Trails. Probably the best way to experience pure freedom on your mountain bike. One of the best times for that in Austria is in the fall, when leaves are turning every colour you can imagine and the high alpine bushes shine red. A slight breeze cools you down and the lower forests wait covered with leaves and ready to drift.
We decided to make a small edit of one of Hermann’s typical loops. He lives in the valley Lahntal. After a full day of school he rides up his home trail and gets to a mountain ridge which connects Leogang (where one of the best mountain bike parks in Europe is located) with Lahntal. On the other side of the ridge is Saalbach Hinterglemm, home to amazing single track and a bike park.
After reaching the top, and eating a 'jausn' (a typical Austrian smoked ham sandwich with bread and some bad smelling cheese, that’s way better than a Cliff Bar by the way) he earned not only the stunning view over the Austrian Alps, but also the amazing ride down his home trail.
That’s how it should be, eh? After a day of school, hours in nature, a lot of fun, and some sport, the day is truly fulfilled. We all know what they say, ''a ride a day keeps the doctor away!''
-Lahnvalley Crew
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Alll Mountain is a better definition of what this video is about : go up pedaling all the way, even carrying the bike on your shoulder, and then pointing down once you've switch off the brain ! AllMount' is riding ... and smiling !
I think I tend to look at AM as the kind of riding we did today. Definitely focused on up and down as opposed to xc as a race discipline that focuses on combining shorter climbs and descents with aerobically challenging faster and often less technically demanding trails. That said, I also feel the AM term is tailored to a segment of the bike buying and riding market who love to ride up and down, across and over, and do so on bikes that are built to go both up and down with aplomb, and make the often lengthy ride more comfy in the process. Is it a marketing label? Sure. But it also describes the kind of riding that I've always loved and sought out, and the newer generations of bikes that bear that label can handle more than I can throw at them, and I finish the day way less hammered than in the days of yore (I also crash far less).
Amazing ride, one that brought back memories from nearly 20 years ago, and the antics of my riding budies. I still enjoy the same kind of riding I fell in love so long ago, and am glad the new technology makes the same rides smoother, faster and more manageable for an old fart.
p.s. Brad, was that you we saw on the KTM (N. Lake Samish/Blanchard area)?