Conquering the hills around Vienna

For the past Sunday Mimi has been planning a mistery-mountainbike tour for Bruno and the rest of the Bella Familia boys but unfortunately Bruno and his two sons Max & Leo got ill and so the weeks of planning got obsolete and the large tour had to be cancelled. As we were though pretty much excited and looking forward to the tour a group of 6 – Peter, Geri, Mirko, Roland, Tim and Markus – decided to meet up at Lini & Peter’s place on Sunday morning anyway and take on the “light” challenge of the Pappelteichstrecke through the woods an hills nearby, while Jakob and Kerstin spent time with Lini at home waiting for both the boys to return as well as Anna to arrive.

On your bike! Ready! GO!!!

Moni’s 30th birthday party the night before caused the departure to be pushed a bit backwards, but at 1030 we rolled off, equipped with helmets, water and hi-tech mountain bikes. Especially Tim, Moni’s boy friend, stood out with a real downhill race machine that resembled more a moto-cross bike than a bicycle, and we have all be wondering which mountains he is racing down with this fantastic tool in his hometown Hamburg, rather famous for being flat. Soon after the departure the first and longest hill bringing us through the woods to the Wiener Huette requested lots of stamina and strength and Roland, who has an advantage being Tyrolean, left all the rest behind climbing up the track like a chamois. On the paths down Tim took over the lead and one had the impression he was trying to escape someone or something as he was accelerating like crazy and rolled over the rocks as if there were none thanks to his full suspension!

While all of us managed to get up all the ascents without having to get off the bike the last and final slope was impossible to make without stepping off the bike. Not only was it pretty steep, but also very muddy and wet so that the wheels were slipping and rocks or roots forced us to abrupt stops. We all managed to get out of the clips in time so that no one fell over with into the mud, but outfit and bikes were completely smutched – just as it should be on a bike tour. The following race downhill jerked the mud from the wheel into our faces and gave us the final touch. After 1 hour and 46 minutes and 29km we arrived knackered but happy at Lini & peters place where we not only could clean ourselves and our bikes but also were pampered with spare-ribs, sausages and a junky T-bone steak freshly grilled on the new Weber Q 200. We all agreed to have another tour like that, but next time there is no room to escape for Bruno.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus