The Enduro One is now one of Germany's enduro series with the most participants. The second stop took place on 27./28. May in Aschau, located in the beautiful Chiemgau. I became aware of the series last year, so this year there are two races in my schedule. The tranquil Aschau, located in the immediate vicinity of Lake Chiemsee and at the foot of the Kampenwand, promised a great backdrop for my Enduro One start.
With the caravan we bought in the winter, we drove from Deggendorf to Aschau, avoiding the Autobahn, of course. The best weather welcomed me on Friday evening. After a short tour of the campsite directly at the fairground, which was the epicenter of the event, I had already met the first familiar faces. Since my caravan is unfortunately still somewhat spartan, a neighbor had to be found who could help me with the necessary camping equipment over the weekend. Olli and Rike from Riol-Bikes, who I've known since my early days, seemed the perfect hosts for this and the first hurdle of the weekend was cleared. Quickly fired up the grill and the first summer night of the year was heralded.
On Saturday, the blue sky and the view of the Kampenwand increased motivation even at breakfast. After looking at the route details, I got ready for a relaxed training tour. A total distance of 15km and 750hm on the day of the race shouldn't be a problem. The format of the Enduro One stipulates that only the technically more difficult stages may be trained. Stage 1 and 2 as well as the route of the prologue were therefore not allowed to be used during training. After the driver's briefing, we finally got going. Uphill the whole thing was a bit more demanding than expected and there was a lot going on on the sometimes very steep ramps that had to be overcome. While you were being overtaken on the one hand by a relaxed-looking e-bike rider, on the other hand you passed visibly exhausted participants who had to push their bikes on the first climb.
The first training session was still somewhat hesitant, as there were a large number of participants on the track at the beginning of the three-hour training session. After there was still some training time left, I went upstairs again. This time, a few sections were pushed uphill to protect my legs for the race day, at least that was my excuse. Since many participants apparently saved themselves this effort, the second training lap on the less frequented stages went almost at race pace and I was motivated for the following prologue. This took place right next to the festival area. From the neighboring Hohenaschau Castle, a gravel trail with countless loose curves led down to the event site. Since a clean cornering technique seemed too slow here, the majority of the field of drivers covered most of the corners in a drift, which led to an extremely good atmosphere among the spectators.
I spent the evening away from the event area at Max Seidl's, who opened the Bold Cycles showroom in Aschau on Saturday. Many of the other participants also followed this invitation and we talked shop over a cool beer until late in the evening. If you're in the area, you should definitely pay Max a visit. Free trail tips for the area around Aschau are of course included here.
Thanks to a good placement in the prologue, I was able to get out on the track early on Sunday and was able to escape the first real summer heat of the year to some extent. Stage 1 and 2, which were not allowed to be trained the day before, turned out to be pure pedaling passages, which temporarily slowed my motivation down a bit. Unfortunately, my performance here was also rather disappointing.
After that it was time to gain altitude again and pedal up to Stages 3, 4 and 5, which were all on a trail that led down into the valley. On Stage 3 I was able to play to my strengths and ended up in 2nd place on the rather rough stage. Stage 4 was quite passable, after which I unfortunately messed up on Stage 5 and decided to take a short trip down the slope. Stage 6 was identical to the prologue from the previous day, although during the prologue ruts appeared to have made their way into the initially open corners, which could now be used well. In the end it was enough for me to place 14th in the E1 Pro class and 22nd in the overall ranking. A total of almost 400 riders in the enduro class and almost 20 e-bikers were evaluated. Maximilian Dorf (Yeti Cycles DE) and Kathi Kuypers (Trek Gravity Girls) were the fastest.
For me personally, the stages were unfortunately not quite to my liking. The first two stages were purely pedaling passages on a gravel path without any technical demands. The other stages were mostly hiking trails that led without curves over partly coarse scree. Here you had to leave the brakes open, hope for good material and have the necessary courage to be really fast. So after the race I went to the course manager Mario Mittermayer, who also runs a bike shop in Aschau. During the conversation, Mario explained to me that there are of course many factors that influence the choice of route in a race like this. The use of the neighboring Kampenwandbahn was unfortunately out of the question due to the large number of starters, since this is not yet set up for mountain bikers and long waiting times were feared here. In addition, the route should of course be passable in all weather conditions and, above all, be able to withstand the hundreds of participants without being completely devastated afterwards. The Enduro One event in Aschau was a start into a future for everyone involved in the place with the prospect of further events like this one in the place. After a successful start, everyone involved is motivated to continue holding the event and, above all, to constantly improve it. The area does not lack great trails, I have had this confirmed by many locals, and so one can hope that the trail heart will beat faster again at the next Enduro One edition in Aschau. The organization, the mood and the presentation of the event were top and under these conditions one can recommend such an event with a clear conscience.
For me, after a few more enduro and downhill races and the Rock The Hill Festival on the Geißkopf, it's already happening on August 26th and 27.08th. again to a race of this series. The fifth of a total of six series events is taking place here at the Ochsenkopf in the Fichtelgebirge mountains.
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