Andrea Schenner
The Salzkammergut Mountainbike-Trophy has taken place in Bad Goisern for 12 years. I admit that in the first year I could hardly believe that people were serious – “riding a bike up the mountain?” However, it wasn’t long before I tried it, and now I am hooked.

I will never be a top class biker, and believe in the motto that you should concentrate on your own strengths. Of course, I am very happy to give tips, and share my experiences and news about the region, but I concentrate more on making sure the guests are happy in the hotel. When it comes to the rides, I prefer to get a real expert in - Helmut Simonlehner, boss of the Salzkammergut mountain bike centre and also employed by the MTB-test centre in Bad Goisern; a trained mountain biking trainer, and qualified triathlon trainer (trainer for the Bad Goisern triathlon club).

Biking in the Landhotel Agathawirt
Helmut comes to us six times a week and introduces the Salzkammergut Bike Region. In doing so, he doesn’t only talk about the tours on offer in the coming days, technical training, and workshops, but is also available for individual tips and tour planning advice. He leads some of the tours himself, though concentrates more on the technical training side, training and advice, performance diagnosis (under the supervision of a sports doctor) and workshops, and leaves the day tours to his team – all trained guides from the Salzkammergut area.

Guided Tours
The Salzkammergut Mountain bike Region has 1300 km of biking and over 70 well marked tours. Four weekly guided tours in at least two ability groups are offered, together with the Salzkammergut Mountain bike Centre, directly from the hotel. Two further tours start from other places, bookable with or without bike-shuttle-service, an ideal alternative to get to know lakes and mountains outside of the inner-Salzkammergut area. This is the area that offers the most tours, and from which the mountain biking in the Salzkammergut area developed to offer the Salzkammergut-Mountainbike-Trophy.

You will find a summary of the tours taking place in the upcoming weeks in the hotel, and Helmut will introduce them in detail – highlights, such as the “Ewige Wand” (never-ending wall), the Hütteneckalm, or the Viehbergalm/Öfen are never missing. Three different ability groups are catered for: 200 to 500, 600 to 900, and over 1000 vertical metres.

As ALL of the guides come from the region, they, of course, not only know a lot about the biking available, but can also tell you much about the Salzkammergut, including where the best, tastiest huts are. As trained mountain bike guides, they also offer technical training whilst on any tour.