The reasons and desires that push me towards road trips with my mountain bike are often not truly realised, and sometimes irrational to onlookers. More on this later in the week. Since 2007 I have spent between 5 and 15 week blocks in Europe, living out of a ‘suitcase’. Truth be told it has more commonly been a 30l adventure racing back pack and a bike bag. I don’t own a suitcase.
Yesterday, I arrived at Munich airport, and strolled to the hire car desk, after the always nervous wait for baggage. Will it come out in one piece? Will it arrive? Does forwarded luggage ever actually arrive if it didn’t make the connecting flight? The act of hiring a car was a progression that started in 2010. Prior to that, I was an advocate of planes, trains, buses and the occasional taxi – with the best taxi trip taking place post Sudety MTB Challenge, from Kudowa Zdroj in Poland, to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.
However, taking a hire car opens up a new element of independence. The romance of public transport starts to become lost after countless years struggling with a bike bag. Some trains won’t let you on, others are reluctant. And more often than not you don’t know what the answer will be until you’re on the platform trying to board the train to your next destination. And this is before the continual questions about what’s in the bag start. And the stares. No one stares like an inquisitive train traveller.
Waiting. Always waiting.
Instead of just taking away the backpacking vibe of public transport, using a hire car makes it a road trip. A hire car becomes a small personal bubble, not unlike a bedroom where you have your own items. It is almost a mobile safety blanket. Your hire car becomes a small ‘service course‘ containing the spares that you may otherwise have to do without when traveling light. Spare tyres. A container of sealant. A track pump. Perhaps a supply of fresh bottles and a box of your preferred energy food – no more grabbing two handfuls of gels at the last feed zone, so you can fuel the next weekends race.
You can keep whatever you like at hand. Even prepared bib shorts!
The real benefit is flexibility. You are no longer constrained by whether the you can get to a race venue or amazing area on the right days. In Europe, the public transport is amazing. If you need to get somewhere by train and bus – you can. Plan it out and it can happen – the time frame may be a bit long though, the further your points are from major capitals. Some may disagree, but in comparison to Australia the public transport is far more advanced. And here comes the adventure, ironically being delivered to a cyclist by a motor vehicle. But you can chase the sun. If it’s raining on one side of a major mountain chain, it might not be on the other. head around for the days ride, or change your plans altogether. Perhaps you hear of a great race that just wasn’t known to you before. My 2010 ‘season’ was mostly based around a whim, and entering races that sounded like a good idea at the time. Welsh XC Champs, British National Round, Dolomiti Superbike, Transalp, Montafon Extreme, XCM Worlds, Grand Raid, National Park Marathon, then the Kielder 100… all done out of the back of one car. And with five great CD’s and a GPS. It was a revelation. Less sore shoulders, more time to arrive at a race destination, and easy access to prime riding locations like Livigno!
Subaru have been a great help via sponsoring the Subaru-MarathonMTB Team. That has kept us in good vehicles at the big races.
So yesterday, driving from Munich, eschewing the Autobahn for a trip through Garmisch and then Mittenwald (and also avoiding the frequently congested Fern Pass) to then climb the Brenner Pass into Italy – it also brought back a slew of memories. The familiarity of some routes driven with mates in other years, passing the turn off to Oberammagau – where I started Transalp with Naomi Hansen the previous year… there were countless moments. Up the Brenner, and I was almost losing concentration looking into the Stubaital, remembering the Stubai Bike Marathon in 2009. Over the top, and the descent to Italy had thoughts from 2007, watching an older bloke ride a tandem up the hill while driving with Struan Lamont and Dave Wood. Our joke that he had annoyed his wife played out, as she was seen a few corners lower down, walking in a huff.
The next few weeks of circuitous mountain roads in the Dolomites, Alta Valtelina, Graubunden and Sudtirol will no doubt hold new adventures with team mates and other friends. And although I still find it laughable that a car is helping to create so many mountain bike memories – the feeling of cresting a pass on your way to a new location, with the view opening up in front of you is just as incredible in a rental car as it is on a bike. Long live the road trip!