Get On Your Bike

Explore Salzburgerland’s stunning lakes and mountains on two wheels.

- Ben Lerwill

MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB

The shirtless fan in the blue wig has a beer in one hand and a chainsaw in the other. At the appointed time, he puts down his beer and revs the chainsaw to life. The noise is ear-piercing. In the crowd around him, some people whoop, some rattle cowbells and some just gawp at the steep wooded slope in front of them, down which a female mountain biker is riding at a pace that can only be described as insane. I nearly topple over just watching her.

Once she hurtles out of view, the chainsaw is turned off, the cowbells are stilled and the beer is picked up. Eyes then turn back up the track to await the arrival of the next competitor. Implausibly, she bursts into view travelling even faster, a blur of high-spec tyres and branded gear, her bike hurdling tree roots and thundering into hairpin turns. The chainsaw revs madly in appreciation.

I’m in Leogang, Austria, at the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup. It’s not a contest for the tentative. The world’s best convene here once a year to plunge down a precipitous 1.5-mile downhill course, set against a ferociously beautiful backdrop of June skies and soaring limestone peaks. It’s a two-day festival, with thousands of fans lining the course (chainsaws are only allowed trackside if their chains have been removed, by the way — lots of noise, no lost limbs) and a circus of seats, stages, stalls and team tents at the finish line.