A week between races
After spending the Monday after race weekend doing some admin—washing clothes, tidying the van, doing a bit of a food shop, and catching up on work—I then travelled a few hours north back towards Hausham, Germany.
Slap Boka Waterfall - Comes from caves !!!
On my way north, it was around lunchtime when I happened to pull over in a layby that had a sign for a waterfall. Something you may not know about me is that I LOVE waterfalls! So I had some lunch and then set off on an adventure to find it.
The first viewing point was only about a 15-minute walk in, and I think this is where 98% of people assume the walk ends. I used Trailforks because I thought surely I could get closer—and I was right. Following a bit of a path that looked like a water rut, I soon found a trail that went up and up and up. Before I knew it, I was higher than the 136m waterfall—Slovenia’s highest, Slap Boka.
After my adventure up to the waterfall and back down to Buddy, I continued driving for another three hours to a campsite on a small farm in Austria. There wasn’t much there—just €10 for the night—but freedom camping isn’t really allowed in Austria, and I definitely didn’t want to meet any angry Austrians!
I woke up the next morning and it was freezing. I looked out and could still see snow all over the ski pistes. After a few hours of work, I decided to go and find the snow on the bike. It turned into a bit of a Zone 2 ride to spin the legs out, combined with an adventure into the cold white stuff. It was definitely fun, and I gave the chairlift guys a bit of a laugh as I attempted to ride up a snowy road—which, I have to say, I did manage. Once I reached the highest point the road went to, I then had the fun of skiing the bike back down through the snow. It was so much fun!
I rode my bike down there !!
After the snow adventure, I got back to the van, warmed up, and packed up before getting back on the road. This time, my next stop was Salzburg. Last year when we were over here, I remember going to a camping store that sold everything. The toilet in the van broke last week and, although it was still usable, I would prefer one that flushed properly—so I headed there. Sure enough, they had the exact same toilet I needed, so I picked it up.
I made sure to fill the van with fuel while I was there, as Austria was a lot cheaper than Germany, which is where I was heading for the evening. I made it back to Hausham, Germany, at around 5:30pm and settled back in at the Yeti HQ.
Buddy with the Yeti Team Vans
Wednesday morning, I went in, saw the Yeti crew, had a coffee, and then decided to ride some local trails based on their recommendations. Lucky for me, I met a couple of local lads out on the trails who gave me a great tour around. I headed back to HQ to wash the bike and have a shower inside the building, before spending the afternoon relaxing in the sun while doing some work.
On Thursday, I took advantage of having access to a workshop to check over the e-bike ahead of the race in Belgium—brake bleeds, bolt check, and some modifications to the headset—and the SB160e was good to go.
Inside the Yeti HQ at Hausham, Germany. If your ever near by worth a visit
After a few hours of work on the computer, working via WhatsApp with Laine, we finally managed to get the website transferred over to the new site. Talk about a mission—but we got there. I then had a nice local lunch with everyone at the Yeti building before deciding to hit the road and head to Belgium. It was a 7-hour drive to the race venue, so I split it up—driving four hours on Thursday and finishing the remainder on Friday morning.
Stunning view from the trails in Coo
I didn’t need to be at the venue until Friday evening, so I decided to stop about 20 minutes away and ride some local trails to get a feel for the Belgian terrain. It was rocky and quite technical—definitely not what I had in mind—but it was fun and got me excited for the race weekend ahead.
At around 5:30pm on Friday, I arrived at the race venue and parked up in the paddock area set up for campers. There were about eight other vans there, but by the time I got set up and made dinner, I was ready for bed—so I made friends in the morning.
Race blog coming next.
