Round 5 of the European E-MTB Series took us to Nauders, Austria, a little mountain town right on the border of Austria, Italy and Switzerland. So, for race day we got to ride in 3 different countries, now that was cool. Not a bad way to spend a race weekend!
The border between Austria and Italy
Dad and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and set up camp at the official campsite right at the bottom of the gondola, just up the road from the pit area in town, so made life pretty easy for the weekend.
With free practice available all week, I decided to use Thursday to do some openers on the bike and get a few trails ticked off. I headed out for a ride around Nauders, crossing over into Italy before making my way back to camp, with managing to find 3 of the race tracks.
Thursday evening was registration and bike check, and then Friday was the full official practice day.
Views were pretty unreal.
Practice Day
Thursday evening it rained hard so Friday was wet, and I had forget to put my mudguard on the bike. Not ideal when you're trying to see where you're going!
The tracks themselves were right up my alley though. Steep, technical and rough — exactly the sort of riding I love.
One of the standout trails for me was the Bunker Trail. It was super long, rough and physical, and pretty quickly became my favourite track of the weekend.
The Legends at Bosch also came through with a battery swap for me. The days weren't particularly huge, so I decided to run the 600Wh battery rather than the 800Wh. It saved a bit of weight and I knew I had enough battery for the stages and liaisons.
We also had two power stages to practice and race that evening. The day had actually turned out pretty sunny, but just as we were due to race at 5pm, the rain rolled in.
On my practice run I was having some issues with the motor assistance, with it engaging when it shouldn't. That basically meant I was pedalling a very heavy e-bike over the obstacles without the help I was supposed to have!
For the race run I dropped the assistance down to a weaker setting and thankfully it seemed to behave itself.
Rainbow
Unsurprisingly, with the conditions and the motor issues, the power stages weren't exactly where I wanted them to be. I finished the evening in 5th, before heading back to the paddock for some bike admin and getting everything ready for the first full race day.
Race Day 1
Saturday had a fairly mellow 10am start from the paddock.
There had been some recent news around the UCI dropping Enduro from the programme next year, and one of the e-bike teams had decided to do something about it. They offered their photographer and videographer to all of us e-bike riders for the weekend, with the idea of sticking together and creating as much content as possible to help showcase e-bike racing and push the sport forward.
It was a pretty cool initiative, and it was great to see everyone getting behind it and we were rewarded with some epic photos and videos.
Our first stage was right at the top of the gondola, so there wasn't really much of a warm-up before dropping into the track. To make things even more interesting, we had a 40-minute delay because of a helicopter evacuation!!
By the time we finally got to start, it was difficult to get the body properly warmed up and ready to push.
I thought I'd had a pretty amazing run, but when I came through and saw the time, I was sitting 3rd — just 20 seconds off the lead. Not quite what I expected, but definitely a good way to start the day.
From there it was a pedal and another gondola ride over to Stage 2. This one was a blue bike-park flow trail sitting at nearly 2,000m. The actual descending wasn't particularly difficult, but the flat pedalling sections were absolutely brutal especially at altitude.
It was incredibly close between the girls too, with three of us finishing within one second of each other.
Then it was time for the Bunker Trail — my favourite of the weekend.
I knew I wanted to put a good run together here and managed to come away with 2nd place on the stage.
After that came a loooong liaison over to Stage 4, which was a Pro-only stage, meaning there weren't many other riders heading in that direction. It was a fun course though, and I managed another 3rd place stage finish.
Stage 5 was another good one, with plenty going on throughout the track. One section that stood out was a huge, super-wide root garden where line choice was absolutely key. It was one of those sections where there were plenty of different options, but choosing the right one could make a big difference to the time, I stayed high with a very straight line and it worked well.
We finished the day on Stage 6, which was more bike-park style and relatively straightforward compared with some of the other stages, and was actually part of our power stage from yesterday just the other way around haha.
After a pretty solid day of racing, I managed to work my way back up to 3rd overall.
And then, because apparently racing an e-bike wasn't enough for one day, there was a little bonus entertainment waiting back in the paddock.
Stark had a few demo bikes set up alongside a small MX track, so obviously I had to have a go.
I jumped on one of the bikes with the front brake on the handlebars and the rear brake operated by the foot, just like a proper motocross bike. And wow… this thing was insane.
I definitely didn't need another expensive bike obsession, but I now really want one. 😂
Dad cooking up some dinner
Race Day 2
Day 2 started with another fairly late 10am start, with a pedal out to the gondola before heading into Stage 7.
Stages 7 and 8 were actually the same track, just split into two sections so we didn't have to race the entire track from top to bottom in one go.
Personally, I think I would have preferred to race the whole thing!
Both stages were super bike-park focused with quite a lot of pedalling over the motor. I managed a couple more 3rd place finishes, keeping the consistency going but definitely wishing there was a little more descending involved!
Then it was over to Stage 9, another Pro-only stage, and this one was right up my street.
It was almost like a mini DH track — fast, technical and really fun to ride. I managed to put together a great run and came away with my first stage win of the weekend.
Stage 10 started right at the top of the gondola and ran all the way to the bottom. About three-quarters of the way down it joined back onto Stage 1 from the previous day, and it was another track I really loved.
The long stages definitely have to be my favourite. I love having a proper long descent where you can really settle into the trail and let the bike do its thing.
This time I came away with 2nd place.
The final stage was a tiny one — I'm talking around 30 seconds — so all the girls basically went down together in a train. It was actually a pretty epic way to finish the weekend, charging down the final track together rather than having everyone spaced out.
Once we'd finished racing, I headed into the Bosch tent because I wanted to ask a few questions about the motor issues I'd had during the power stages.
It turned out the problem was a little more serious than just a setting.
I needed a new motor.
Luckily, Bosch were right there at the race and were able to get it sorted for me, installing a new motor straight away. Huge thanks to the Bosch guys for getting me back up and running so quickly!
With a couple of hours before prize giving, it was actually really nice to just hang out around the paddock, chat with everyone and enjoy the weekend without having to think about racing for a little while.
Nauders was another really fun round of the European E-MTB Series. The tracks were challenging, the racing was close and I felt like I was riding consistently throughout the weekend.
There were plenty of 3rd places, a 2nd, a stage win and a 3rd overall, so I'm really happy with how the weekend came together.
Podium was around the wrong way, so just to clarify I was 3rd!
It was also a pretty special weekend to be part of the wider e-bike group and see everyone pulling together to create content and showcase what this side of Enduro has to offer.
With so much uncertainty around the future of Enduro racing, weekends like this feel even more important. We all love this sport and want to see it continue, whether that's on analogue bikes, e-bikes or both.
And getting to race through Austria, Italy and Switzerland all in the same weekend wasn't a bad bonus either!
Big thanks to Dad for another weekend of racing adventures, to Bosch for the support (and the new motor!), and to everyone who helped make Nauders such a fun round.
Now… onto the final one! ⚡️
