Border To Border - Bregenz to Bratislava 🚴🏼♂️
Want to push your boundaries and try something completely new?
Consider embarking on a journey you've never taken before, such as crossing Austria from border to border - in winter!
The LFT crew recently accomplished an extraordinary challenge. This cycling collective was formed from four former race cyclists who have relocated from the bustling city of Hamburg to the quieter south of Germany and Austria.
Over the course of four days, they biked from Bregenz to Bratislava, through long stretches of snowy terrain, basked in plenty of sunshine, and pushed themselves to their limits on this exhausting journey.
To ensure that they were prepared for any weather conditions they might encounter, they chose CYCLITE bags to keep all of their gear organized and protected.
During the adventure, Ben shared some valuable insights about the route, the gear and the overall experience of this epic winter journey.
The Route
Ben about his experience
We planned a four-day route with 820 kilometers and 7000 meters in altitude. This might not sound too tough, but remember that we had to ride in winter.
We had to climb the Arlberg Pass (1600 m) and descent in freezing temperatures on snowy roads.
As we were a bit afraid of sleeping outside in unpredictable conditions, we booked hotels in advance. That gave us the motivation to ride 10 hours a day in cold conditions.
The challenge
We had a small camera team with us who filmed our tour (find the link to the YouTube movie at the bottom of this e-mail). They also supported us and carried some of our stuff. Nevertheless, we sometimes only saw them every few hours. That's why we had to carry our food and spare clothes, which are quite a lot in winter.
What we packed
We have been very happy to be supplied with CYCLITE's new 2023 bags to carry our gear. I used the large TOP TUBE BAG, the large FRAME BAG and the small SADDLE BAG.
The TOP TUBE BAG LARGE was stuffed with food: two normal cheese sandwiches, four energy bars, bananas, dates and some other fruits.
The FRAME BAG LARGE was filled with spare tubes, pump, minitool, spare lights, rainjacket, spare gloves, overshoes and a warm cap.
THE SADDLE BAG SMALL was super useful to pack warm spare clothes. I packed a spare baselayer, a second winter jacket and an insulation jacket in case of a longer break.
What we learned
In winter it's not only a problem to wear too less and therefore freeze, but also wearing too much can cause sweating, which again leads to freezing.
Overall, I would call it completely overpacked and I was afraid of these 10h rides at these cold winter temperatures. As it turned out we were really lucky with the weather. It was cold but sunny, which made it easier. In the end, I packed way too much, but at least I would have been prepared for the worst snowstorm ever!
After that trip, I am ready for summer bikepacking trips in short bibs. Stay tuned, there is a lot more to come.
Border to Border movie by BMC
Watch the video, get inspired and give it a LIKE if you want to see more crazy ideas from the LFT crew guys.
Photos (C) @naturbuasch (Sebastian Broetzner), @yunushutterer
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