Wednesday Free Ride
Hello mountain bikers!
FLAT SUCKS and THE FREERIDE CENTER invite you to a joint biker round. Every Wednesday evening we explore the trails around Innsbruck together. So all those who have a desire for single trails, new acquaintances or just biking with like-minded people are welcome. In addition to outdoor fun and sporting activity, there will also be a riding technique tip or two. And best of all, guiding on the Wednesday Free Ride is free. We start at 5:30 pm each time and announce the meeting point the night before via Facebook and WhatsApp group.
With this announcement we started the first season of our Wednesday Free Ride a year ago. A single trail evening round for Innsbruck’s mountain bikers to get to know each other and exchange ideas was the goal. As far as I can remember there were already about 10 people at the first ride and all in all the event was very well received.
New paths and shuttles
Another idea was of course to test new routes and there was definitely sometimes a more experimental Wednesday Free Ride. In addition, we used a bike shuttle once or twice to open up longer descents, which again significantly enhanced the whole event. In addition to the clear main goal in the form of fun trails, we also took sometimes longer stretches or but partly overgrown paths. As it looks, there is a huge trail potential in the greater Innsbruck area which has unfortunately fallen into oblivion. With the right care, or at least frequentation, these paths would often be very good bike routes.
We were definitely aware that we were going out on a limb with an event like this because, as most people probably know, mountain biking is not exactly one of the most legal sports in Austria. However, there was definitely positive feedback. Apart from two private messages from our own ranks in which the critics on the one hand meticulously searched our Facebook videos for skid marks and on the other hand there was the fear that through the event will suddenly be hundreds of mountain bikers on the ‘secret’ trails…
Mountain bikers on Tyrolean trails
Raising awareness and a clean driving style, preferably without leaving any traces, have been a concern of ours from the very beginning. While the province of Tyrol is leading the way with the Mountain Bike Model 2.0 with a very good approach, namely steering instead of prohibiting and mountain world togetherness, we want to tie in with it right away. Our goal is a reasonably harmonious coexistence of all trail users, and for that, above all, we need the necessary acceptance, consideration and some planning. Keyword: avoid hotspots. And that’s exactly what we want to convey to bikers personally, directly on the trails. We pay attention to a technique that is gentle on the road, choose less frequented descents and always seek friendly dialogue instead of confrontation. We know it can work because we travel often enough in our neighboring countries where this artificially created right of way problem largely does not exist.
New season
In any case, we start the new Wednesday Free Ride season on April 4. If you want to be part of it just register here: Register
Here is a video with a few impressions from last year: