Blog Tour 2015-16 - EUSA SkiBike Meeting Day 3

Today was supposed to have been a joyous final day, but sadly misfortune and disaster befell our group when my friend Caspar, who had been doing so well for the last two days, took a fall and broke his leg.

There was a lot to do and arrange in a very short space of time; skibikers are a fraternity and we look out for each other.

Above Zell am See - photo Carl Day

Blog Tour 2015-16 - EUSA SkiBike Meeting Day 2

This morning all of the beginners were given free time to practice their freshly honed skills which gave myself and Thierry our first chance to ride with Wayne Richards. The skiing area at Zell am See isn't huge and yesterday we had be hemmed into a small area deemed the most suitable for the beginner skibikers. This morning was our opportunity to break free and explore. So we headed down through the woods above Zell am See along a charming path shown on the piste map simply as 5 and 5b towards the Sonnenalbahn cable car.

From this point we could use the Sonnkogelbahn chairlift to reach the summit. The area was reminiscent of the ski stations of Scotland rather than Austria, with a rounded and undulating character with plenty of rough grass and scrub nestled between the pistes.
The snow was much softer than elsewhere at Zell am See and in places a delight to ride, we managed a few circuits but had to head back towards the main group for lunch.

The restaurant was quite a sight to see, with skibikes outnumbering the mainstream winter sports apparatus stacked nearby. At lunch Peter joined me and I took him on a repeat of the morning's route to the "secret" mountain area which had become even softer and slushier by this time.

Skibikes outnumbering the regular winter sports apparatus

In the evening we met for the official EUSA dinner, held at a Kohlschnait Lodge which has its very own illuminated sledge track. In the UK this would have meant a 50m grassy bank, but here in Austria it goes half way up a mountain and is 3 Km long.

A tractor and cattle wagon are the sole uplift, with sledges hung off the front forks and the the guests in cattle class behind. The meal was a meat grill affair composing a selection of finely sliced cuts for you to grill at your table. For weirdos like me who are vegetarian (I'm pescetarian if you have to split hairs) the options were baked potatoes, or baked potatoes and salad. The Kohlschnait Lodge also has it's own craft brewery and the product slipped down very smoothly.

Kohlschnait Lodge - ok who doesn't want beer? source Tim Brooking

With the meal completed, we were assigned sledges and headed down the sledging track to our taxis. Seeing some of the drop-offs to either side I was fairly nervous about the arrangement, but for the younger at heart it was a hoot.

Blog Tour 2015-16 - EUSA SkiBike Meeting Day 1

The moment had finally arrived, today was day 1 of the EUSA SkiBike Meeting. The meeting place was the Areitbahn I lift station where a number of SledgeHammer Skibikes were stored all ready for the demo rides.
Peter, now fully warmed up from our ride on Wednesday went off to join our very own blog writer Wayne Richards, who had agreed to shepherd all the novice and beginner riders.

Meanwhile I had time to spend with my friend and work colleague Caspar, who having said that he "must give this skibiking lark a go" for far too long, had finally made it and was raring to go.

We started with some basic drills on the nursery slope, which he quickly got the hang of and was soon eager to get up the hill to try some more testing terrain. We went to the top station at Areitbahn III, well above the gloomy morning mists and enjoyed the blue cruising runs down to the middle station at Arietbahn II. Caspar even managed a couple of red runs, quite an achievement for his first day on a skibike.

Caspar - "must give this skibiking lark a go"

All the skibikers gathered for lunch to swap stories of their morning's adventures; after which local skibiker Maria Boyerl set up an action photo shoot. This was followed by some group riding till the close of play.

Action photo shot time - source Maria Boyerl

In the evening we headed off to the Bistro di Mare, a local fish restaurant, not a dish you would expect to find in such a landlocked country as Austria, but delicious all the same.

Blog Tour 2015-16 - EUSA SkiBike Meeting, Day 0

Today; Thierry, Stephane, Peter and I made the long drive from Geneva to Zell am See in Austria in order to attend the first ever EUSA SkiBike Meeting. This will be the first time that both enthusiasts and manufacturers of freestyle skibikes from all across Europe will meet in the same place and at the same time.

The first ever freestyle skibike event for the whole of Europe

Allowing for refuelling and rest stops it was a good 9 hours from Geneva and 11 hours from Thierry's home at St. Jean de Sixt, just down the road from the resort of La Clusaz.
It never looks that far on a map, I mean Mongolia is kind of close, right? But in effect the distance was almost the same as driving to London, to put things into perspective. Fortunately for us, our transport was to be Thierry's monster Dodge Ram pick-up and not my Ford Fiesta.

We left Geneva in mild conditions and drove through the rain all the way to Austria where things started to get decidedly chillier. We entered one of Austria's many long motorway tunnels only to emerge into "Narnia" on the other side.

