Orlica Mountain (East side)
Distance: 20.21 km
Elevation Gain: 308 m
Elevation Loss: 317 m
Difficulty:
190 (Easy)
FIETS Index: 0.88 FIETS
Avg Grade: 2.08 %
Max cat climb: 3
Min elevation: 666 m
Max elevation: 918 m
Ride Category:
Rollers
Road 389, the Autostrada Sudecka, climbs along the Orlickie Mountains in the Klodzko region of south-west Poland, following the Czech border. It was built between 1931 and 1938 as part of a mountain road across the Sudetes, and it reaches 925 m on the slopes of Orlica. Zieleniec, at the top of this climb, is where Poland’s mountain-bike team trains every year, and where Maja Wloszczowska, Olympic cross-country silver medallist in 2008 and 2016, has done most of her training. Each August it also hosts the Klasyk Klodzki, one of the hardest cycling marathons in Poland.
The ride starts at Mostowice and climbs the valley of the Dzika Orlica, the river that forms the border from Lasówka onwards. Zieleniec was founded in 1719, and its St Anne’s church, at 856 m, is the highest in the Sudetes. The road tops out just beyond the village, below Orlica, whose summit lies across the border in the Czech Republic. From there the road starts down towards the Polskie Wrota pass.
