This account of the Salzkammergut Trophy was provided by Vaughan Caseley, MTB Guide for MTB Villars. Read his pre-race thoughts here.
With race day upon us we were greeted with glorious sunshine and cloudless skies and once we had fuelled ourselves to the brim we headed to the ‘RACE’.
The butterflies were in full flight as we did our pre-ride reccie, but they went hysterical as we approached the Start / Finish area ……… WOW this event is huge ……….. it even dwarfed the 2010 World Cup event in Champéry Switzerland for impressiveness and this time I was racing in it!
As the countdown to the race start continued I found myself very near the start line and surrounded by 1300 eager and nervous competitors packed into the start shoot. It was here that I encountered another first , as Mike puts it, ‘EuroPumped’, with 10 minutes to go I had about 200 riders in front of me with 3 minutes to go that number had swelled to 300, where had they come from? It wasn’t possible from behind me so I became suspicious of the TV helicopter dropping them in from above until I realised the swelling numbers were climbing over the barriers from the side, clearly Euros have a smaller ‘personal space’ quota than us Aussies.
With a few deep breaths I heard the start gun fire and we were off. The young CZE guy with sandshoes and a 10+ year old bike shot into the distance and the over excited lady in an impressive all white kit would be seen again later in the day.
Getting away safely from the start was imperative, amazingly despite the large numbers I saw no crashes leading into the first climb. And what an impressive sight that first climb was, with approximately 300 riders in front of me and a 1000 behind me we must have looked like a huge multi coloured serpent slithering it’s way up the mountain.
With 6 km of the first 10 km climb completed the road narrowed and we found ourselves on foot, and not for the last time during the day, it was here that I saw Gary Fisher again with no time for pleasantries I scooted past him after he was held up by another racers clumsy remount and continued on my way.
As the crest of the first climb neared my nerves were on edge, with stunning views over two valleys, I knew we had a long way to descend and racing a descent is very different to just riding a descent but with little time to mull it over about 10 of us were together hurtling down a gravel road at 60+ kph, sliding into hairpins and trying to let go of the brakes, yes the smile was beaming at this stage. After a relatively short uphill section the remainder of the descent beckoned, this however was to be very different to the top half.
Turning into singletrack we were confronted with a slippery rocky and quite technical few km of fun descending trail where clearly some overzealous racers had come unstuck, including the impressively white outfitted young lady who’s kit was no longer so white (I hope she was ok!). I too had a small tumble and spent the next 20 minutes riding out the pain in my left knee.
Ewige Wand (Eternal Wall) is the next point on the race route, this iconic part of the course is truly breath taking with views into the valley below where some more fun technical single track eventually spits you out. Kudos to the young guy in the black and red jersey for saving what looked like a terminal two wheel slide on the last rocky section …. impressive!
The respite is only momentary as we were then confronted with some manmade obstacles in the form of stairways through a small pretty village before finally giving the braking fingers some rest.
With a 25 km relatively flat run along side the river and lake it’s relatively ‘easy’ profile through offered up a number of highlights from supporters in fancy dress dancing to loud music and offering beer to the parched, nice little single track sections to picturesque wire suspension bridges. All this and the route is lined with cheering supporters. On these flat sections getting into a group is essential, mission accomplished and thanks for the tow guys.
Having reached the lakes end things took on a serious tone, once again the course was lined by 100’s of supporters willing to give everyone a cheer, it was here though that the real climbing began.
The next 3 to 4 km was the hardest climbing I’d ever done, period! As we approached the salt mines at Halstatt the incline was well into the 30%’s and like everyone, bar one amazing guy, was on foot. Over the top of this brutal climb the reprieve was short lived and after a quick stop at one of the plentiful food stops we began the long climb to the highest point on the course at 1500m. On the way I had the opportunity to take in the view while taking a nature stop and the vast view was beyond words…
With the cloudless skies and the mountains shimmering and despite my fatigued state I could have been in mountain biking heaven or I could simply have been close to heaven full stop …. After regaining my composure the final push to the summit was uneventful before a quick descent, refuel at the next food stop before bombing down the 10 km gravel road descent at speeds in excess of 70 kph, it’s little wonder a 1 hour climb becomes a 10 min descent- yee haa!
Passing through yet another food stop we embarked on our final big climb of the day. Rising through beautiful pine forest this 6 km climb passed relatively quickly before another yet another super fast descent. Jumping into a group of 6 riders after the final food stop the final run in to Bad Goisern passed as a blur until a deflating rear tyre mean’t me getting dispatched off the back with 10 km to
go. Luckily this last 10 km was interspersed with some fun, fast and flowing single track , the fancy dressed clad folk, passed for the second time, were still enthusiastically cheering all and sundry.
Thankfully with the finish line in sight and my tyre becoming rather supple the course takes a final twist with an enjoyable run through the streets of Bad Goisern reminiscent of a city centre criterium this was a fun way complete my first Euro Marathon.
And what a marathon and what an event it was, my original goal of finishing was accomplished though on a competitive note I felt rather deflated like my rear tyre as I finished well over an hour outside of my predicted time.
In summary this is a great event, fantastic organisation and clearly has the support of the local community in a beautiful part of the world. As my first euro MTB marathon it was certainly a challenge which tested my resolve and determination but one which I am glad to have finished.