The riding scene in Europe?

[Wes]

Where is it at?

I'll be heading over there for 6 months or so the year after next, and am still in question about where to go. I have a Dutch passport, so getting a job, etc. is no problem.

But where is the riding?

Thanks.

[bullit_kid]

England, Austria, Germany, Sweden..

All have lift access bike parks, lifts seem to be huge there now or so.

[.243rider]

Check out Willingen in Germany! www.willingen.de (not 100% sure) Cool place. You can also go to Soling. It is not to big but they have a nice quick dual cross. Check out www.mtb-news.de for more info. If you can read German you will be ok. Check it out anyway.

[.243rider]

Here is the correct link for the bike park www.bike-willingen.de

[Wes]

Anything in the Netherlands?

doesn't B1 bikes originate there?

[.243rider]

Netherlands is flat like a board! :zzz: I see a lot of guys from the netherlands come to Germany and ride. I was at a DH in Solling (Germany) and nearly half the field were from the Netherlands. I ask some people about that and they said people from the Netherlands come to Germany to do DH and train.

[HeadOverWheels]

Hey .243, how is your European vacation going? Hope alls well and ur findin some places to ride!

Wes, I recently moved (bout a year) to Munich in the south of Germany. I can say that the riding is pretty much Dirt jumping and some street but not too many street riders :mad: If you like the dirt jumps though, www.bombenkrater.de

BUT in the area you could easily spend each weekend at a different park, (if ya have a car). Austria has a couple places that are supposed to be good (didn't make it myself this season) but they are 2-3 hours drive from Munich. Leogang http://www.bikeworld.at/ and Saalbach Hingerglen http://www.bike-circus.at as well here in Germany also a couple hours from Munich is Geisskopf http://www.bikepark.net/ and then there's Switzerland also very close.

What I'm gettin at is that Holland is flat, they all come to Germany and when they have time the Dutch keep going to places like Todtnau which is on the Southwest side of Germany, www.mtb-bike-park.de and if you go to the Freiburg area (nice little uni Green city) they have a sick dj park too.

From what I hear in the north there are some sick indoor skate parks but in the south you'll be closer to some big ass mountains.

Don't expect to find the same scene as in BC.

Need anymore info Pm me
:thepimp:

[.243rider]

Nice info HWO . I am back from Germany since 4 weeks ago. I broke my heel in Solling and may be able to ride next month (xc). Ich habe viele mehr Deutch gelernt! Wen Kommst du zuruck nach Kanada? Were mussen zutreffen! Ich muss mehr Deutsch benutzen bevor alles weg sind! Ich wohne in Langley so Du musst ein pm zu mir schicken.:thepimp:

[Tanja]

In Holland there's actually pretty much nothing to do except for a great initiative in Bergschenhoek (see http://www.bikefestival.nl) there's a four-X and some dirts and a sort of DH track. We'll make do in our flat little country! :)

Most of us go to germany: Winterberg (http://www.bikepark-winterberg.de) and Willingen, Bad WildBad or Todtnau. And all the other spots in germany, but these spots mentioned have all wel organised bikeparks with uplifts ;)

feel free to mail or PM!


Be One is originated here, but they also mostly go to Todtnau.

[Rynee]

hi!
headoverwheels talked about leogang and saalbach. i'm actually from austria and have been to these parks several times already. they're quite nice for a few days' trips, but compared to whistler (i've been there last september) they're pretty lame.
saalbach offers a single trail type track with quite some flow. some drops, many berms, a few north-shore inspired ladder bridges - nothing seriously skinny though. they did have gareth dyer over there 4 weeks ago when they built a slopestyle course with some serious drops (8-10m) and boxes. but i'm afraid they had to tear them down after the contest.

leogang has two courses, one dh track partly over with many roots and two drops, which is nice to ride. the freeride course is a gravel singletrail with many doubles, but not too much fun to ride.
the two resorts are interconnected via the skilift & a trail network. but i've never gone this tour.

hope this helps, i'll post more later on

ps: euer deutsch ist sehr gut!

pps: you might wanna check out www.downhill-board.com, this is an austrian bb w/ an english section. there you can get loads of info.

[hampstead bandit]

make sure you come to England

we've got killer dirt jump trails (wisley, woburn sands), freeride parks (PORC, Woburn sands, esher, bristol, glentress) downhills (aston hills, Fort William, etc.)

and its a small country so easy to get about, lots of riders up for some hard riding, check out www.southerndownhill.com, www.ukdirt.com, www.chocolatefoot.co.uk, www.mbuk.com

you can reach me on bighitmafia@hotmail.com let us know when you come over we'll take you out riding in south east england

[.243rider]

Wes, you can pm me for more info I have some friends who can take you around to some riding places. They are hard to find on your own. when I first got to Germany I had a difficult time finding a place to ride. You have to know the local riders.

