Making the most of RV living

Late evening in the mountains of Tirol Austria

We hammered back some particularly satisfying coffees looking to put a rough nights sleep behind us, opting only for a quick oatmeal as we saw the the first of the heavy snow flakes fall from a dark storm front.  We had just completed our first night of elevation training in the RV and were lucky that the snow had held off as forecasted through the early hours of the morning, allowing us to return to our training grounds in the valley below.  Clearly the 10k and 4000 feet of pass we had summited the night before to get to our 6000 foot roost would not be anything to trifle with driving down in our trusty though summer tire shod RV.   

The Spirit of the sport 

Mary and I are currently in the Tirol region of Austria where we have found ourselves since competing at the Haiming Bike Festival this past weekend.  It was a our second time attending this spirited event and we were happy to see the level of mountain biking in Austria continuing on at an impressive level.  This year's festival brought out the Austrian mountain bike families in force where they mixed easily with a thick crowd of multi national professionals.  Well attended amateur and age group races with course variations to meet their needs really gave a clear indication that the Austrian MTB scene is healthy and all about developing up and coming talent.  Although the competition was taken seriously from the pro ranks on down to the under seven groms, the experience overall 

was focused on everyone having a good time. 

Mary Racing in Oetzal Austria 

The highlight of the race weekend was set by the backdrop of this incredible alpine town full of the friendly folks as well as a the opportunity to compete on a good old fashioned technical course that brought Mary and I happily back to our days of racing on the east coast of the USA.  A narrow mix of black mud and roots would have been enough to test the skills of most and the storm front that pushed through on race day just pushed the advantage further in the favor of those able to handle their bikes well.   In short, it was Sweet! 

Mike enjoys racing Kenda's 29er Karmas in the mud and roots!

Mary and I only really came to discover how special this part of Austria is after spending a few post race days training and living out of the RV  here.   A post race ride on one of the highest trails we could access due to the substantial snow pack with team Rabobank friends Adam Craig and Rosara Joseph initiated us into the sweetness of Tirol riding.   On this outing we made a single substantial climb, finding our way through some snowy patches in the higher elevations and managed to cap it off with a local favorite single track drop that rivaled the best that we have had the chance to put tires to on this continent. 

Recovery ride with team Rabobank

Rolling with Team Hai Power Bike Tirolers.

  

Over the next days Mary and I were treated to riding adventures by the local rippers from Hai Power Bike Team Haiming that oriented us to some of the areas premier lower elevation trails. The area is really a mountain bike racers dream chock full of skill pushing steep single as well as valley floor flats for miles and enough of everything in between.  The biggest problem was trying to keep our eyes on the trail with the full winter of alpine scenery looming around every corner.  

Incredible spring scenery in Tirol, Austria.

Mary and I found ourselves smitten with the area and decided to make the most of our week between races by taking advantage of the high elevation passes that are "easily" accessible in the area to sleep in the breathe in some of the thin air and push our training into our sleeping hours.  We know from experience that the adaptive effects that come naturally from sleeping at high elevation can help to put that final touch on our hard earned race fitness.  We are of course looking for every little advantage that can go into improving our racing and might even turn out to be effective in gaining that critical spot or two in that important race that makes all the difference. 

MnM in Kuhtai Austria 

For this it seems we are willing to suffer a bit since what sounds simple in theory is really up to the elements to decide if it is even possible.  Right now this latitude of Europe is experiencing what is essentially a continuation of winter and so we are having to be very picky about where we go and how and when we get there as driving an RV in the high mountains at this time could quickly become  more of an adventure than we really want to get ourselves into.   

Mary takes the hard line in training.

There are an incredible number of fantastic paved passes in the Alps, Dolomites and really all over the lesser ranges across central europe that are high enough to acclimate to thin air.  Unfortunately for our purposes most of the areas at this elevation are seasonal places and are subject to stormy weather.  Looking for a similar training advantage last August we had a foot of fresh snow pin us to our high elevation pull off in switzerland for full day of waiting to drive off the pass - a freak storm, so we thought, until a local amused by our situation, stopped in with his 4X4 to tells that it is nothing short of common in these parts.  

As you can imagine our timing at this point is less than ideal but along with the scary bit of putting ourselves out there in the elements we are experiencing a unique time between the seasons when ski areas are closed and summer camping is still months away.  Among the challenges we are getting to see the quiet europe that seems impossible in the "right" season when we are just one of the incredible number of people that seem to clog up every little bit of the good parts of the content.  At this time we are often the only ones in campgrounds where the owner may even come to greet us in person, happy that our arrival might indicate the start of their money earning season.  In some ways it seems to be  the most fantastic time to travel even though we can easily appreciate why others might wait until the season has really begun. 

A very cold and clear morning 

Mary and I are headed back to Germany this weekend to compete in a legendary high category race 'Bike The Rock'.  It is an incredible opportunity to be able to attend two HC races in as many weeks and even more so to consider them just training for the world cups that lay ahead.  Now in its 12th edition, Bike The Rock is typically one of the best attended XC races in Europe and always a challenge as it brings out the best competitors in the sport.  The forecast is for 30 degrees (somewhere in the high 80's) and from here it seems a bit hard to believe given that we have just endured another lashing from a brutal storm that blanketed our RV in snow for the night on top of this mountain pass.   It is amazing how much difference a couple of hundred of meters of elevation cam make in the climate and we hope in our performance as well.

Hope everyone is out charging in the day and tucked in safe and warm at night! 

MnM 

Mary getting ready to race in Heubach Germay 

Jim's Organic produces particularly satisfying Coffees!

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