Emerging into "Narnia"

The only downside of making a long distance trip in a monster Dodge Ram pick-up, with a 5.7 litre V8 petrol engine, is the fuel cost. Thierry has amortised this somewhat by having his converted to run on liquefied petroleum gas or L.P.G. for short, which sells for €0.5/litre in France.
Austria has no shortage of petrol stations, but those that sell L.P.G. and of precisely the correct flavour are not so common. Perhaps I should have got more involved in the efforts of the re-fuelling committee, but I sensed trouble when Thierry asked me, "Innsbruck, is it a big town?"
We found our fuel stop eventually thanks to; three navigators, two satellite navigation systems, and one very long suffering chauffeur.

Refuelled, the Kilometres rolled by and before I knew it we were in Zell am See and with just enough time for a pint and a pizza before bed.

Blog Tour 2015-16 - Morillon Warm Up

Peter has been a long time contributor to discussions on The SkiBike Blog Facebook Group. His skibike experience had been limited to a few days riding a Firem VS skibike at Grand Bornand some years back. I had warned him that some might question his skibiking acumen on discussions, when only based on such limited data.

Yesterday Peter did the honourable thing and jumped on a jet from Bristol to Geneva; tomorrow he will be joining myself, Thierry and Stephane as we head off to the European SkiBike Weekend in Austria.
Today we enjoyed a gentle warm up session, cruising around some the gentler family runs that the Morillon end of the Grand Massif has to offer.

Peter adjusted to my skibike very quickly

We chose the sweeping Sairon run for our first descent, once past the steep top section it was strictly easy riding back down to the base station at Morillon 1100. Peter adjusted to my number two skibike very quickly, especially considering his lack of experience, so after refreshments we headed over to Les Carroz.

We eventually worked our way right over to Les Molliets, skirting the border with Flaine where skibikes have been banned from the chairlifts for the last couple of years. I am pleased to report that although Peter had his odd tricky moment, he survived unscathed and eager to see what adventures our trip to Austria will bring tomorrow.

Sairon piste - Morillon

Blog Tour 2015-16 - Back on the road

So the 2015-16 Blog Tour is back on the road. I couldn't resist the opportunity to stop at the Col de la Faucille on the way in to Geneva and check out all the fresh snow that has fallen in the last couple of days.
I was expecting a wet slushy mess, but the micro-climate in this tiny corner of the Jura mountains has already provided a tidy covering of squeaky snow.

La Faucille - needs just two more days of snow and it will be ready for skibiking

A couple more days of this and the resort could be open once again for skibiking.

For Sale - Winter X Bike SkiBike Conversion Kits - New Old Stock

It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. Some recent health issues gave me cause to take advantage of the services of Dr. Robert, Croydon's very own skibiking chiropractor. To say that he is a skibike enthusiast would be an understatement, his passion borders on obsession.

My visits gave him a good reason to dig out some new old stock original Winter X Bike skibike conversion kits which he had bought as a batch but never got round to installing all of them. If you are new to the skibike scene you may not be aware that Winter X Bike was the first iteration of Matt Hanson's designs, these have since been re-branded as Alpine Skibikes.

On offer is one complete kit, including the skis and foot pegs; furthermore there is a second set of adapter triangles only.
These adapters are the first generation model, so you they have 9mm axles, although you can still buy adaptors from Alpine Skibikes to run 15mm and 20mm through axle style forks too. The rear axle length is 170 mm with spacing of 135 mm for the rear triangle.

For Sale - Winter X Bike skibike conversion kit

The labelling on the packaging dated these units to 2005, none have been used, but they have been stored for a decade in a loft.
As a result there is light corrosion on the plated parts and ski edges. You could clean this off with metal polish if their appearance was that offensive to you. I would have done this myself but the demands of the blog tour made it impossible before departure day.

Light corrosion on the plated parts from a decade of storage

The aluminium parts are all in mint condition and very sparkly!

Dr. Robert doesn't want these parts sold off at yard sale prices, he would like the equivalent of the price these parts would cost if bought in the USA at today's prices. For US based readers of this blog it would make no sense to buy these parts; but for European Union based members these prices will be a substantial saving over the regular price. Anything imported from outside of the European Economic Area is subject to courier fees, handling fees, import duties @ 2.5% of the net value and VAT @ 20%. Do the mathematics, this is a good deal.

Adapters only - £136 or €186

The cost for the complete kit of adapters, skis and foot-pegs will be £340 or €465 - SORRY NOW SOLD OUT.

The cost for adapters only will be £136 or €186 - ONLY ONE PAIR LEFT! This price includes delivery to a UK address. I can send to some European locations too, but please ask for a quote first as this could be quite a high sum.

If you have any further questions, please leave a comment or send a message.


UPDATES:

18/02/16 - The kit complete with skis is now sold.