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Almabtrieb
Auerberg, Germany
Auerberg is a church and a restaurant that sits on
top of a small hill just outside of Bernbern, Germany. This small town sits on
the edge of the foothills of the Alps, in Bavarian Germany. Amazingly beautiful,
with a gorgeous view of the Alps in one directory, and green pastures in the
other.
The race course was about 1.5 km long. It starts
with a fairly steep drop leading to a switchback,
but with a wide enough radius and not quite enough speed to require braking.
This leads into another switchback that may need breaking. A few chicanes and a
fast straight later leads into an open field, where most of the spectators hung
out, with a hard left turn, followed by a hard right turn. From here an
incredibly steep and straight drop to the finish line.
Monday, July 5
The four day race didn't officially start until Wed, so I originally had
planned on site seeing Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. But they've got something
planned for Tuesday, and it took most of the day to pack up and drive from
Switzerland (about a 4 or 5 hour drive, with a lunch break.) We decided to get
here early and look for a hotel room or something. There was a campsite
not far from the start line, we headed into town and found an "attic" of a
farmhouse that sleeps 9. Three bedrooms, a large room to work on our equipment,
a washing machine, all for about 50 euros a piece, for the week.
We drove into Munich, about an hour and a half away to see some sites, and
have lunch.
At first it was Hod and the Americans, but while we were wandering around we ran
into the Canadians. So we all headed to the Hofbrau Haus for dinner.
This is a famous beer house, that servers large pints of beer and sausages.
After dinner he went to the ISPO after party
which was thrown by Yogi's
sponsors Funk. Lots of Red Bull and Vodka
were drunk, and plenty of dancing. This was apparently THE party to go to in
Munich that Monday night, and most of the racers were there.
Tuesday, July 6
A special field trip was planned. Hofbrau Munich was a sponsor of the race,
and they invited us to Neuschwanstein for lunch.
Neuschwanstein is the castle that Walt Disney based the Disneyland Castle on,
and is about 30 minutes from the race course. The event
started with beer and sausages
and lots of tossed coasters .
We had a great time laughing and enjoying the free beer.
After lunch was over, most of the racers took a tour of the castle. I toured the
castle before Hot Heels a few years ago (Hot Heels is about 2 hours or so away)
So I hiked back for a bit before hanging out at the restaurant.
Freeman showed off his skateboarding skills.
It was a nice way to keep us all preoccupied before the race started.
We return to the race course to find people cleaning it.
There had been a lot of rain recently, and the parking lot was fairly muddy, so
a lot of mud had been tracked onto the course.
Not for from the start line, and fairly close to the campsite, an enormous
circus tent and been erected,
along with a mess tent. The circus tent was a bar,
and entertainment area.
and the mess tent 
provided two meals a day as part of the entry fee.
We had a riders meeting Wednesday night to kick the
race off.
We found out that we were going to get transponders,
and all of our practice runs would be timed. There would be no qualifying, our
best practice run would be used, and all practice runs would be solo. We got all
registered up. We received a Tshirt, a cool water bottle, some stickers that
would show up everywhere. One ended up on my rental car, turns out that was the
best thing to happen to it, as I was always able to spot MY car after that.
Perhaps the most interesting thing we received was a large cloth sticker with
our number on it that we stuck to our leathers.
Wednesday, July 7
We would run practice the first day. They started by cleaning the track
fairly well.
Practice started with standup.
Everyone ran transponders all day, to time every run.
I sat out the afternoon session cause it rained a bit, but some people came
prepared.
At one point, a UPS truck arrives at the top of the course. It seemed sort of
strange, there is a restaurant and hotel at the start line, but the truck didn't
stop there. It stopped near the top and handed a package to Bradburn.
He won the race the year before, and won a leather suit. He hadn't received it,
and had been fitted the week before, and the suit was just arriving! As usual
there was a LOT of waiting. We had to wait for the timing system several times.
Some people made use of the local surroundings.
Red Bull showed up for practice day, but wouldn't be around for race day.
Oh well, more Red Bull for us racers then. I know we have picked up at least one
racer and many fans from the Red Bull company.
I must say I am pretty sure "fuckuall" is not part of their motto.
After dinner everyone gathered around to see the posted times.
My times weren't good, I was like in the bottom five. But I had been taking it
easy, and was fairly happy with my results. I set a goal for myself, break 1 min
40 seconds (about 20 seconds slower than first place for buttboard) Tomorrow
will be a long day.
Thrusday, July 8
Today started as a nice sunny day. I climbed up to the church at the top of
the hill. There is an observation platform on top of the church, and I wanted to
take some pics. The inside of the church was fairly impressive.
And the views from the top were amazing too. The land around here was amazingly
beautiful.
Most of the people were staying in the campground.
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was cold, a little rainy. Today was
gonna be hot.
And as always there was plenty of time for sleeping,
mending leathers,
giving interviews,
and just chilling.
We were supposed to run one at a time, so we lined up
Red Bull provided the athletes a refreshing beverage at the bottom of the
course.
Things were kept moving along fairly smoothly with two buses as are
transportation.
It was still a tight squeeze, with all of our equipment.
There were a lot of racers at the event, so tech as done as a when you get a
chance over the first two days.
Marcus did a fairly thorough job of teching the equipment. At the bottom of the
course a timing system was set up.
It showed the riders speed through the speed trap located near the finish line,
and the total time. The system was about 100 yards from the finish.
Unfortunately by the time you stopped and got up and turned around, the next
rider was probably just crossing the finish line.
Friday, July 9
Because we had three days of practice, and because the race was being filmed,
a lot of filming was going on.