[pete@nsmb.com]

Go to where the mountains are and get on a gondola. I'm based in Lugano, Switzerand (site of last year's MTB worlds) and the riding is great here, too. But if you were to head toone country, it's probably Austria - they seem to have figured out freeride parks the best.

[Wes]

So Austria is where it's at?

All this info is totally awesome, thanks a ton everyone.

Where ever I end up going, I will be building B.C. north shore. Will the local riders be interested in that? Or is it all dj/dh in Europe?

[Wes]

Germany sounds cool as well, but I really haven't even considered it yet.

Does anyone know where the economy is really booming? (i.e. jobs are plentiful) Hopefully some where there is german/french/dutch/english spoken...

[.243rider]

Originally posted by Wes
So Austria is where it's at?

All this info is totally awesome, thanks a ton everyone.

Where ever I end up going, I will be building B.C. north shore. Will the local riders be interested in that? Or is it all dj/dh in Europe?
where I was I built a teeter and a log ride. The log was over a dry creek bed highest point about 1.8 metres. I made the planks about 25cm wide! it blew these guys minds they thought it was too skinny! Just watch where you build because there is not much land available to use. Generaly we had to find a "secret spot" to build. Once it was found out it is usually taken down.:mad:

[Rynee]

yeah people are not too happy around here if you start building on their property.
wes, how long are you gonna stay in europe, and what kind of job are you looking for?
what i'm heading at: i was in leogang 4 weeks ago and met a couple of locals there. they seemed to be highly ambitioned to build shore style trails, and they also said they knew loads of hidden trails - apart from the bike park that is. so if you try to find a job there, i think it only takes a week till you get in touch with those guys, and that would be for the mutual benefit.

btw, this is where about austria is:
http://maps.msn.com/(gcmjgf3nciewtn3felt0el2v)/map.aspx?L=WLD&C=47.58904%2c14.14000&A=1655.50000&P=|E|&TI=Austria%2c+Europe

back to the topic: the problem is, that i'm afraid it'll be hard to find a job in this area, which is mostly living from tourists - depends on your profession of course. however you might try to find a job in Salzburg City, which is about 1h drive from Leogang and Saalbach: http://maps.msn.com/(gcmjgf3nciewtn3felt0el2v)/map.aspx?L=EUR&C=47.80070%2c13.04338&A=100.33333&P=|719A|&TI=Salzburg%2c+Salzburg%2c+Austria (click on the SOUTH button once, then you'll find Leogang in the south western area of the map).

or even better, try to find one in vienna, the capitol of austria. there it'll be easiest. however this is 4h drive by car, a bit more by train.

hope this helps. pm or email me if you need more info!

best,
rynee

[Rynee]

@ .243 rider: where in europe have you been?
@ headoverwheels: i'm planning to go to leogang/saalbach in july or august for a weekend, how about meeting there and going for a ride? would be great fun!

[Wes]

I wonder if I would be considered hard core in Europe...

Haha... not if Cedric is any indicator of your guys' skillz :(

[Mic]

To know where riding is heading in Europe, check the results from the slopestyle contest in saalbach. europe is taking off at the moment.

[nouseforaname]

like hampstead bandit says - if you come to the UK - youll have a good rip. tho most people only think of the "shore" as being tonnes of tall super skinny ladders with huge (10ft plus drops). essentially most people i ride with in the uk seem to think that the shore is all "flying circus". ive been to the shore twice now and try and put them right. but down in the south of england we dont have super big hills so people copy what they can (big ladder drops dont require sick terrain just a sick brain).

[.243rider]

Originally posted by Rynee
@ .243 rider: where in europe have you been?
I was living in Goettingen which is about 2 1/2 hour drive north of Franfurt. I am back home now but I might be going back out there for a visit early next year. There is a lot of good riders where you live and in South Germany. I met a crazy Bavarian who was an amateur DH racer. This guy could rip s@!# up and won his class at Solling. It is funny he is a big man and drives all over Germany following events in his little old blue Volkswagen car and rides a v10. I have only been in Austria once and that was for Snowboarding I would like to try the trails one day!:thepimp:

[Rynee]

yeah, you should come over one day and then we rip some lines. i must say that in winter tourism austria's more advanced than in what concerns freeride mtb'ing.

i agree to what you say, i think there are some very good people around here, and it's evolving. though most of the big names come from dh racing over to freeriding. and the good guys are not legion. but as i said it's evolving, and events like the slopestyle in saalbach that Mic mentioned are helping a lot to make people aware...

[Rynee]

@ headoverwheels
I'll be in leogang on 7/8 august with a bunch of friends. would be great if we could go for a ride together. they built some wooden stuff there as well recently, might wanna check out this thread
http://www.downhill-board.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=de_tracks&Number=303546&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=7#Post308092

it's german, but pics say more than a 1000 words anyways.
the stuff's definitely too low and broad, but better than nothing...