
okay
it’s at the bottom the ceiling is too low for my opinion and they went like millimeters from the ceiling
so we we are trying to fix that one up
okay well I don’t mind skipping that one right onwards wow so here we go so we’re lowering the bikes down this segment yeah
same temple can we go a little bit faster okay
yeah just continue [Music] so we’re getting towards the end is it so we got one more sort of section to go yeah
wow it’s been quite an adventure very good eh base
the flying thing
yeah that’s some base down there isn’t it hey a water stop as well that you like you really got like I was like “Oh my god he’s gone.” So this is it then this is the end we’ve just done the last kind of piece of the black hole trail itself right
exactly so we did the trail itself now we still have 5 km to get out of the mine but we are joining now on the normal underground biking tour where also it’s for families and others
and I think I did that back in 2018 for for an EWS leazison
exactly
wow all right let’s get out of the the pitch black but I mean that has been incredible ride let’s get out of this mine and and see some natural
i hope you enjoyed this
yeah dude it’s been it’s been well good yeah yeah i’ve been I’m buzzing for it all right yeah anyway let’s get out of the mine let’s go then [Music] we are 140 m lower than what we were at the very beginning and there’s that scary looking elevator shaft a few hours ago then 140 m above [Music] and it is light at the end of the tunnel yes
thank goodness oh that’s a good sight
no I lost the
whatever freedom here we are oh my god the heat
the heat hits you good job boys
yeah lad that’s sick thank you mate welcome
Anna thank you mate very welcome
oh my god that was an unforgettable experience and we were just actually chatting about a trail like that now if it was out in the open it’d be like a red maybe a black
red to black I would say
but you really do need to be like a a pretty good rider to hit that right
so it’s a serious black to double black when it’s inside due to the walls due to the filling due to the low ceiling sometimes
yes
and sections right like the the risk factor in that is
it’s pretty high
but dude thank you
so it’s for experienced riders only there are sections you can walk as well but you need to be really good and that now you know why we demand minimum obligatory equipment as well
yes that’s it actually I didn’t say that but yeah we I have I rarely wear knee pads a back protector and yes you saw me wearing gloves which doesn’t often happen but hey dude thank you again for showing us through the mine
hope you enjoyed it black hole trail completed it here in Slovenia if you liked this let me know in the comments down below do you reckon you’d ride it i reckon you would thank you very much for watching everyone until next time from myself and Anna we’ll see you later see you

The Black Hole Trail is possibly the only black trail in the world that’s fully underground! Follow Rich Payne as he takes on this amazing epic privately guided trail in the Slovenian town of Mežica.

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