Lots of different angles were used.
One of the best shots was mounted on a boom on Daddow's back.
Kessler also provided an interesting perspective.
There were only a handful of Americans at the event, and all of us except for
Bob
stayed at the Egg Farm.
Kessler
and Dean
probably didn't give us Americans the best image, at least we know how to use
our tongues.
As I got more time on the hill I got a little more comfortable. There was
still a few corners I couldn't get through without braking. After a few hard
wrecks, I've been fairly conservative. Racing more for fun that for racing. I
manage to hit my goal of sub 1 minute 40 seconds and was very happy.
My 98 KPH was also my fastest (or close to it) run. I tried to break 100, and I
think I could have, but I couldn't stop myself from putting a foot down in the
last right hand turn.
One of the coolest things about this course was a small hotel and restaurant
at the start line. We decided to have a German meal there today.
The weather in the Alps is very iffy. It is very difficult to forecast, one
minute it is raining, the next it is nice and sunny. The forecast was calling
for rain, on Saturday, so it was decided to run the standup race today, while it
was nice out.
After the race start I went to the hospital, about a half hour away to visit
some of the injured riders.
Whetherall, in the back, had been injured in a collision, AFTER the finish line.
Turns out he was sore but ok, although doctors feared a spinal injury. Waldo,
wasn't as lucky, he broke a femur in a South African Video run. On our way back
from the hospital
he spotted a helicopter
near the finish. Douglas, one of the Brazilians
was being airlifted out (I think final prognosis was a badly bruised hip, maybe
it was dislocated?) Apparently he had wrecked about halfway down the course,
hurt himself, but manage to finish the race, and won!
There was a party at the big tent. First the 2003 World Cup Trophies
were handed out.
Gravity Bike:
Kessler Street luge:
Knaggs Standup:
Bradburn
I know Kessler was VERY happy to win, but Knaggs was in Seventh Heaven.
After the trophies were handed out a live band played.
Unfortunately I didn't stay as long as I wanted, as my roommates all wanted to
go back to the house to work on their equipment (I guess they were all racing
tomorrow)
Saturday, July 10
We woke up to a wet course.
This meant buttboard would run first. We got ready in the main tent for the
first practice run.
I sat out the practice run, but decided to "race." That is I decided to take my
run, only so I would not get a DNS. I don't think I even paddled off the
line, as I watched the two French racers I was racing with shoot off the finish
line as if it was a dry course. I sat up through the first couple of turns. I
layed down after the hairpins only to find my board a tad sketchy. I had fairly
new wheels on the buttboard. New wheels do not do well on a wet course. I sat up
through the Carousel, waving to the small crowd. As I came to the straight for
the finish I lay down, and raised my fists as I crossed the finish line to loud
cheers. I was happy, it was a successful, non bone breaking race. I got up and
turned around to see the next heat not far behind me. I wondered if the people
thought I was WAY out in the lead?
I had wanted to get more buttboard pictures, I got the Americans
and the South Africans.
We had a long break for lunch, because there was a wedding at the church.
The wedding ended just before our racing was to resume. The street lugers gave
them a send off.
I love group photos, but they are hard to take. You have to organize everyone,
and then if you are in the photo you need to find someone to take the picture,
it is a little easier when you don't have to be in the photo.
And of course the sun came out and dried the course off.
I spent most of the day at the Window Maker, the large carousel, where most
of the spectators watched from.
It was one of the hardest turns on the course, there was a large field for the
spectators, and you could see the finish line.
The early morning rain kept most of the spectators away, as they were expected
to fill the pasture, but they still lined the course.
I got a few shots, but its hard to take good action photos with a small digital
camera.
As in Switzerland there was someone to entertain the crowd between rounds.
After the races were over, a quick podium was set up for the video.
The real podiums and prizes would be given later. Classic:
Street luge:
Women's Standup:
Men's Standup:
Later that evening we had the after party and prize giving. But first was the
pole. I saw one of the worst looking wrecks I have ever seen. The top speed of
the course happens at the finish line, which then takes a short jog to the left.
There is no braking needed to get through this turn, but it is a turn at very
high speeds, and would be a tight squeeze with multiple people. I watched this
happen from the meadow at the Carousel. I saw two lugers touch just as they
crossed the finish line. At the time I didn't know exactly what happen, but I
remember seeing the board fly end over end through the air. I thought I had seen
the first fatal accident in street luge. At the part I found out the luger had
collided with a sign post. Amazingly the sign post is the worse for the wear!
Gravity Bike:
Burel, Kessler
Dirt Surfers:
Classic:
Martin, Eliot, Lacey
Street luge:
Lacey, Martin, Bieber
Women's Standup:
Men's Standup:
Siegrest, Douglas, Haller
Almabtrieb has something to do with an annual tradition of the cows changing
pastures or something. So the trophies were cow bells.
Then the party commenced.
Apparently this became the party to go to, as there were more locals than racers
at the party. The racers still had a good time.
Although the table of Jagermeister
 didn't
quite equal that from Hot Heels. I am not exactly sure what happened, as I
ended up leaving the party about 4 am. I was supposed to be driving to Croatia
(about 800 miles) the next day. The plan was to leave around 8 am. I returned to
the tent at 8am the next morning, to music STILL blaring, and a few people still
partying.
The party was over.
Almabtrieb was a fun event. The road was technical and fast. There were
several major injuries, and least 4 people visited the hospital, although I
think only one person had a broken bone. Most of the other injuries were not
severe. The broken bone happened during a practice run, and perhaps the most
severe injury, also happened during practice AFTER the finish line.
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