Vaughan Caseley has taken two years away from competitive mountain biking, after a succesful period in age group 24 hour racing, XC and marathons. With a new career as a MTB guide in Switzerland, Vaughan has ventured back towards the competitive end of the sport.
At 44 years old the chance to have new experiences in a sport which currently is my sole source of income (as a MTB Guide) and has, in reality, shaped my life for the better part of 26 years is something that can’t be turned down.
So when Mike Blewitt from MarathonMTB contacted me with an offer to join him on a trip to race in the Salzkammergut Trophy in Bad Goisern Austria I jumped at the chance, well actually I didn’t jump I sort of stubbed my big toe and fell into the event and the final decision to enter was made after a ‘few’ glasses of red wine.
At 119.5 km long with nearly 4000m of climbing the Salzkammergut Trophy was to be my;
* first time to this part of Austria ,
* the first race in continental Europe,
* first MTB marathon in the Alps and over 110km,
* first event with more than a 1000 competitors and
* with 4/5 of the vertical ascent of Mt Blanc (the highest peak in Europe) the first time I had scaled such heights.
This event had challenge written all over it. Of course there was the option of 211km with 7049 m climbing which was dismissed in a heartbeat and the option for 74 km was never an option as, due to our late entry, this quota for 600 competitors was full, so B – Strecke (119.5 km) it was. (There are also 3 other distance options of 54 km, 38 km and 22 km)
Despite my riding an MTB for a living and having a decent level of fitness I hadn’t raced my MTB for nearly 2 years and my lack of preparedness for this event was a little disconcerting, with hill repeats and intervals starting only a month out from the event and my base miles a long distant memory I certainly had a feeling of trepidation as the race neared.
This trepidation was somewhat tempered when Mike arrived at our chalet in Gryon, Switzerland and with our collective enthusiasm for everything mountain bike related, the opportunity to speak ‘strine’ for the next week and a couple of awesome training rides around home had me pumped and raring to go.
After a seamless car trip to the Bad Goisern area I was immediately struck by the natural beauty of this region of the Alps. I am fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the world too, however the mountains cradling the race route are very different to back home and were certainly forebodingly inviting to race your mountain bike in.
Bad Goisern has no shortage of accommodation options available for race competitors (and their families) however Mike and I decided to stay a short 20 min drive away in AlpenParks Hagan Lodge Altaussee, where we scored big time with a self catered chalet/lodge with 3 double bedrooms complete with sauna, bike lock up and bike cleaning facilites.
Friday morning dawned (the day before the race), accreditation, race registration and a press dinner were the menu of the day. We couldn’t contain our excitement any longer and zoomed into
Bad Goisern and ‘Race Central’. As we approached Bad Goisern it became apparent that this event was on a scale nothing like I had experienced before. The whole town appeared to be in party mode and event marshalling was in full swing, sneeking our way into a carpark as close to the centre of town as possible we walked in the direction of the booming tunes to greeted with ‘hippo barriers’ lining the course and a huge marquee complete with stage, tables and chairs and the all important beer bar. With a little more exploration we found the Bike – Expo, again this was enormous and a hive of activity as brightly clad Euro MTB’ers of all shapes and sizes bustled around in nervous anticipation. It became quite poignant that as we effortlessly registered for the race and re-entered the race village centre Wham (the eighties sensation) boomed out of the 3 m high speakers with ‘The Jitterbug’ as I certainly had pre-race jitters at this stage and wondered what on earth laid in store for race day.
Before race day though the 80’s theme continued, well in my mind anyway, because it was at the ‘Press’ dinner I got to meet Mr Gary Fisher himself and for me it was the mid eighties where my mountain biking path began and the man opposite me on the table played the single most important factor in that path, he was one of the founders of the mountain biking movement. Gary’s enthusiasm and passion for mountain biking and cycling remain unabated as he campaigns for greater trail access and plays a role in inspiring kids into the sport of mountain biking in the quest.
Next up from Vaughan – Race Day!