- canada and germany -
More riding to enjoy today. We’d planned a long day tour. Plenty to test everybody and new challenges to try out. The morning dew had left the roots a bit slippery as we traversed our way across the mountain side. Our first downhill section – obviously we took the cable car to the top of the mountain! – was hard. The singletrack flattened off a bit after the first section and helped to restore the confidence. In my humble opinion this was Austrian mountain biking at its trickiest. This section took Alex and Oliver to their limits and everyone enjoyed a well earned valley cycle to the next mountain cable car. Not forgetting a quick break for a mid morning coffee.
Another mountain and another set of twisty downhill routes to pick our way through. Sometimes when it comes to picking a line the harder looking part ends up being easier. Oliver found this out as he tried to take on some stairs that were spaced most inconveniently for the wheel. Maybe 29ers would have been better here! The other side of this path was much easier. 
Even though it looked like a relatively large drop over a smooth rock. The phrase “I told you so” springs to mind :-)
Lunch was at a little hidden away farm. Limited menu but the lamb steak was apparently excellent. After some quick hairpin forest roads there was a very fast cycle back towards our farm. Definitely got the legs pumping. Another stop for coffee and cake was a great idea. Alex and Oliver were starting to look a little on the tired side but we all decided that one further mountain bike of their favourite singletrack was in order before heading home.
Two days of intense mountain biking, left our guests with a fine introduction to mountain biking in the Austrian Alps. Skills and techniques were learnt and shared. It was an absolute pleasure to mountain bike with the Canadian and the German. They suggested that we might be seeing them again in the near future. I hope so.
