- the neeps in austria -
Sometimes a little help is needed in defining the type of mountain biking that we all do day in / day out. Whether this be on holiday or on your local hack. When does technical XC blend in to all mountain and all mountain into freeride. Is it about the amount of technical sections or perhaps the severity of climbing? With or without the use of lifts do these boundaries change? Does it really matter? Not really, just find your limit of climbing and technical challenges and go out and rip up the trails!
The first day included some hefty climbs to get to some fun rooty downhill. Our guests rode these sections with great flair, helped a little by some chunky Fox 36′s. 
It was clear that the week would include about hitting the steep slopes and including ramping up the number of adrenaline filled descents and not pushing the climbs too much. Hey everyone is on holiday after all!
With less slabs of rock than Scotland the technicality shifted to roots, thick and thin and many a steep descent. We took on switchbacks, tight mountain trails and rooty obstacles which stood in our path. The week culminated towards the Big 5 Challenge. Five lifts, 5000m of descent and a thousand vertical metres of climbing. 
The tour was fun, however, there are elements that can be improved upon. We’ll get our thinking hats on, so watch this space…
Anyway, a big thanks to Neil and Ken for a great week of hard technical riding. In return they introduced us to a beautiful whisky called Caol ila. I’ll be recommending this to all my whisky drinking friends. Finally best wishes to Gareth who wasn’t able to join us due to an appendix operation. I’m sure he’ll be fighting fit by next year to take on the Kitzbuehel freeride trail!
As always, check out more MTB photos on our main site.
