Sunny and hot. The day before...

Neil Wragg competed in one of Europe’s toughest Mountain Bike Races at the weekend but whilst he was on form, the weather had other ideas…..

Hyperthermia was a reality for many competitors on the Austrian Salzkammergut MTB Trophy even though on the day before Saturday’s race it was 32 degrees and blue skies. It shows how quickly mountainous weather can be lethal and with most riders in summer racing kit the 114 kms mountain bike race was cancelled with two thirds of the field not even reaching the halfway point.

Alpine storm on it's way

A freezing storm  had been in full effect since the night before and was now bringing snow and zero visibility to those riders reaching the mountain tops.

Results were published for all those riders who did reach the final checkpoint of the shortened race in the treacherous conditions.
Neil was the 2nd British rider and the 181st rider overall to get to the cancellation point out of 584.
1500 riders started the race at Bad Goisern but two thirds quit when body temperatures plummeted after the freezing rain at the start turned into snow over the initial 1400 metre summit.
“I wanted to continue but they wouldn’t let me, my plan was to ride the first half

Riding through the salt mines 1200 metres up

conservatively so I was just getting warmed up!” said Neil. “Actually I wasn’t getting any warmer no matter how hard I rode so the organisers probably made a very wise decision for me”.

 

If you veer off your line there is the safety of a lake 1200 metres below to fall into...