Austria, MTB World Cup.

Well, we’ve been in Austria since Tuesday, and to be honest, I’ve taken photos of nothing but bikes and the people riding them. Hopefully I can get out tomorrow and take advantage of the last day of press pass validity to get up the top of the mountain and take some photos of the incredible scenery that surrounds the town of Schladming. 

The World Cup has been an awesome experience, and a hell of a lot of fun. The track drops approximately 650 metres in elevation over a distance of 2.2 kilometres, with a maximum gradient of around 35%. So in short, it’s bloody steep. There’s not much rock, but some seriously loose rooty sections, and it finishes up coming down what is the worlds fastest Downhill Skiing run – there are some seriously tough and fast corners in this last bit. 

We’ve had some beautiful sunny days, and some seriously wet nights. Thursday night we had a massive thunder storm, and honestly felt at risk of losing our little cheapie tent that we bought for the occasion! Friday saw more rain, and it rained consistently all night. Today the forecast was for 4 degrees and possibility of snow – we didn’t get the snow (just rain), but it sure was really really really really cold up on the mountain this afternoon. 

We’ll probably stay here until Monday, head back to Salzburg for a couple of days, and then when Tristan heads to Paris, I’ll head to Vienna for a little bit, I think! That week is still a little undecided. Money’s a bit funny at the moment, as we haven’t worked out whether we can actually cash our work cheques or not. I’ll be sending mine home on Monday, and hopefully Mum can help me out with that!

I have heaps and heaps of photos from the race, which I can’t be bothered to put up here, so check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewleitch and have a browse! Believe me, there are more that that, too, but there’s a decent selection there.

Until next time, 

Andrew